How to Choose Quilt Batting: What We Use and Why
Ask Gudrun Erla what batting she reaches for on her own quilts, and the answer comes fast: high-quality polyester. Three reasons drive that choice every time, and once you know them, picking your own batting gets a lot easier than working through another fiber comparison chart.
The short answer, and the three reasons
Gudrun's standard pick, after more than 30 years designing quilts, is high-quality polyester, for three reasons she repeats every time she's asked: it's lightweight, it holds no memory so it never creases, and it shows off the quilting stitches without adding bulk. Those three things sound small on their own. Together, they solve most of what actually goes wrong once a finished quilt leaves the design wall.
No memory: it will not hold creases
Batting with memory holds whatever shape it was folded or stored in. Fold a quilt with memory-heavy batting for a few months and the creases show the moment you unfold it, and no amount of pressing fully lifts them back out. Polyester does not carry that memory. Roll it, fold it, or pack it flat in a box for shipping or gifting, and it comes back out ready to use. For anything that travels, gets shipped, or sits folded on a shelf between uses, that alone settles the choice.
It shows the quilting, without the weight
The third reason is the one quilters notice last and appreciate most: polyester keeps the loft where you want it without adding weight, so dense or intricate quilting stitches read clearly instead of getting flattened or lost in a heavier fill. It also drapes well once a finished quilt is hung, which matters if the piece is headed for a show entry or a wall display rather than a bed. A heavier batting can look impressive folded on a shelf and then go flat and stiff the moment it's actually quilted.
Wool, and the Iceland connection
Polyester is not the only batting Gudrun reaches for. For projects that need real warmth, wool moves to the top of her list, valued for how insulating and cuddly it is in a way synthetic fill does not quite match. Wool is also where the choice gets personal. Gudrun connects it back to Iceland, where wool has always meant warmth first, and that preference shows up in her own quilts whenever a project calls for something warmer than a light throw. It's a detail no fiber chart on the internet can put a name to, and it's the kind of first-hand preference this post exists to pass along.
Matching the batting to your project
Once the fiber is decided, the remaining question is how much you need and in what form. For a full-size quilt cut from yardage, the quilt batting collection carries cotton, polyester, wool, and blends, so you can match the fiber to the loft and warmth level the project calls for. For something smaller and faster, like a table runner or a quick gift, the fusible quilt-as-you-go batting kits come pre-cut to size, which skips the yardage math and the extra cutting step entirely.
If the fundamentals like loft, drape, and scrim are still unclear, the primer covers those in depth: loft, drape and scrim explained. This guide answers the question that primer leaves open: which batting to actually reach for, and now you have Gudrun's answer.