Quilting: That's Batt-y

I honestly don't know why I keep doing this to myself 😂

I recently decided I should learn how to quilt; small projects at first in preparation for larger ones later, providing I like quilting and can do it well enough.

In my previous post, I listed the tools I would need (those that I knew of.) One item was batting. That's the stuff inside the quilt that gives it body and warmth. As I'm quickly learning, there's more to batting than just picking up a pack of it at the store. Namely, type of material and loft.

I wasn't aware I had choices to make until I posed a question to a friend who quilts. She loves the craft and recently threw together a large quilt made of old felted sweaters in a few days. I'm amazed. After she answered my question, she began talking about batting. She prefers a 100% cotton batting from a particular company, but she also mentioned batting made from wool, polyester, and an 80/20 mix of polyester and cotton. There may have been more, but my brain stopped processing the information at that point. I did catch that the batting one chooses should be based on the type of project, whether it's a potholder or a vintage-style quilt.

Next, she mentioned loft. One definition of loft (the fourth on the list at Merriam Webster) is, "the thickness of insulating matter in an object such as a sleeping bag or a padded coat." The higher the batting loft, the thicker the item. A high loft provides more warmth in a blanket (batting material can provide even more warmth, depending on what kind of material is chosen.)

Since I'm a complete newbie to all this, I decided to start with a simple potholder. Somewhere around 7x7 inches, one piece of fabric on the front and one on the back. No blocks to begin with.

I quickly discovered batting wasn't the only stuffing I needed. When dealing with potholders and hotpads, an insulted lining called Insul-Bright should be used. As several website authors stated, " It reflects both hot and cold temperatures keeping you, your food and more safe."

In other words, if I don't want to burn my hands when I use my newly crafted potholder, I had to use Insul-Bright. I bought a pack online at Amazon, and then found it for half the price at Walmart.

I'm learning....

Now armed with a quilting ruler, rotary cutter, 100% cotton fabric for the front and back of my potholder, low-loft batting (80/20 mix), Insul-Bright, and a pattern, I'm ready to start my first quilting project. Let's see how this goes.