Quilt Batting: Lesson 2 – Polyester Quilt Batting
Quilt Batting: Lesson 2 – Polyester Quilt Batting
What a wonderful turnout for our Back to School Batting Education Series!
Thanks to everyone who joined us for our first lesson – the Five W’s of Quilt Batting.
Based on the comments left on that last post, it appears you’ve already learned a lot, and we’re thrilled!
And now, let’s move onto Lesson 2: Polyester Quilt Batting
How many of you have used polyester quilt batting in a quilt or quilted project?
And how many of you haven’t or wouldn’t use a polyester quilt batting?
Normally, when presenting our batting lecture at quilt shows and at guild meetings, I’ve found that very few quilters raise their hands when asked the first question, and lots raise their hand when asked the second question.
And I have to admit, I’m saddened by both responses – polyester quilt batting can be a wonderful option!
Let’s discuss the attributes of polyester:
- It’s lightweight
- It’s strong and durable
- One of our four polyester battings can be stitched up to 10″ apart!
- It can be very lofty, somewhat lofty or quite thin (depending on which version you choose)
- It can really help you show off your piecing and/or stitching (like Wool batting does, but for a lot less money!)
- It can be quite cuddly and warm (or even hot)
- It doesn’t have to be ‘babied’ during washing and drying*
- It doesn’t shrink
- It’s relatively inexpensive
- It isn’t flammable**
*Remenber that we recommend all quilts be washed in cold water and on a delicate cycle, and only lightly dried in a cool dryer, because that’s best for all components of a quilt, but this batting can stand up to a warmer washing, and to cool or warm drying.
**While it won’t support a flame (catch on fire), it will melt if touched by a flame
Now, most of these attributes can be either a positive or a potential negative depending on your answers to the five W’s of batting selection:
- What are you making?
- What kind of finish do you want?
- Who’s the quilt or project for?
- What’s the quilt or project’s use case?
- How will the quilt or quilted project be cared for?
Let’s see if we can change your mindset about this often misunderstood and neglected batting:
What are you making and what kind of finish do you want?
Polyester quilt batting is wonderful for many types of quilts and quilted projects – the key in deciding which of our polyester quilt battings to choose depends on how you answered these two questions, and the last three as well.
If you answered that you’re making any of the following, you might want to consider trying a polyester quilt batting – which version you choose depends on the finish that’s desired, the intended user and use case, and how the quilt will be cared for:
- A baby or kids’ quilt
- We’d recommend Thermore, Poly-Down or Tuscany Polyester – Thermore will be flat, the other two will be lofty; keep in mind this will be a warm, perhaps even hot, quilt since the polyester doesn’t breathe the way natural fibers breathe; quilts made with this batting can be washed often and at a warmer temperature than quilts made with some other battings, this is especially important for baby and kid quilts as they generally need frequent, and often warm, washings; for an extra lofty (‘puffy’) baby or kids quilt, you could also consider our loftiest polyester quilt batting, CloudLoft
- A ‘utility’ quilt
- We’d recommend Thermore, Poly-Down or Tuscany Polyester – Thermore will be flat, the other two will be lofty; keep in mind this will be a warm, perhaps even hot quilt since poly doesn’t breathe the way natural fibers breathe; again, this batting makes it possible to wash a quilt made with it in warmer water and more often
- A lightweight throw
- We’d recommend Thermore, Poly-Down or Tuscany Polyester – Thermore will be flat, the other two will be lofty; keep in mind this will be a warm, perhaps even hot, quilt since poly doesn’t breathe the way natural fibers breathe; and the quilt may not drape as well as a throw made with a batting like our Tuscany Silk batting
- A bedspread
- We’d recommend Thermore or Tuscany Polyester – Thermore will be flat, the other two will be lofty; keep in mind this will be a warm, perhaps even hot, quilt/bedspread since poly doesn’t breathe the way natural fibers breathe; and the quilt may not drape as well as a bed quilt made with a batting like our Tuscany Silk batting
- A wall hanging
- We’d recommend Thermore if a flat finish is desired; we’d recommend the Tuscany Polyester if a lofty finish is desired – both will help to show off your stitching, but the Tuscany Polyester is recommended if you really want to show off your piecing
- Show quilts
- We’d recommend Thermore if a flat finish is desired; we’d recommend the Tuscany Polyester if a lofty finish is desired – both will help to show off your stitching, but the Tuscany Polyester is recommended if you really want to show off your piecing; keep in mind we have other battings, such as our Tuscany Wool and Tuscany Silk, that are our favorites for show quilts (more on these battings later in this series)
- Art quilts
- We’d recommend Thermore if a flat finish is desired, and especially if you’ll be including many small pieces as a lofty batting made ‘hide’ or obscure small piecing; Tuscany Polyester can also be used, if a more lofty appearance is desired and if there’s not a lot of small piecing in the quilt
- A t-shirt quilt
- We’d recommend Thermore – you can stitch up to 10″ apart with this batting, so you won’t likely have to stitch through the designs on the t-shirt panels; this batting won’t shrink, so your t-shirt panels, which have likely already been shrunk, will lay flat and the t-shirt panel designs will be fully visible; this batting won’t add any weight to what is likely an already heavy quilt
- A denim quilt
- We’d recommend Thermore or Tuscany Polyester – these battings won’t add any weight to what is likely an already heavy quilt
- A modern quilt
- We’d recommend Thermore, Poly-Down or Tuscany Polyester, but Thermore is the most popular of these for modern quilts due to three factors: 1. It won’t shrink, providing a flatter finish even if you pre-wash your fabrics; 2. It can be stitched up to 10″ apart providing the modern quilter with more design options, including open spaces with no quilting in areas of the design; and 3. It’s bright white – quilts made with white (and light) fabrics won’t be dulled, and white fabrics will really pop!
