Review of Hobbs Tuscany Collection Cotton Wool Blend Batting

It was not my original intent to do a public review of Hobbs Tuscany Collection Cotton Wool Blend batting, but after I posted that I was using it for the first time last week, so many of you responded and wanted to know my thoughts.  So I will share my experience with you.  

I'm starting with a lot of disclaimers.  First, I received the batting complimentary as part of my work as an Island Batik Brand Ambassador.  Hobbs graciously provided batting to each of the Island Batik Ambassadors to use in their challenge projects this year.  If you want to read more about the Island Batik quilt I used the batting in, check out this blog post. 

Secondly, I'm not being paid to write this nor am I being paid to write a good review.  I'm writing it simply because this is the fastest way to let everyone know what I thought of the batting. 

As a longarm quilter, I'm very conscious about shrinkage.  There are 3 ways a quilt can shrink.  1 - the fabric can shrink, 2 - the quilting process itself shrinks the quilt and 3 - the batting can shrink.   There are a variety of ways to manage and control the shrink - from prewashing fabrics, batting and by the choice of quilting patterns. 

Since I was on a deadline, done was most important to me!  So in this case, the fabrics were not prewashed.  The top was all Island Batik fabrics and the backing was a Red Rooster print straight off the bolt that I purchased on clearance when a quilt shop was closing.  The batting was right out of the bag - no washing or pressing.  I used a medium density edge-to-edge pattern, TK Totally Modern Fans E2E #2708 from TK Quilting & Design. 

Since we are talking about shrinkage - here are the stats.

Quilt top before quilting = 55-1/2" x 55-1/2" 

Quilt after quilting / before binding = 54-1/2" wide x 54" long
Yep, it's not unusual for the quilt to shrink more on one direction than another while quilting.  I floated the top, so it pulled up tighter since there wasn't tension on it. 

After binding and washing = 52-1/2" wide x 52" long
I machine bound the quilt and after a fast photo session, just threw it in the washing machine on regular wash - no special treatment.  And then straight into the dryer on regular settings.   

Here is the after quilting, before washing photo. 

And here is the after washing photo - same location, similar styling. You can see more texture and dimension in the quilt after it was washed and the quilting stands out more.  

Okay, so back to the batting.  

It quilted beautifully.   I really appreciated that I could handle it in the longarm frame and I didn't poke any finger holes in it nor did it leave any stretch marks from being handled. 

No "pokeys" or bearding.  

The wool makes the batt a bit loftier than 80/20 batting (80% cotton / 20% polyester) that I typically use so the finished quilt is a bit thicker, heavier, maybe more substantial is the word I'm looking for .... anyway, it feels different - which is okay. 

One thing I noticed immediately - it didn't hold fold lines when I went to photograph it.  The quilt came out of the dryer, got folded, measured and then plopped into the truck with my camera bag on top.  Then grabbed out of the truck, draped on the logs and photographed.  No special treatment, no fancy styling.   

Would I use it again?  Absolutely.  
If you are wanting a paper thin batt for a table topper, then this might not be my first choice -  but for wall hangings, throws and quilts - it worked perfectly. 

Well that's all folks!  I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts and opinions.  If you want to keep up with all my blog posts, please enter your email on the right hand side or follow me on Facebook or IG: @masterpiecequilting