The Wonders of Wadding

Waddings are at the heart of every quilting project.

Trudi Wood, patchwork and quilting tutor explains where to start when it comes to choosing it for your next project.

With such a vast array of wadding (also known as batting) to choose from – how do you know where to start? Do you want cotton, polyester, wool, soy, bamboo or a mix? Do you need with or without scrim, eco-friendly or fusible – the list goes on. As a long-arm quilter, I’m often asked these questions.

So I always start by asking myself a few questions about the project I’m sewing.

This can identify or eliminate certain waddings to start with: Is it for a potholder, table runner (or oven gloves), which will hold hot dishes? Immediately, I know to look at thermal wadding that will protect my hands and furniture for these projects. Legacy Insul-Fleece is perfect for these types of projects. Having an aluminised scrim, it protects and holds heat, as well as keeping things cool so works for lunch bags or bottle holders too.

Is it a quilt for a special occasion?

Does the project warrant something special like wool (or silk) wadding such as Legacy 100% Wool, which is perfect for vintage and antique-inspired quilts? The thermal qualities of wool are fabulous given they’re also so lightweight. They breath naturally yet insulate better than other waddings. If like me, it’s not how much insulation there is but purely the weight involved you might like a heavier weight wadding like cotton or a bamboo.

Who is it for?

If it’s for a quilt – is it for an adult (are they quilt worthy)

or a child or baby? If the quilt is for children, I would recommend using a wadding that is made completely of natural fibres as it is recommended that only natural fillings should be used for babies.

What type of quilting are you planning to do?

Will the project be hand quilted either traditionally or with big stitches, or machine quilted? Are you going to be using a domestic machine or by sending it out to a longarmer. A wool wadding is easiest to hand quilt and the thickest. Bamboo is the lightest and has a slightly better drape.

What sort of loft do you want?

Loft is how much bounciness there is in the wadding – low loft means a thinner quilt while high loft means a thicker one. Wool and polyester add loft, where as cotton or bamboo have a flatter look to them. It may depend on your style of quilting, and just how much you want to be able to see it.

Products mentioned:

Legacy from Pellon Insul-Fleece

Legacy 100% Wool

Use the Hantex wadding selector to find the right wadding for your project hantex.page.link/w