First, let's consider backing. The back of your quilt is really what will be touching you the most, so it's important that it's soft and nice to touch. This is particularly true of a lap or snuggle quilt when you won't have a sheet separating your skin from the back. There are several options for backing, the first is to use regular fabric and piece it together--this works fine and then you can usually find a fabric that matches your quilt and that has the hand (feel) you like.
Another option that you'll see at some shops is extra-wide backing, usually 108", but some are 120". There is a more limited palette to choose from, and often the extra-wide is a lower quality fabric that the top which can lead to uneven wear and shrinkage if you wash your quilts. I'm not a huge fan of extra wide backing, but I don't mind piecing my backing either. Like everything in your quilt, it will be your choice ultimately, so if you can't stand to piece your back, extra-wide works great. One exception to my I-don't-like-extra-wide is the cotton sateen extra wide. Very soft and has a nicer weave than most.
Also be aware that you don't have to use the same fabric on the top as on the bottom. When I first started quilting, I put flannel on the backs of my quilts because I liked the softness of it. Later (and still) if I want a soft back, I use a product that is known widely as minkee and its cousins. Minkee is 100% polyester and it's furry. It's not polar fleece, which pills up fairly quickly with washing. It's much softer, stays cleaner and feels fantastic. In some circles, it's referred to it as naked skin fabric. Minkee comes in a variety of textures and colors and is wider than regular fabric; it's 60" wide. Now obviously for a lightweight summer quilt you aren't going to want it, but if you're making something snuggly, it really is fantastic and it quilts beautiful. It's pricey (usually about $20/yd) but it is so durable and often on large or small quilts, minkee ends up being cheaper because it's 60 wide. Go to your local quilt shop and ask to feel some if they carry it. You'll see why I love it so much.
The only caveat any time you use two very different fabrics on top and bottom (say, flannel top, minkee back) is that polyester (minkee) won't shrink at all and flannel will shrink a pretty decent amount. Rather than prewash my fabric (blech!), in this situation, if I'm concerned about uneven shrinkage (which to be frank, I rarely worry about stuff like that, which will undoubtedly haunt me at some point, but hasn't yet) then you can wet the top and dry it however you plan to dry your quilted quilt. I have washed a top in my washing machine before quilting it before, and dried it in the drier, and it came out fine, but I'm not going to recommend that to anyone without seeing the construction and materials. One thing is for sure, if you're going to do that, make sure you stay-stitch around the whole top (a line of stitching about 1/4" all the way around the edge of the top).
If you choose cotton top, batik back, or some variation thereof, you really don't have to worry about uneven shrinkage. Even cotton on minkee is not worth a bit of worry. Another way to alay any fears of unevenness is to use a puffy batt. Flannel is really the only cotton fabric that shrinks significantly. Now, go out and pet fabric until you find the perfect back.
One last note on backing, one thing I really don't recommend for backing and in general hate quilting on is sheets. A lot of people go out and buy a nice big sheet to use as their back, again, so they don't have to piece, so it's cheaper, the list goes on. I'm sure they have their reasons, but sheets are a pain to quilt. They tend to be a denser weave than regular quilting fabric (even cheap sheets), the grain is rarely straight, and they're hard on the needle leading to burrs, crappy tension, and just lots of headaches in general. If you're going to quilt it yourself, you can try a sheet, but make sure you change your needle often and watch your tension.
Onward to batting then!
There are several considerations when choosing a batting (the stuff that goes in between your quilt top and your backing and then you "quilt" the three layers together). Warmth, loft, shrinkage, drape, and how it looks quilted are all factors. There are so many battings on the market that I dare not try to cover them all. I'll mention some that I work with regularly and really like and you can go from there.
Let's start with warmth. If you want a really warm quilt, there are several batts available, but also bear in mind that you can use more than one layer (and even more than one type) of batting in a quilt. The warmest batting that I've worked with is wool, and I've only used Dream Wool by Quilter's Dream. It's very light, but warm, and quilts beautiful. Their wool is a washable wool, which means you can wash it on cold and dry it with no heat. Otherwise it reeeeeally shrinks. Wool is very breatable so it's perfect for warm winter bed quilts or snuggly quilts. You can layer wool too, sometimes dark minkee beards (fiber from the back pulls up through the stitching holes and leaves little 'beards' on the front) and a great way to deal with that is to put a layer of poly (I like Dream Puff) and then a layer of wool. That seems to catch the beards before they make it to the front. Dream Puff (also by quilter's dream) is a really great, warm, cheap alternative to wool. It's got a nice loft (puffiness) to it and works great with minkee to pop out your quilting design.
A more traditional batt would be 100% cotton which will shrink up a little, is moderately warm, and hangs a little stiffer than either wool or dream puff. Cotton is also a very thin batt with hardly any loft. Cotton batts are great for "heirloom" looking quilts that you want to loook old-fashioned. If you quilt a quilt with cotton batt and wash it, it shrivels up just enough to give it that rumpled antique look. I have used cotton batts a great deal on my own and other people's quilts, and while I like it okay, I find that I prefer some of the newer more environmentally and people friendly batts. Cotton (for those of you who care) is extremely water intensive and cotton cultivation has been causing water shortages for people in some parts of the world. Batting uses a huge amount of cotton compared to fabric, so I try not to use it anymore. I like to save most of my cotton consumption for fabric.
The most recent alternatives to cotton still contain some cotton, but they're moving away from that. Two of the main cotton alternatives are soy and bamboo. Soy batting is made from the leavings after soy beans have been processed into various food products. It has the same shrinkage as cotton, is quite a bit softer and has a softer drape. It's low loft, like cotton, too.
Bamboo, another cotton alternative is great because it grows extremely fast, about 2 feet a day, and is therefore very renewable. It requires little to no watering or fertilizer and the processing is pretty earth friendly. It has a very silky feel and soft drape. I carry a new product called Dream Orient from Quilter's Dream that's a blend of silk, bamboo, tencel and a little bit of cotton. It's heavenly and silk breathes really well, while being warm and light, but not smothering you either. MMMmmmm, silk batting is nice :)
I'm still researching alpaca batts for the wool allergy crowd (or even just the wool itchy crowd). Most are blends at the moment, so I'm pushing my favorite company, Quilter's Dream, to make a 100% alpaca wool batt. Any phone calls to them requesting this would be greatly appreciated. Alpaca hair is one of the warmest natural fibers in the world, extremely soft, light, and hypo-allergenic, so it will definitely make an awesome batting, I just need to get someone on the manufacturing end.
There are also a lot of poly-cotton blends on the market, none of which I'm particularly fond of. I do like 100% poly, but I'm picky. Cheap poly is extremely unpleasant to work with because it's scratchy, smells funny, and can be a nightmare to quilt. My current favorite light poly (Dream Puff is 100% poly, but many folks don't like the loft) is called Dream Green and is 100% recycled plastic bottles so it has a soft green tint because they keep the processing to a minimum to keep it "Green". It has a bit of stretch to it, which can be tricky, but it's really soft and smooth and quilts beautifully. I love it's drape too, and it's very thin so it's perfect for a lightweight summer quilt.
So that's a highlight of some battings, but like I said, there are so many different types and brands out there, you should just go out and experiment, touch, and look at quilts with different batts. If you want to order from me, click here.
Next time, we'll talk thread and design.
Happy quilting!
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