Hi Bestie! Silk is the batting nobody believes until they feel a finished quilt. Stephanie Hackney from Hobbs Bonded Fibers admits as much in this four-minute video: raw, it looks like nothing. Quilted, it drapes better than anything else Hobbs makes, and it will not stiffen no matter how densely you stitch it. Here's what Tuscany Silk is, what it's for, and the care routine it demands.
Key Takeaways
- Tuscany Silk is 90% silk, 10% polyester, with a very thin loft. It exists only in the hand-finished Tuscany line, not Heirloom.
- The silk is peace silk (the silkworms are not killed), and it's the one Hobbs batting not sourced in the US; everything is still manufactured in Waco, Texas.
- It has the best drape of any Hobbs batting. It's the pick for heavily quilted bedspreads that must hang well, quilted jackets and coats, art quilts, table runners and placemats, and hand quilting.
- No matter how much cotton thread you put into it, silk will not get stiff. Dense quilting stays soft.
- Care: never pre-wash. Wash only in the finished quilt, delicate cycle, cool water, minimal spin. Dryer 5–10 minutes on air fluff or delicate at most, then block or hang to dry. Never fully machine dry.
- Not for charity or baby quilts; it won't survive repeated warm-water washing. Save it for the special quilt, or a gift to a quilter who knows how to care for it.
What Tuscany Silk Is
Hobbs makes two product lines. Heirloom battings are machine-finished and rolled; Tuscany battings are cut, folded and bagged by hand with air left in, so they come out loftier and less wrinkled. Most Hobbs battings exist in both lines with identical fiber. Silk is the exception: it's Tuscany only.
The blend is 90% silk, 10% polyester. The silk comes from peace silkworms, the ethical option for anyone who cares about how silk is harvested, and it's the single Hobbs input not sourced in the United States. Like every Hobbs batting, it's made in Waco, Texas.
Why Drape Is the Whole Story
Stephanie is candid: the raw batting is thin and unimpressive, and she didn't get the fuss when she joined Hobbs. The moment it's inside a finished project, it has the most beautiful drape of any batting they make. That makes it the choice when the quilt has to hang: a bedspread with heavily quilted edges that should fall softly over the sides, a quilted jacket or long coat, an art quilt, a table runner or placemat that needs to lie flat and soft.
The second property is the one dense quilters care about: silk does not stiffen. You can put an enormous amount of cotton or cotton-poly thread into it and it stays as soft as the day you basted it. That's why Hobbs names it alongside wool as one of its two best battings for hand quilting.
How to Wash a Silk-Batted Quilt
- Never pre-wash the batting. Silk and wool are the two Hobbs battings you can ruin by washing loose.
- Machine wash only once it's in the quilt, delicate cycle, cool water, no heavy agitation or spin. On a front loader with a hard spin, make sure delicate is actually selected.
- Dryer for 5 to 10 minutes only, air fluff or delicate, to relax it.
- Block or hang to finish drying. Never fully dry it in the machine.
Because of that routine, Hobbs steers silk away from charity quilts and baby quilts, which get warm, frequent washing. It's for the very special quilt, or a gift to another quilter who will follow the care instructions. Label the quilt with the batting and care either way.
Products Featured in This Video
- Hobbs Batting Sample Pack — includes Tuscany Silk so you can feel the drape before buying a package
- All Batting at Linda's — Tuscany Silk packages and rolls are listed here when in stock
- Hobbs Tuscany Wool Batting Package (King) — Hobbs' other top hand-quilting batting, with more loft than silk
- Tuscany 100% Washable Wool, Queen — the same care routine as silk, with wool's loft
- Hobbs Thermore Polyester Batting Package — the easy-care alternative when you want a thin, flat batting for art quilts and garments
Keep Learning
- How to Choose the Right Quilt Batting: Hobbs' 5 Questions (video)
- Hobbs Wool Batting Explained (video)
- Hobbs Polyester Batting Explained (video)
- The Quilt Batting Buyer's Guide
- Selecting Batting for Quilting
If you've got one quilt in your queue that deserves to drape like fabric instead of hang like a board, this is the batting for it. Feel it in the Sample Pack first; you'll understand Stephanie's conversion.
Happy Quilting! From Corey.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Hobbs Tuscany Silk batting made of?
90% silk and 10% polyester, with a very thin loft. The silk is peace silk, harvested without killing the silkworms, and it is the only Hobbs batting input sourced outside the United States. The batting itself is made in Waco, Texas, and is available only in the hand-finished Tuscany line.
