Quilters: what wadding/batting do you use?

[Celia1978]

I'm currently making the top of my first full-sized quilt and about to buy the wadding, and wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations.

I want something quite thin really (am hand-quilting it, and also it's for a friend's house in the south of France so it doesn't need to be particularly thick) and ideally 100% cotton...

Thanks!

Hi, I used Warm and Natural for DD's quilt, it's quite thin.

In my local fabric shop, they have rolls in different weights (e.g. 2oz, 4oz etc.). 2oz would be quite thin. Alternatively, you could add a fleece backing and dispense with any wadding.

Thanks both.Will have a look for Warm & Natural. Wish I had a good fabric shop nearby where I could test them out first!

Cotton Patch do sample packs of wadding. This link is natural waddings but there is also another one which is mixed waddings. It is useful to see what you like the feel of and the pieces are big enough for you to try them out.

80/20 wadding is a good all rounder. Lady Sew and Sew have loads of types but stick to Heirloom. I heard recently from a quilter who is far more experienced that me that Sew Simple which they sell isn't rated very highly by some people. I haven't had a problem with it but then I haven't done a whole quilt with it, or rather I haven't finished a whole quilt with it! It has been OK for both my machine and hand quilting - it isn't too thick or too stiff. I suppose the problem might be in how it lasts once the quilt is finished though.

If you're on a budget you can save money by using a cheap fleecy blanket.

I use bamboo and it is lush

I love Warm and Natural too. It's beautiful after it's been washed- the batting shrinks ever so slightly and the quilt gets a lovely antiquey feeling.

Thanks again everyone. Bertha - the sample pack was exactly what I needed. Ordered and now just trying to pick which one. The bamboo is indeed lush!