Depending on your preferences, thin or thick, heavy or light, numerous types of wadding for quilting are available. Although it’s possible to try every single type of wadding, doing so would be extremely costly, tedious and time-consuming. This is why learning more about the different types of wadding is essential. This can help you shrink down the types of wadding most suitable for the quilt you have in mind.
Below are several pointers that can help you in picking the right wadding for your quilt.
Decide what size to buy
Wadding comes pre-packaged for standard crib, twin, full, queen and king-size quilts, but you can also buy it off the bolt in your custom size. You can choose to have the store customise your wadding for quilting, or you can also choose to cut it personally at home. While it adds an extra step if you quilt a lot off-the-bolt can be a more economical and convenient choice in the long run.
Look at the fibre content
The most common quilt wadding is made of cotton or polyester, but wool, silk, bamboo or a poly-cotton blend are all fair game. It also comes in blends that are organic (recommended for baby quilts) or made from recycled fibres. The good news: fibre’s mostly about personal choice, so there’s no right or wrong here. But there are a few things to consider. Cotton, wool, silk and bamboo waddings all shrink to some degree, and the packaging will tell you how much. This is why you want it to be a bit larger than your quilt top when forming a quilt sandwich. Although quilting wadding made of cotton is cheaper than most wadding and is very comfortable to use, you might not expect its heaviness.
Find out about the manufacturing process
All waddings start as individual fibres that are carded and processed into a sheet or web. Without further treatment, these unbonded fibres would come apart or clump together inside a quilt, making them difficult to use. One of the most popular manufacturing processes is bonding wadding. Manufacturers chemically bond wadding fibres by adding a resin or using heat. Resin bonding helps wool and polyester resist bearding. Bonded waddings usually have a higher loft and airier appearance than needle-punched wadding. Extensive quilting is unnecessary for a bonded polyester wadding for quilting since it can hold itself up properly without the need for much support. If a wadding is not bonded, it can be difficult to work with and have an uneven appearance.
You can also choose the needle punching method if you don’t like bonding wadding. This treatment process involves running a barbed needle through the wadding fibres to tangle them, which provides some stability to the web. For additional stability, a scrim-an extremely thin nonwoven substrate layer can be added to a wadding sheet or web before it is needle punched. The loft of needle-punched wadding varies according to the number of layers used in the manufacturing process. The fewer the layers, the lower the loft; the lower the loft, the better fine-quilting details can be seen.
Check your preferences
Ask yourself this: do you like to see the texture on the quilt, or do you prefer to see the stitching line? If you like texture, choose a blended wadding (polyester and cotton), wool, or 100 per cent polyester. Without it, unquilted areas like feathers won’t puff up and create the contrast you’re looking for. For extra loft without adding weight, try adding a layer of wool wadding over a base layer of cotton or blended wadding. The wool helps support the unquilted areas without feeling stiff or bulky. Want to see the stitching lines instead? Then stick with 100 per cent cotton or bamboo. Both wadding types have very little loft and showcase the stitches well. It’s highly advised to use denser, flat quilting wadding if you are thread painting since it can greatly reduce the distortion caused by the close stitches.
Consider the finished size
Nothing is worse than making a quilt top to fit your brand new pillow top mattress, only to find out it’s too small after you wash it. Several waddings made of cotton can shrink the quilt to up to 5 per cent of its original size. That may not seem like a lot—but if you do the math, your 100-inch square quilt could end up only measuring 95 inches when it comes out of the dryer. Bummer!
Consider your method of quilting
To choose the right wadding, determine how you plan to use the quilt and your method of quilting. If a quilt receives frequent use, such as a child’s quilt, the wadding should be sturdy and washable. Aside from polyester wadding for quilting, you should also consider other types of waddings if you want to create a wall hanging décor which would most likely never get washed. Thinner waddings are easier to quilt by hand. In machine quilting, a thick wadding is not a problem.
You can achieve your desired results if you carefully choose the wadding for quilting. Only by picking the most suitable type of wadding after considering the different uses that may affect it will you achieve this. As long as the materials used can complement your idea and your quilt's intended use, that would be the best wadding to pick.
