Has anyone heard of using newspaper as batting in a quilt? I was talking to a young woman Walmart associate today who wanted to know if she could help me locate what I was looking for in the magazine department. I was looking for a quilting magazine to browse through while waiting for my DH. She started telling me about three quilts her deceased grandmother had quilted and she had inherited. She was looking for someone to restore them. She proceeded to explain that newspaper had been used for batting. I thought that was a rather odd choice because how would you ever be able to clean them. Just wondering if anyone had heard of that practice.

I know they used to use newspaper for quilting templates, but I've never heard of them using it for batting.

Check out this site.

www.hightimbertimes.com/.../colorful-history-quilters-gather-document-fabric-history

An older lady once told me that they sewed on newspaper like some people sew on muslin for scrap quilts. Some people left the newspapers in when finishing the quilt. I always wondered what would happen when you washed the quilt.

I have several antique blocks sewn onto newspaper. My grandmother used newspaper as a foundation like we muslin but she always tore it out before layering and quilting.

Maybe they couldn't afford any more fabric, but needed warmth and were able to delay washing them till they could afford something else.
I've heard of newspapers being used as insulation under linoleum where the floor boards were letting in wind. This was way back then in the hills, before dragons or cell phones walked the earth.

Back in the day big items didn't get washed as often as we wash things today. The quilts might have been hung out on a clothesline to 'air'.

However, it is more likely that the newspaper was used for piecing, as others have said.

Yes!!! My father-in-law told me about quilts his mother made. They called it "filling" because it filled the quilt (batting is a relatively new term....since we buy and use batting) for warmth. They used anything available including newspaper, feathers, horsehair, straw and even ground corn cobs. They really didn't wash the quilts but would shake them out and hang them on a clothesline in the sun freshen them.

My FIL was born in 1906 and his mother in the 1800's. He would tell stories about he and his brothers having to lay very still because there wasn't always enough quilting to keep the filling in place...it would shift to one spot and they would wake up cold!!!

Thank you for allowing me to ramble and recall fond memories of my beloved father-in-law.

When I was a little girl I remember having a feather pillow to sleep with...every so often one of the feathers would poke me in the face....

Thank you for all of your replys. I love to hear history about what was done in the past as far as households go. I had totally forgotten about hanging things in the sun and fresh air to freshen things. I have done it myself. Usually after washing them. The young woman seemed to really value her GM's quilts because they had been made out of the fabrics from all of the girls dresses. She displays them, but won't let anyone use them.

I slept on what was called a feather tick. It was like a huge pillow that was used for a mattress. Just about the time it would get all smashed down and I could sleep, Mom would fluff it up. I would always ask her not to, telling her that it tried to eat me and suck out my air. She said I was being silly. It wasn't until years later that we found out I was allergic to feathers. I always slept with my head off the side of the bed when I was little.

I sleep on a feather bed now! It's a 5in deep 'mattress' that sits on top of my regular mattress. It gets turned and fluffed up every time the sheets are changed and it's absolute bliss for aching joints.

And we always had newspaper underneath lino and carpets, because the gaps between our floorboards had to be seen to be believed.

And we always had newspaper underneath lino and carpets, because the gaps between our floorboards had to be seen to be believed.[/quote]



That's pretty funny. I remember daddy taking up several layers of old linoleum to put down under layment and carpeting. Underneath was layers and layers of newspaper. Under that was tin cans and stove pipe that had been hammered out and nailed over holes in the floor. They were in a formation. When I asked about it, Dad said, "Your mom and her sisters sat down on the couch and the legs of it went through the floor." The house at one time had had some termites. :lol: :lol: :lol:

I've heard of corn husks being used, but that's when times were real tough.

Yes! A lady who taught quilting told me they used to use newspaper as we use muslin today. She said sometimes they would take out but many times they left it in for added warmth.

I have a spider web pieced top that used paper as a foundation. The date on the paper pieces is 1935!

FEATHERBED: I remember one of those that my Mom gave me
after she had no use for it. I thought it a good idea to make
pillows our of those feathers. Wow did I open up a fluffy mess.
And those feathers were broken, dusty and yes dirty. That was the end of the feather tick that had kept lots of us warm
over the years.

Flo in COLD IN NNY

I know that people used to rarely wash their quilts. They sewed a layer of flannel over the top, about 12". Where the quilt would touch the head. Then they took that off and laundered that instead of the whole quilt. The quilts were hung on the line to air out. I believe most of these had heavy wool batting inside. I remember seeing this when I was growing up. The actual quilts really never got dirty, just the area of flannel. They would be hung on the line and then whacked with a wire beater. Do not know the technical name of the "whacker". (I think maybe rug beater) This removed any dust that had accumulated on the quilt.
It was used on area rugs too. They were hung on the clothes line and whacked to get the dust out. Gosh that must date me--grin

I use plastic shopping bags for filling for my four legged companions' beds. They love it. Can be fluffed up and can even be washed. (Some throw pillows get this plastic bag filling, too.)

Yes. A lot of very early quilts in New England used newspaper as what we call batting; also used for English paper piecing and the papers were left in.

I remember my grandma used old, worn out blankets for batting. Back then, it was necessity. Now we call it recycling.

