Whenever I cut batting for a project I stash away those leftover strips and sections to use for small projects, the ones I think I will get to... someday. The problem is that someday never arrives! The cabinet with batting bits was getting so full it was hard to shut the door; and, at the same time, my big batting roll was getting skinny and near empty. Before I placed an order for a new roll I decided to lay out those batting trimmings and see exactly what I had saved, and what I might be able to join together and actually use. I have a couple of Christmas table toppers in the queue to be quilted and thought that maybe some small, pieced batts would be possible if I could join them by machine. I have hand whipped some high-loft polyester batting together, (not fun!) but never had tried joining batting by machine. All the scraps were the same, Quilter's Dream Blend; a needlepunched, low-loft, 70%- 30% cotton polyester blend batt with a light scrim, it's sturdy. Making some straight cuts on the sides to be joined I carefully fed the pieces, butted up precisely one next to the other, (not overlapping) beneath the presser foot. I used a large, long, zig-zag stitch. It worked beautifully. In no time I had a 60" square piece ready to load, with the table topper, and it's back, onto Sundance for quilting. I can't feel the joins at all now that I have the layers together and ready to go, I'm certain that it will be impossible to find the joins once it's quilted. Happily, I will soon have a cabinet with room available to stash other goodies, and I have recycled some batting strips and sections that were otherwise worthless. What do you know, that nebulous someday did arrive after all, today was the day! Life is Good!
9 comments:
I have several large shopping bags with my batting scraps in them.....I keep thinking I'm going to make some wall hangings or doll quilts, or something small....but that's not happening!
I guess my someday hasn't arrived yet! :o(
So glad yours did!
Great idea to use up your scraps this way! Mickey (granddaughter) did try joining some pieces of batting together and ended up with puckers, I am guessing the width of the zig-zag is the secret...thank you for the tip! Like Regan (previous commenter), I decided to save small scraps for smaller projects! Have a wonderful week, enjoy your July 4th, is there a picnic planned?
I have been doing that for a couple of years and really feel good when I use up those scraps rather than throwing them away. I also sometimes just layer scraps on a backing, especially for comfort quilts, and quilt away. I have never felt the overlap and they quilt up great. I, too, use QD 70-30: such a great batting.
I love doing this too! It's like...FREE BATTING this way! ;cD
I also overlap the ends about six inches and do a wavy cut with the rotary cutter just where it overlaps. This will butt the two pieces together and you will not have a straight line, which helps, and then zig zag the two pieces together. Judy C sends her best
Its like discovering found money isn't it Debbie- That is a sizeable piece of scraps that you made into something useable. I got some tape that is made for the purpose of joining strips of batting- not sure how it will work but I may try it sometime soon with the pieces that I have saved.
Happy 4th of July.
Regards,
Anna
I'm a batting piecer too, I just hate to throw out the bigger bits. The serpentine stitch (#4) on my Bernina works really well when set fairly wide and long. It doesn't bunch like the zig zag sometimes can.
This is welcome info. I have often pieced batting by hand (tedious), but never thought to use the machine. Thanks!
Love recycling!! The table topper turned out beautifully too (as seen in the more recent post...and Hannes is as handsome as ever!)
Great reminder for us to use up what we have first. Glad your "someday" came! I'm still trying to get my "tomorrows" straight LOL!
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