- A charity or gift quilt
- We’d recommend Thermore, Poly-Down or Tuscany Polyester – Thermore will be flat, the other two will be lofty; keep in mind this will be a warm, perhaps even hot, quilt since the poly doesn’t breathe the way natural fibers breathe; for charity quilts – since you won’t likely get to meet the recipient, nor get to share the washing instructions with him/her, these are good batting choices as they’ll hold up to most any kind of laundering; for gift quilts – consider how likely the recipient is to recall your laundering instructions, and to follow them
- A hand-quilted quilt
- We’d recommend Thermore or Tuscany Polyester as both will provide stability to your hand-quilted quilt or project, and they offer a very nice hand, with very little resistance as your needle and thread pass through the batting
- Bags & totes
- We’d recommend Thermore if you want a flat finish to your bag or tote, and Poly-Down or Tuscany Polyester if you prefer that your bag or tote has a more ‘puffy’ finish; if you’re quilting in the hoop to create your bag or tote, these battings are wonderful!
- Jelly roll rugs
- We’d recommend Thermore for jelly roll rugs as it’s a very strong batting and it’s likely to hold up quite well to foot traffic wear and tear; additionally, Thermore doesn’t shrink so your rug will stay nice and flat even after laundering (assuming you have pre-washed your fabrics and they don’t shrink a lot!)
- Runners
- We’d recommend Thermore as it lays flat and won’t cause anything placed on it to be unstable or to tip over
- Placemats
- We’d recommend Thermore as it lays flat and won’t cause anything placed on it to be unstable or to tip over
- Coasters
- We’d recommend Thermore as it lays flat and won’t cause anything placed on it to be unstable or to tip over
- Clothing
- We’d recommend Thermore for garments that are to be worn year-round in all climates as it provides stability to a garment without adding any bulk; we’d recommend Poly-Down or Tuscany Polyester if a lofty or ‘puffy’ finish is desired, and if the garment’s desired function is to provide a lot of warmth
- A Hawaiian quilt
- Our CloudLoft batting has many fans in Hawaii! – they love this batting for its extremely high loft and the way it shows off the beautiful flowers they add to their quilts; keep in mind that this batting provides a lot of warmth, so we wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for quilts being used in hot and humid climates, but sometimes the trade-offs are worth it!
Surprised at how many applications there are for polyester quilt batting?
We thought you might be!
Now, just because we’ve shared that our polyester quilt batting can be used for each type of project, that doesn’t necessarily mean a polyester quilt batting is the BEST batting for the job, but it could definitely be a contender.
As our Back to School Batting Education series continues, we’ll be sharing each type of batting (by fiber type) and sharing when they are, and aren’t, appropriate for this same list of projects.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and questions about polyester quilt batting – share and ask away!
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Thanks so much for again tuning in here at batting central – we look forward to seeing you again when we continue our Back to School batting series.
And now, here’s your opportunity to
To enter to win the batt of your choice,
leave a comment below
telling us what you learned from this Back to School series post
and/or ask us a question about our polyester quilt batting.
We’ll hold a random drawing (using a random number generator)
to choose a winner from all commenters on this post on October 10, 2020
and the winner will be contacted via email.
Until the next Back to School series post, happy quilting,
Steph & The Hobbs Batting Team
I learned to give poly batting a try, it is not evil! Lol
That’s wonderful! Good luck on winning.
Steph
I have family who live in Puerto Rico and I’d like to make them quilts but the polyester batting will be too hot for them at night. It rarely gets below 75º at night. Someone mentioned using a wool batting but in my mind, and experience, wool keeps you warm. Do you have a recommendation as to what to use or just avoid batting altogether?