I did know some used newspaper as foundation (such as in paper-piecing) but they didn't bother to remove it. I wouldn't be surprised to hear it was used as batting since even further back they used leaves as filler to make their beds softer. As was said before... necessity is the mother of invention and many folks used whatever they had at hand.

If anyone is reading the Elm Creek Quilt books, one of the books goes into great detail about a quilt found in a church closet and no one knew where it came from. They opened it up and found newspaper inside and determined the possible date by the papers found inside. That was the first time I had ever heard of newspaper being used as batting.

you might check this on the Quilt history List

Haven't you ever fallen asleep with a newspaper over you? It's surprising how much warmth it can provide really. When I was a kid, the quilt on my bed was not the top layer. It was covered with a bedspread so it didn't get very soiled with use. The quilt was more of a blanket. Quilts were more utility than for beauty, I guess.

I remember my mother hauling the quilt box outside at least once a year to air the contents on the line and leave the lid up to air it in the sun. As a child I was playing with the box and climbed inside. The lid came down and the hasp closure came shut. Here was one scared kid until luckily a neighbor came to visit and rescued me!

Too, I remember my grandmother telling of using straw for padding under the rag carpets. Can you imagine the dust? And we wonder how we have accumulated so many allergies over the years.

Have you heard newspapers being called rags? The paper used was made from rags that the poor collected from the trash of the rich and sold to paper factories. No lie. I'm sure some people continued using newspapers after they were mostly wood fiber without realizing a change had happened.

it was probably actually just made with newspaper templates/foundations. i have an old quilt my great grandma made back in the 20's...it still has the newpaper in it...when i asked my grandma about it she said they stuffed newspaper into the cracks in the walls too, for insulation, it was believed if you leave the paper it adds an extra layer of insulation. her's did have batting too, not just fabric, paper, fabric. but fabric, newpaper, batting (an old wool blanket) and backing

an elderly neighbor once told me that during the war times they did not have enough bedding to stay warm so they put sheets of newspaper between the bedding that they had to make it warmer

OMG that is me. Yep, feather pillows and feather ticks. I am violently allergic to down, feathers, any type. A real problem staying in the nicer hotels as many have total feather bedding and they have to come and take them out of the room.

We had rented and apartment once where half the front bedroom floor hung over the downstairs porch. My Mom told me to lay newspapers down on the floor. When I looked at her funny, she said that that is why the hobos in the park use newspapers for a blanket, because they are so warm. Well, I laid the newspapers on that portion of the bedroom floor, and I was amazed at how much it helped during a Wisconsin winter!

I believe they used the newspaper in the old days for foundations then just kept them in for added warmth. I'd hesitate to use todays newspapers though because of the ink bleeding into the fabric.

Yes, I can remember my grandmother talking of her mother using newspaper as batting in quilts. And years ago, my brother and I were given a summer job of tearing down the old, old farm house on my grandfathers's homestead. We found newspaper, bottles, jars, worn out shoes and clothing, all used as insulation between the wall boards.

It has been interesting reading through the replies. I have heard from my mother about the use of newspaper in quilts, when times were bad. It is eye-opening to learn how people made it through when problems come.

As to the feathers - I also am allergic, not only to them, but to wool. So when my cousin gave me a comforter she had made filled with wool from her prize sheep, I could not use it. (But how could I tell her that?)

My mother used newspaper for foundations. Never left them in a quilt. BUT - I do have an old tied quilt that has a hole in it and I can see what appears to be burlap bags used for batting. It's really heavy.

Oh my yes....not only heard of but my first large size quilt was made this way. My dear MIL Emma taught me. The newspaper was not batting but foundation paper. It is the old sew and flip thing. The newspaper was left in during the whole process, batting added, quilting etc. Then the quilt is washed and the newspaper melts away. Back then we used salvaged flannel from old clothes, pieces sewn together as a flat batt, before sandwiching...good cotton batt was not available and so was a polyester batt. We lived out no the ranch and the local shopping area had no fabric store per SE, just a craft general store that sold flats. We would scrounge white elephant sales and the thrift shops for old wool blankets and good condition sheets to make our backs and battings. I won a blue ribbon at the fair with that old quilt that was loved to death and it's self became the batt in a couple of baby quilts. I think Alex Anderson did a show on using newspaper for foundation on her old show on the Home and Garden network. You might find it archived there.

Please help! just a little bit ago someone posted about a Toilet in TX made of one way glass Yes I know its not Quilts But I'am I nuts? want to find it again and can't have I really lost IT!LOL

I have a small quilt made in the late 1800's that was never finished and the batting is old news papers. My mom wanted me to finish it but instead I had DH put it in a frame with the batting showing. I keep it in my sewing room. I love it, because it is so frugal. I also have about 10 all different sized blocks from the same GGM done in the early 1900's that DH is getting ready to put in frames for me.

I made a Crazy Patch using news paper as foundation, they use to call them Chronicle Quilts. I saw a show on tv many years ago about it. I think I posted it in my pictures here when I joined.

The first time I read about newspapers used as filler it referred to a Massachusetts quilt made in the 1700s, so paper, as you say, was probably recycled rags.

I wonder, since that was originally rag material, if the newspaper became soft when it was laundered??? Just wondering.