I don’t know about you, but when I think of wool, I think of my grandmother’s wool jacket from the 1950’s that my 16 year old daughter now owns - it is scratchy, heavy, bulky, and beautiful, but not what you would want for a quilt batting. Quilters Dream Wool has about 1/3 – ½ inch of loft, but it is very light weight, soft, breathable, and machine washable. Certainly not at all what I think of when I hear wool!
The type of sheep used makes a huge difference in the softness of the wool. Quilters Dream uses a high quality USA Merino and Domestic wool from the U.S.A. that is scoured, combed, and super washed into pure loveliness. The fibers are then carded and crosslapped for consistency, then thermally bonded for strength and durability.
Thermal bonding is a process of producing batting made by combining the main fiber, wool, with a low-melt poly fiber and then sending the fibers through an oven. The low-melt poly fibers melt and adhere to the wool fibers holding them securely in place. Because wool fibers are barbed, they are notorious for shrinking, bearding, shifting, and causing all sorts of other problems. (The fibers catch on each other, and when handled or washed they catch tighter and tighter until you have a lump of wool) The thermal bonding process used in Dream Wool secures the wool fibers firmly in place so there is very little shrinkage ( ½ a percent) and no bunching or shifting, while keeping the batting soft and breathable. It also holds the fibers apart so that the batting is easy to wash and air dries quickly.
Dream Wool can be hand quilted too. Even with the extra loft, when basted, your quilt sandwich will be flat enough to get the rocking motion needed for hand quilting. And because there is no scrim or glue used as a stabilizer, the needle goes right through without resistance. It is also stable enough to be easily machine quilted either with the domestic machine or on the long arm.
You can stitch up to 8 inches apart, so your quilt will not have to be “quilted to death.” If you desire the faux-trapunto look, quilt heavily where you want a flatter look, and more openly in the areas you want to pop – just look at Terri Stegmiller’s Green & Pink quilt! It is a stunning example of the faux-trapunto look.
Do take into consideration the heat when using Dream Wool – it cannot be ironed or dried on high heat, or the fibers can become stiff and the batting flat, so be sure and air dry your quilt when using Dream Wool!
Call us today and we will be delighted to send a free sample square of Dream Wool for you to feel. Then let me know if you love Dream Wool as much as I do!
Happy Quilting!
~The Dream Team
