Hobbs Premium Battings Made To Quilters' Specifications

This information is directly from Hobbs Bonded Fibers, Craft Products Division, and describes their main types of quilt batting including cotton, wool, and fusible quilt batting. In addition, this report will describe in more detail which type of batting to use depending on what type of quilt you are making and what effect you would like.

The first page of the report has a chart listing all of the batting types made by Hobbs. As you read across the chart, determine whether you will be hand quilting or machine quilting your quilt. Consider also whether your quilt has light or dark fabric. Read down the column that applies to your quilt.

For example, you will be hand quilting a quilt with light fabrics, and you don't want the quilt to be too puffy. Looking across the first line of the chart, you will notice that Cloudlite is rated "Excellent" in the Hand Quilting and Light Fabrics columns. If you were sewing with dark fabrics, Cloudlite is rated only "Fair Pre-Test." This means that you should pre-test the batting to see if it will "beard," or escape from inside the quilt and show fibers outside the quilt. The loft on this batting is 1/4" - 3/8," which is a fairly low loft. Going down the chart one row, Cloudloft is rated "Fair" for hand quilting and it's loft is 1/2" - 5/8." That means it is a puffier batting, resulting in it being a little more difficult to hand quilt.

All of this will mean more when you click here to open the report.

HEIRLOOM ORGANIC COTTON WITH SCRIM BINDER
For Machine Quilters/Crafts

Heirloom Organic cotton batting with scrim binder is needle punched cotton batting with a thin polypropylene binder. We use the same pure organic cotton which is grown without pesticides or other chemicals as we do in all the organic cotton products, thus assuring the quilter that the batting is free of all chemicals which could cause an allergic reaction. The scrim binder provides additional strength which enables the product to be quilted up to 8-10 inches apart, or used as the outside layer for craft projects. This batting is primarily for machine quilters and crafts.

HEIRLOOM BLEACHED COTTON WITH SCRIM BINDER
For Machine Quilters/Crafts

Heirloom bleached cotton with scrim binder is needle punched cotton batting with a thin polypropylene binder. The scrim binder provides additional strength which enables the product to be quilted up to 8-10 inches apart, or used as the outside layer for craft projects. This batting is primarily for machine quilters.

HEIRLOOM PREMIUM-COTTON BLEND
For Hand or Machine Quilters

Heirloom cotton batting was created at the request of Harriet Hargrave to meet the needs of quilters. It is the only unbleached cotton batting that is easy to quilt by hand or machine and can be quilted up to 4” apart. Heirloom cotton batting shrinks 3-5%, and can be preshrunk to minimize undesired shrinkage. It is very clean cotton mixed with 20% polyester, lightly needlepunched and lightly resinated. The result is a dream batting for the quilter who has been looking for GREAT COTTON BATTING. There are no limitations for this product and it has more loft than the typical cotton batt, which gives more definition to the stitch than other 100% cottons.

HEIRLOOM 80/20 BLACK COTTON
For Dark Colored Quilts

Heirloom 80/20 black cotton batting is made with the same formula as Heirloom 80/20 Premium above only we substitute black cotton and black polyester. Quilters should find it quilts about the same, shrinks about the same 3% and can be quilted up to 4” apart by hand or machine.

HEIRLOOM 80/20 BLEACHED COTTON
For White or Light Colored Quilts

Heirloom 80/20 bleached cotton batting is made with the same formula as Heirloom 80/20 Premium cotton only we substitute bleached (white) cotton for the unbleached cotton used in Heirloom Premium. Quilters should find it quilts the same, shrinks about 3% and can be quilted up to 4” apart by hand or machine.

HEIRLOOM WASHABLE WOOL
Resin Bonded, Outstanding Hand Quilting

Natural fibers have become more popular each year and Heirloom cottons and wool batting are part of the reason. Hobbs has put together magnificent washable wool with the leading bonding process to make the finest wool batting in the world. As a natural fiber, wool is more absorptive than any other fiber. It breathes and acts as a natural insulator; helping to maintain a comfortable temperature, summer or winter. Wool is exceptionally easy to quilt by hand or machine and can be quilted up to 4 inches apart. Heirloom wool probably beards less than any wool in the world and is resin bonded to provide resistance to fiber migration. However, quilters should test wool or white polyester battings for fiber migration if black or extremely dark colors are to be used in the project.

POLYDOWN
Resin Bonded, Siliconized Polyester Fibers-Ultra Soft

Utilizing Siliconized fibers and the latest bonding techniques, Hobbs is proud to offer Polydown, the ULTIMATE POLYESTER QUILT BATT. Polydown is made from the finest small denier fiber, for the ultimate feel & comfort. The Siliconized fibers are easier to quilt and more washable than competitive products, thus eliciting comments from quilters like “Polydown quilts like quilting through butter”. Polydown is the only resin bonded, Siliconized polyester batting in the world! Polydown can be quilted up to 4-6 inches apart, is washable, quilts magnificently by hand and can be quilted by machine. Though Polydown is resin bonded to resist fiber migration, bearding could be visible on black or extremely dark fabrics. We recommend Heirloom cotton, Thermore, or Polydown-Dk with black fabrics.

One of the little known facts in the industry today is that very few batting manufacturers actually make their own batting. Hobbs is one of the very few manufacturers that produces everything we sell. Basically this means that we are in a position to give long arm quilters the BEST VALUE IN THE INDUSTRY. In addition, because we do needle punching which is the best way to make cotton batting and we also are a resin bonder, which is the best method for wool and polyester, you get the best of both from one resource.

This article courtesy of http://www.How-to-Quilt.com with the help and permission of Hobbs Bonded Fibers, Craft Products Division.

Web www.How-To-Quilt.com