Little Denmark Quilt Company Blog

There are so many great options for batting these days!

How do you choose? Is one batting brand or style just as good as another? Here, we’ll break down our top choices for you. The what and why of our favorite quilt batting, and the brands we’ve chosen to carry.

As with all of our articles, the following is based on our own quilting experience, and represents our personal opinions only. We are not sponsored to promote any brand over another.

Warm & Natural 100% Cotton – This batting brand has been around for ages. It’s a good option when you want 100% cotton, reliable and relatively economical. While not usually the totally cheapest option, (there are few cheaper options, but you do get what you pay for and we won’t recommend them!) this brand is slightly more affordable to a few other name brands. This batting will not fall apart easily, or bunch up in your quilt. Being 100% cotton, there is a decent shrink factor to this batting. If you don’t like the scrunched look of a washed quilt, you will want to choose a polyester batting, or prewash your Warm and Natural! While warmish, 100% cotton does not equal the warmest quilt to cuddle under (Choose a polyester or poly/cotton blend for more warmth!) We prefer Warm and Natural for projects like bags, tablerunners, and wall hangings, where a slightly stiffer batting option is desired compared to the bamboo batting.

Hobbs 80/20 – Hobbs is a good, solid quilting choice for batting. Also a brand with a long history of reliability, Hobbs batting will not fall apart easily. The 80/20 comes in both white (bleached) and natural colors. (Go with white if your quilt has a lot of white or very light background to prevent any color change effect from darker batting than your quilt top!) 80% Cotton 20% Polyester, this will be a little warmer than all cotton. It may also be slightly puffier than other choices with the addition of the polyester, although this is not a specifically “puffy” batting and is only slightly thicker if any than Warm and Natural. This batting is bonded by a light resin, which does give it a very slight smell (that will wash out and become unnoticeable), as well as make it not quite as soft as other options for quilting through.

Quilter’s Dream Bamboo – This batting is super soft and drapey! About the same loft as Warm and Natural, but made of 100% bamboo, this is a great option for a quilt you want to be very cuddly and warm! Dream Bamboo has no scrim, which is a stiff layer (think of it like a mesh or webbing that you don’t see) that holds batting fibers together. The lack of scrim adds to the softness of this batting, and it still holds together beautifully for quilting. We use this batting in a good majority of our quilts over table-size.

Quilter’s Dream Poly Deluxe – This 100% polyester batting is luxurious in weight and adds a bit more dimension to your quilt. We love this batting for the added emphasis and volume it will provide in your quilting! The thickest of the choices we list in this article, this batting is also very warm and fun to wrap up in with its extra weight compared to cotton or bamboo. Works well in wall hangings because of the added weight, helping your quilts hang nicely. Resists wrinkles too! This is our second favorite choice, but a very close second, to the Dream Bamboo!

With any of the choices above, you can’t go wrong. As with most things quilting, there’s not really a wrong answer, just opinions and preferences! What do you think? Do you have a favorite batting? Have you tried any of these? Let us know in the comments!