Batting too short, already on the rack, HELP!!
 

So, I'm quilting away on the baby quilt, and it's coming out nice. I was fairly happy with the result, until now. I'm probably 2/3 done with it. Tonight I noticed that the batting is WAY too short. I must have put it on the rack sideways, which seems odd because the sides are fine. I have no idea how this happened, but I can tell you that from now on I'm going to mark the top of the batting when I measure it. I know the measurement was right, because I laid the quilt on top of it on the floor before I made my cuts. I was tired when I loaded the quilt. I must have screwed it up then.

Now, I don't know what to do. I'm quilting fairly dense swirls, so I'm wondering if I can just add another piece in at the bottom? Should I join another piece by hand? Has anyone else done this?????! What to do, what to do.......................... :thumbdown:

I don't know the "proper" solution, but I would whip stitch another piece of batting to it while it is on the frame then quilt over it and call it good. It's not uncommon to stitch two pieces of batting together to use in a quilt so a little hand stitching should fix it just fine.

That was my thought too.
Ugh. I'm so disappointed!! All I can do is laugh, though.

I have done the same as Audrey B and I have also did the iron-on tape route. Both worked fine. Once the quilting is done all will hold in place and no one will know.

i have spliced on a a few inches or joined two large scraps to do a child size quilt. everything looked good when i finished quilting, and wore well thru repeated washings. i have done the whip stitch method and the overlap method. i haven't used the tape yet.

It happened to me, also. I was able to get the iron close enough and I used the iron on fusible bonding tape method, and it turned out just fine. Good luck

Yep, been there, done that. Hope not to do it again though.

LOL, ok, well I'm in good company then! :-P I too hope not to do this again... DEFINITELY marking the top from now on. I must have had some sort of subconscious inkling because when I was putting it on the rack, I thought, what if this is on sideways... Pfft

I often whip stitch pieces of batting together and it is not noticeable after the quilt is done. So you can add another strip of batting where you need it even though it may be a little awkward since it is on the frame. So sorry that happened but after you add the batting no one but you will ever know!!

Whip stitch, overlap, and joining tape all work great.

You are quilting on a rack and quilting fairly densely, you don't even need to whip stitch it. Just cut another piece of batting and butt it up against your short piece. If the cut isn't exact you can overlap it a tiny bit. The excess in the overlap won't even be noticeable with your fairly dense swirls.

I have not shorted myself but have done this with two scrap pieces of batting and once I loaded W&N upside down and started getting pokies so I just cut it and flipped it over. You can't even tell!

I make lots of scrappy quilts and I have batted some of them entirely with scraps of batting. I used to carefully zig-zag all the pieces together but now if I know I'm going to be doing pretty dense quilting I don't bother to attach the pieces to each other at all. I just glue-baste them down to the backing, make sure I don't have gaps, trim anything that is overlapping and call it good. Never been able to tell which quilts are batted with scraps and which have whole batting when I'm done. The only evidence is that there's suddenly some space in my batting scrap bin!

My thoughts, too!

This is exactly what I do too. I use lots of left over pieces of batting for small quilts, overlap them, cut & then use glue to hold down, quilt. Works great!

Sounds like the solution to your problem won't be too painful! Let us see a picture of the quilt when you are done.

Whew! Been there done that. It's easy to do. I too, just lay the new batting down beside the old piece and let the quilting hold it together. No need to stitch battings.

I whip stitch batting together all the time and never have a problem. I know there is tape too. I have never used the tape because it is pricey and whip stitching is next to free with what little thread is used so that's why I go that way.

I have had that happen to me also. I took another piece of batting and used the iron on tape to bind them together. I even ironed while it was on the frame. The section was on the rollers. It worked fine. After finished quilting, I couldn't tell where they were connected. GoodLuck

I think I'm just going to add another section with a few stitches so it doesn't shift while I'm quilting. I'm tempted to just quilt it, but I don't want to screw it up (again)! Hoping I can finish the quilting on it tonight, but we'll see. I'll definitely post pics when it's done. This is the one I'll be hand stitching the binding on for the first time as well, so I'm just going to take my time. Not too much time though. I have other quilts to get to! ;-)

This is a good solution. It doesn't have to be a small whip stitch, just a quick one, enough to hold the added piece in place til you get that area quilted. I have done this.

Also a quick basting spray would also work if you have some or the Elmers School Glue method. All would work.

Keep us updated on what you did to fix it!
peace

Well, I just whip stitched it together with long stitches so it will lay flat. I worked for about an hour on the quilting and just got to rolling up where I joined the batting. The dog was going BATTY (lol) so we decided to take him for a walk. Tomorrow evening I'm going with a friend to see A Chorus Line, so I'll have more time to sew on Friday.

This is exactly what I do.

I piece my all the time. But I don't use a longarm.

Yes, just add a piece at the bottom. You could hand stitch together. I have used pieces zig zagged together and you can't even tell when quilted. There is also a product where you can tape binding together but I have never used it.

Adding as you go works just fine. I've been caught by customer quilts that way before.

Angela Huffman has a tutorial on splicing batting when the quilt is already on the frame: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPgjAYTLeTQ

When this happened to me-I used a piece of the batting that you iron to both sides of your quilt-they sell it at JoAnn's fabric-it has the sticky stuff on both sides and you could just iron it on to the piece you are using and cut it off when it is long enough-No show and no one will know-Good Luck

Can you ladder stitch an additional piece by hand? It wont show. You may get a "bump" if you whip stitch it

This is similar to what my LA dealer suggested in the training class.

I would do the iron on tape stuff to add more batting. Good luck.

When my grand daughter & I run short on the batting we call it Frankensteining the batting when adding more batting to the existing batting lol she doesn't like doing it but I sure will to save future problems lol. I love quilting with her, actually I should say sewing with her. She will make a quilt but doesn't want to quilt it just do the birthing method & call it done lol.

Yes, this is what I do. But since it is on your frame, if the cut is straight, with some spray adhesive, I would butt up another piece as close as possible. I think it happens to everyone at least once if not more!!