What is silk batting best used for?
Anything that needs to drape: heavily quilted bedspreads, quilted jackets and coats, art quilts, table runners and placemats. It is also one of Hobbs' two best battings for hand quilting. Its defining trait is that it stays soft no matter how densely it is quilted.
Can you wash a quilt with silk batting?
Yes, once the batting is inside the finished quilt. Use a delicate cycle with cool water and minimal spin, tumble on air fluff or delicate for only 5 to 10 minutes, then block or hang to dry. Never pre-wash silk batting on its own and never fully machine dry the quilt.
Is silk batting warm?
Silk is a natural fiber that breathes, so a silk-batted quilt is light and comfortable rather than hot, with very little loft. If you want warmth and puff with similar hand-quilting ease, Hobbs Tuscany Wool is the companion choice.
Why doesn't Hobbs recommend silk batting for baby or charity quilts?
Because it is delicate and will not hold up to frequent warm-water washing and full dryer cycles. Hobbs recommends silk for a special quilt or a gift to another quilter who understands the care, and Heirloom 80/20 for baby, charity and giveaway quilts.
Read the full transcript
[0:00] hi there my name is Stephanie Hackney and I'm the director of sales and marketing for Hobbs Bonded Fibers I'm here today to make you a little bit more familiar with the Hobbs batting products hopefully you at least know about our 80/20 but we've got a lot of other products that we thought you might want a little more information about this product that we're going to talk about is our Tuscany silk and I want to make sure you understand that we have two different product lines one is called heirloom and you'll notice those are round rolls and then we have our Tuscany line which are flat folded these are cut and folded and packaged by hand there's a little bit more air in these bags so not as compressed so they're gonna have less wrinkling and they're gonna be a little loftier out of the package now this particular product the Tuscany silk only comes in the Tuscany line it's not available in our heirloom line but we have many other products that are available in both lines and they're essentially the same product only the finishing is different so the Tuscany silk is made with very fine silk the silk is actually produced by peace silkworms, so for those of you who are interested in the Ethical Treatment of Animals this is the ethical treatment of silkworms and this is one of the few products that we don't source in the US all the rest of our products are sourced in the US and we produce all of our products in Waco Texas so the Tuscany silk is 90% silk and 10%
[1:19] poly this is a sample of it you'll see that it's got a very very thin loft and to be frank when you're looking at it in the raw form doesn't look all that exciting when I first joined Hobbs everybody told me how great the silk was and frankly from just looking at the raw silk it was not so excited but as you'll see if you see it inside of any kind of finished project it is the most beautiful drape of any of the battings that we make it is really a gorgeous drape for either a quilt or for clothing or art quilts or anything that you want to drape very beautifully if you're thinking about making a bedspread and you want it you want to heavily quilt the edges you want it to drape nicely over this is a really great choice this is also a great batting for hand quilting for art quilts for table runners placemats the only thing you do need to be cautious about that this requires a little bit more care when washing so let's talk a little bit about that this product is machine washable once it's inside the quilt we do not recommend pre washing any of our battings especially the silk and our wool because you could ruin that batting by pre washing it so with the silk once you get it inside your quilt you can throw your quilt in the washer
[2:36] on a delicate cycle with cool water and no heavy agitation or spin so if you have a front loader that very heavily spins you want to make sure you're putting it on the delicate cycle so that that doesn't happen once it's washed you can toss it in a cool dryer either delicate cycle or air fluff only for about five or ten minutes but then this does need to be either blocked or hung to dry you do not want to fully dry this in the dryer now this is also really wonderful for again for hand quilting but also for clothing so if you like to make quilted jackets or perhaps your gonna make a long a long coat and you're gonna put a lot of stitching in it this would be a really good choice for that because this silk no matter how much you stitch it will not get stiff even with a lot of cotton heavy stitching it's still going to be this soft it just has the most beautiful drape of anything we make so this would be a really great choice for that very very special quilt for a quilt that's maybe a gift for another quilter who knows how to take care of the quilt we do not recommend this product be used in things like charity quilts or baby quilts again because it's a little bit more delicate and it won't hold up to a lot of washing with warm water okay so that's it for the tuscany product if you have any questions feel free to reach out to Linda's Electric Quilters or
[3:53] you can reach out to us directly at wwlp.com thank you [Music]
