what batting for correct Civil War look?
 

I have been working on a quilt made entirely of reproduction Civil War fabrics. I am starting to think ahead to the choice of batting. The quilt will be going on a four poster bed that pre-dates the Civil War. I want it to look as correct and authentic as I possibly can. I have spent quite a bit of time on Barbara Brackman's web site, looking for this info, but with no success.

I am assuming that the flatter (non-puffy) batting is the way to go, but what about the level of "crinkle"? Would a quilt made during the Civil War have very little crinkle? Or lots? Is there a modern day batting that someone can suggest that is generally considered more authentic looking for this purpose?

I was originally intending to go with Quilter's Dream Green, for its lack of crinkle (cuz I am not a fan of crinkle), but now it is occurring to me that the correctness of the end result might be wrong.

Any help would be much appreciated!

A LQS that specialized in Civil War Quilting always used Quilter's Dream "Request" Batting, which is their thinnest and did result in a crinkly quilt. But the choice is yours......

I don't know the answer to this, but if you think back to that time period, commercial batting as we know it was not available. Actual cotton from plantations was, so maybe quilters just used raw cotton as a batting. I would personally use something like warm & natural 100% cotton batting. It does crinkle though.

i am doing a repro too. using pic from one of my books on historical american quilts. the particular quilt i am copying is dated 1825-45. i too am researching using brachmans site in fabric prints plus other sites on web with focus on quilts from 1800's. no where do i read about the batt used. i do know that it was not uncommon in southern states to not use any batt at all because of summer heat. i also notice in the pics on line and in my books that crinkle isn't there. i don't know if it's because the quilts had never been washed or used, tho some are noted to appear in new condition w/o wear or fading. but i would assume that carded wool was the batt of preference when used. i am also copying the quilting motif used on original quilt and others up thru civil war. very simple, some w simple feathers, most tho seemed to use outline quilting with a pumkin seed style motif in setting blocks. i'm making my blocks 7" ..reduced from the size given for quilt i am making, which appear to be 12". it too was for a four poster bed. style unique to eastern quilts. they also usually only did knife edge finish, which makes me happy because i like it better than binding. i had also considered a wrap around binding using the backing which was a common way of finishing quilts in pennsylvania in 1800's. i like and have used that style of finish, and it rally looks nice. but, like you, i'm trying to stay true to the style of quilt i am copying ..so knife edge it will be :)

Oh wow...I had not even given a thought yet to finishing the edges! I will have to look up what a knife edge binding is!

Roguequilter...are you saying that you have pictures of quilts from that era that do NOT appear crinkly? I have read that they used whatever they had on hand for batting...old blankets, wool cardings, etc. That, plus however "shrinky" their fabric was, would affect the end "crinklyness". I am beginning to think there are too many variables here to be able to say what is "correctly authentic"...hmmmm.

wow!! thank you for posting this question! my next quilt project is for some "period" quilts. I want to try one or two early 1800's-ish. I am not trying to be perfectly time period, but just general.

I am going to have to check up on the knife edge binding.

as far as batting I was leaning towards Hobb's 80/20 because I have seen that cause some "crinkling" on quilts.

I read that the Hobbs 80/20 shrunk just a little and that batting shrinkage is what caused the "crinkle". But I would have to agree that back in the day the batting was whatever they had on hand or could easily get their hands on to use for the batting

I will be watching this post... hope to learn more before I start my projects in the next couple of weeks :)

It's possible that the quilts from that era weren't as crinkly because they were never washed. In that time period washing was done by hand, probably on a washboard. It would be really hard to wash a quilt that way. I've been told that they used to bring the sheet up over the blankets and pinned it so that it kept the blankets from getting dirty. The sheets were easier to wash.

I agree Jane, I used "Request " on my Dear Jane, Sylvia's Bridal Sampler, and my Loyal Union Sampler quilts and they all hung really nicely - they are all large quilts and I was very pleased with the results.

If it were me, I'd use the Quilter's Dream Select cotton batting, which is a little thicker than the Request. When I used the Request it was so thin it tended to tear when I repositioned it in the sandwich while machine quilting.

When thinking about how quilts were made back then, they were pieced together with scraps and using new fabric for a quilt was blasphemy. There wasn't commercial batting as mentioned before, so they used whatever they could come up with: old blankets and quilts that were too full of holes to serve their purpose, left over flannel from baby diapers and probably worn wool coats that were pieced together. Not sure what information you will find here but this is the link for the International Quilt Museum at the University of Nebraska. It might help you. http://www.quiltstudy.org/ here are some other interesting sites: http://worldquilts.quiltstudy.org/am...ement/sanitary http://www.womenfolk.com/quilting_history/civilwar.htm http://www.patternsfromhistory.com/civil_war/