is your quilt backing black or another dark color? You should use a black batting so that any pokies (bits of batting) cannot be seen. There is nothing worse than finishing a black quilt only to see it has a 'beard'.
Developed with Harriet Hargrave, the nationally known quilter and author of Heirloom Machine Quilting, Hobbs offers one of the best 80% cotton/20% polyester battings on the market. The combination of long staple cotton fibers and polyester gives you a strong, long wearing batting. It is needle punched and spray bonded to provide exceptional strength and durability. It maintains its loft and needles wonderfully whether you machine or hand quilt.
Your batting should be 8" longer and wider than your quilt top if being quilted on a longarm. If your are quilting it on a domestic sewing machine you can get away with 4-6 inches more than your quilt top. Measure all 4 sides of the top, then use the average of each of the two lengths and two widths. For example is your top measures down each side 64.5 and 63.5, then you would use 64". If the top and bottom measure 71.5 and 72.5, then you would use 72", resulting in a quilt top measuring 64x72. If the largest side is less than 96" then you will not need to piece the batting so you can just purchase the length of the shortest side. For example, if the quilt top measures 64x72, you would add the 8" to 64 and purchase 72" of batting. The piece you would receive would be 96X72. You would then cut the 96" side down to 80" (72+8).
I also offer long arm quilting services. I use a Gammill Statler long arm, which is the best long arm quilter made. For an edge to edge pattern the cost is $.02 per square inch. For the example above, on a quilt top that is 64x72 (4602 square inches) the quilting would cost $92.16. This does not include the batting or backing. I also do custom quilting which typically would have any borders, blocks or sections in a different quilt pattern. Let me know if you have any questions about longarm quilting services.
