Hi Is it ever acceptable to piece batting? I am making a stained glass wall hanging & I was going to piece batting for it. I have batting leftovers from projects & hate to throw them. You all have such good quilting skills. I thankyou much

Yes, I piece batting all the time. Butt up two pieces under your sewing machine foot and zig-zag away.....that way your "seam" will be flat and once it's in a quilt, no one will ever know :D

You can piece batting. Here's the method I prefer.

Overlap 2 pieces of batting. Cut a wavy line through both with a rotary cutter (maybe 4 to 6 inch curves). Discard the 2 wavy ends. The remaining pieces of batting will fit together perfectly. Use a tailor's hand tacking stitch on each side of the cut to secure the 2 pieces together. (Google tailor tacking, or watch Susan Schamber's video on how she bastes her quilt sandwich to see how that stitch is done.)

The reason for making the wavy cuts through both is so you don't end up with a "crease" in your quilt where the batting joins.

Of course you can piece binding, It is less apparent if you overlap the pieces a little, then cut a wavy edge through both edges. Remove the excess and but together and whipstitch kust enough to hold them. Your quilting stitches will hol;d the batting in place.

I can't believe we all answered within the time it took to type a reply!

Funny you should ask...I was just getting ready for tomorrow's mystery quilt and I ended up using 3 pieces to get the 28" X 28" I needed.

I also have a question regarding the quilting of a piece using pieced batting.

When you do piece your battings, do you need to quilt more closely together in order to help it stay in place? Say for instance, if I had a star block that I was going to stitch in the ditch around, would that be enough to hold it in place, or would it require closer stitching like stippling or an allover quilt pattern?

If you piece your batting like the methods above, I see no problem with quilting it as you would a regular batting! I have never had any difficulty.

Are the ones you did used frequently, or are they wallhangings? I wouldn't hesitate on a wall hanging, but I do make a lot of baby quilts that have to hold up thru lots of washing and loving.

These were baby quilts!

That's good to know! I was saving my batting scraps for placemats and table runners, but now I won't hesitate to use them for quilts too. Thanks!

When I make a rag quilt or a Cathedral Window I like to put the batting in the center of the square at the very beginning. That way I can use smaller pieces and my quilt is completed much faster. I use light and natural batting so when I make a log cabin quilt, I sew the fabric directly to the batt. When I sew the squares together, I trim the batting so it isn't overlapping. Then I just tie the quilt after putting the backing on.

I prefer EASY!

I use a very light weight fusable interfacing, like what we sometimes used for garment making. Cut it into strips, 2-3" wide. Lay the edges of the batting together, use the IRON to fuse them together. No wrestling under the machine! When you have an available 40% off coupon, you can get yards of this for about $.60 per yard. Great stuff to have around.

I also use the light weight fusable interfacing as a stabilizer for t-shirt quilts - iron a piece bigger than what your final square will be, then trim shirt and fusable to the correct size.

I piece my battings quite often. Mainly for my wall hangings. I just zig zag the pieces together and they work great.

I have shared the fusible interfacing solution with many quilters since I learned it - - from you, Shelley? - - anyway, it is so superior to the stitching method in my experience that I highly recommend it.

Shelley, do you use this on one side of the batting or on both sides?

Just on one side. All you are trying to do is hold it together so there are no gaps. Once it is in a quilt, it won't move.

Well, I have always 3-step zigzagged my pieced battings. How clever to iron them!!

I use the 3 step zigzag because it seems to hold a little better for me when I pull the batting taut to baste the quilt sandwich. I try to kind of wave my stitch a teeny bit so that sometimes one half gets the extra stitch and sometimes the other half gets it. I have never had a problem with doing it this way.

Great tips! Thanks so much for sharing. :)

i do it just like this also and i've never had any problem with it and neither has anybody else whom i give my quilts to, not even the baby quilts.

I totally agree with Shelly. I use the fusable interfacing - bits and pieces that are left over. I make sure I quilt over the "joint".

good information prism99 also the one recommending light interfacing- I have some to piece also and was afraid it would show in the finished product

I put the two pieces on top of each other. Sew right along the edge of the fabric in a very long, very narrow blanket stitch. When you open it, there's no telling where it was pieced.

I guess the best thing is knowing you used some "scraps" and nobody will know.

Love your idea. I piece batting (always the same brand) all the time but never thought or knew about the curved cut. Makes a lot of sense. You are my good tip of the day. Thanks.

The only caution I would make is to make sure the pieces are of similar batting. In other words, don't put cotton batting with polyester or of different thicknesses. I've done this successfully many times. I'm making a quilt that every block has it's own batting that I whip stitch to the next block, then quilt. It turns out very nice.

Linda

I piece batting all the time but I'll have to try the interfacing. Do you use this method just for quilts that are decorative or for all of them.

I used Shelley's tip for interfacing on my grandson's quilt. It is a stacked coin with white stripping in the middidle. You could not tell I had pieced the batting. It felt great to be able to use up a couple odd sizes of batting.

Gwyn, You put batting in a Cathedral Window?? It must weigh a ton!!!

Hi Shelley,
what a great idea and I am really happy to be using it.

It works really good and so easy.

Thanks, Lilly.

my books for quilting in sections, all reccommend piecing battings. You actually cut the batting in sections, on purpose, and later, you join them back together, using the wavy cut method, to camoflage. I like the idea of using the pellon or interfacing, too. Will save me bending over to whipstitch. :D

Thank you for that! Piecing the batting with stitching is the part of quilting that I HATE, so your suggestion is much appreciated!

[quote=Eddie][quote=Shelley]I prefer EASY!

I use a very light weight fusable interfacing, like what we sometimes used for garment making. Cut it into strips, 2-3" wide. Lay the edges of the batting together, use the IRON to fuse them together. No wrestling under the machine! When you have an available 40% off coupon, you can get yards of this for about $.60 per yard. Great stuff to have around.

Thanks for that tip. I tried it today for a wall hanging. It works great and so quick. I always have scraps of interfacing.

I sometimes piece batting to use up offcuts but hadn't heard the fusible interfacing tip before. Sounds great - must try it out next time I need to piece some together