Liners Terrycloth vs cotton batting

[Saylavi]

Which is better and bunches less in the washer? I'm using terrycloth in my fleece right now, but I saw Joanne's has cotton batting which is supposed to be absorbent soft and scrunch free up to 10 inches. I've also heard of people using uhaul (what is that?) and puppy training pads (I've never seen any washable puppy pads) but I'm a little less confident about those. Has anyone on here used uhaul or cotton batting? Another consideration is thickness, since my sewing machine is with my mom and my friends machine is kinda.... it can barely take 2 layers of fleece and one layer of terrycloth.

 

[pinky]

I've made fleece pads with terry cloth, cotton batting, polyester batting and uhaul pads. The terry cloth ones were really heavy and didn't dry completely, even though they felt dry on the outside. (I took them all apart after washing and drying to see what they looked like and the terry clothe ones were still wet.) Polyester batting wasn't absorbent. I loved the cotton batting but it was expensive. Even thinner layers seemed to work but I found the thicker the cotton batting the better. I switched to making them with uhaul pads because it's so much cheaper and is just as absorbent as the cotton batting since they're both 100% cotton. If you can find the uhaul pads, use those and you'll save a lot of money. If the cost isn't a factor, the cotton batting works just as well. I make mine with a single layer of uhaul pads inside with fleece on both sides. Some people sew in two layers of uhaul pads but one layer works for my guinea pigs.

 

[CavyChrissy]

A sewing tip for you: if you are sewing something thick (like when you sew layers together for a liner), you should use a "walking foot" on your sewing machine. It lifts up higher with each stitch to allow the thicker material to pass under. You should be able to buy one wherever you bought your machine.

 

[pinky]

Another suggestion is to use a ball point needle when sewing fleece.

 

[Saylavi]

My normal machine can handle it, my friends machine is so old that it's front loading.