Question About Piecing Batting
 

I've got all sorts of batting pieces that would fit together nicely to make a piece I can actually use for something other than a runner or coasters! I've tried zigzagging them together, but the seam ends up looking like a Frankenstein scar (too tight) or all bunchy with giant stitches. I'm sewing on a Janome 6500P. What is the best setting for success? Could it be the pressure of the foot? I'm not about to give up!

I just butt the pieces against each other and then use a wide long zigzag or triple zigzag. I do that all the time and it works well for me. Sharonve

The iron on tape that is sold in quilt catalogs works great for me.

I find it helps to use my walking foot with a wide zigzag stitch. I don't worry about how it looks, because you'll never see the seam after the quilting is done.

I really like the iron on tape, but just get a yard or two of iron on tricot stabilizer at JoAnn's & cut strips. As mentioned above, it's pretty amazing at how ugly it looks before sandwiching and after quilting you can't even find where it was joined.

I lay a strip of iron-on batting tape, sticky side up, on the sewing machine, and butt 2 edges batting pieces in top. I zig zag a wide stitch catching the two pieces of batting with the tape underneath. When I am done stitching, I take it to the ironing board and press the sewed on tape to the batting for reinforcement. This takes out the bunchiness and make the pieces act like one batting.

this is the tape: http://www.joann.com/batting-tape-3q...2Btape&start=2

I use a walking foot with the largest and widest zig zag stitch and butt the pieces up against each other.

Now there's my morning smile :) ... frankenstein scar!

Basically you just have to catch the two sides together, so open up your width as wide as it can be and lengthen out the stitch. It's a great time to use up ends of thread (bobbins and spools) as it will be buried in a quilt later! I don't worry about colours either, as I tend to use my patched batts in darker quilts, just in case the seaming should show through on a lighter coloured fabric.

When I am joining pieces, I make a fresh edge cut, on any angle to maximize the batting that will stay, and minimize the trim portions. Likewise a fresh cut on the piece I am adding. Or you can overlay the two, and cut through both at the same time, and you know for sure their lines will match.

Angled lines are actually better than all straights at 90°, as that way it will have your joins running on angles and less apt for anything to show through. Plus it helps avoid being right under a seamline of your quilt where you may be doing SITD or running down a section where you may have no quilting. With the angles, it is more likely to get quilted on top of, which will help stabilize the joins.

Some of my joined pieces are pretty small. Some are trimmings of the excess when I sandwich a quilt, and some may be a bit bigger but smaller than anything that I can see me using for a runner, etc.

I keep a patched batting WIP at the cutting table. As I have extras, I add on, instead of making it a major project later on. With it are some of the trimmings that don't get into the patchwork, for when I need narrow pieces for bag handles, or when I am doing a small test sandwich.

All great advice. Thank you! I'll post pix as I try again!

I lay out my batting pieces on the wrong side of my backing material and spray it with basting spray. Top it with my quilt top and smooth it out. Turn it over, lift backing and spray batting pieces and lay backing on top. Smooth it out. Works well and I don't have to fool with piecing the batting pieces.

I use a glue stick and try to just overlap very slightly.

This works well for me!

If the zigzag seam is bunching up/pulling too tight, you might have to reduce your thread tension slightly.

Great! Here's to no more Frankenstein Scars! :)

I do this all the time. The real secret is in having straight edged. Otherwise they just don't fit well.

The only time I tried using the machine, I got the stretched out Frankenstein scar. Now I do mine by hand. Big overcasted stitches don't take too long.

I piece batting scraps after overlapping and cutting through the 2 layers with a rotary cutter. Then I lift away the trimmed slivers and while the 2 pieces to be joined are still on the mat, I use a blue chalk wheel to mark registration marks across the join at about 3 inch intervals. That way when I am joining the 2 edges at the sewing machine, I do not have stretching as I sew the lengths together. I use the widest and longest 3 stitch zigzag and very thin ivory serger thread so no bulk is added. I just butt the 2 edges together and sew. Then I add another piece and pretty soon it is big enough to be useful. Good luck!

I also overlap and do a gently curved cut. Remove the excess and push the pieces together. I actually use the open toe foot with a wide zig-zag and adjust as needed. Maybe you need to decrease the foot tension on your machine.

I found this video quite helpful for piecing batting.... I hope it helps!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGNBpBJ-8HE

I am trying the iron on tape now. I have the batting edges meet and iron the tape. Next when I move the batt around, I can see a tiny sliver of a gap where the batting edges pull apart. Do you iron the tape to just one side of the batting?
Thank you!

I also have the Janome 6500P and use my batting scraps to make a larger size for a quilt. For me, I barley overlap the edges of the batting and use a wide zigzag stitch with about a 3.2 length setting. Mine doesn't bunch up. Are you using the correct settings as indicated by the screen?

I use the batting seam tape. Right now I have a number of pieces pieced together in various sizes. I'm quilting smaller projects on the frame using up all these smaller pieced battings using one large muslin backing. Just keep adding the batting when I run out, rolling the muslin along, adding the next project. Great way to clear off my rod I keep all projects waiting to be quilted. I'm also quilting fabrics for various future projects such as dining table chair seats, toilet seat covers, etc.

That was terrific! Thank you.

I looked at JoAnn for batting tape, but it was all double sided.

I own a Janome 6500. I also piece batting all the the time. Using your regular zigzag foot, I set my machine at "7" - for zig zag width and "4" for the stitch length. Make sure that you are feeding the batting evenly as you sew, don't push or pull on it.

I use a stitch on my machine that looks like a broken zig-zag. (< >) something like this with a space in the middle. Never have any bulk. Always nice and smooth.

I hand stitch them together using a very long zigzag stitch. Have to be sure to know it at the beginning and end of a seam.

I would just iron it to one side. When you baste, don't stretch it, so that the edges stay together. Ultimately, if there's a millimeter of space there it probably won't matter once you quilt it, as long as the space isn't along a fold line in the finished quilt (folding right along there would make it spread more).

With pieced batting, I always try to quilt more heavily than I would with an unpieced one, to keep the joins from opening up.

I like the spray basting to the back technique that someone posted. Going to try that, think it would work with glue?

I have a Janome 8900 and use the largest zig zag both in length and width. The seam lays flat. I go slow so the two edges stay together and let the feed dogs guide the batting. I don't pull or stretch it. If the seams aren't meeting then before I start stitching I overlap the batting a little bit and cut with my rotary cutter, that way I have matching seams to butt.

I use the iron on batting tape. Why bother cutting your own when the tape comes on a roll ready to use. The seam doesn't show and no bulk of overlap.

I've used a somewhat large zig-zag stitch to piece abutting batting scraps together for years, and the results have been fine. I have used the basting tape available at many on-line stores, JoAnn's, Nancy's Notions, etc., but the next time I buy any more I will buy larger rolls, but it has worked well also.

I always learn new things on this blog site. Today I have learned from QuiltE about putting batting scraps together with angled lines. Makes sense and I like the idea of keeping thr 'patchwork' bat project close at hand. Lots of great ideas here today.

*blush*
Thank you, QuilterPurpleDog!

I buy fusible interfacing by the yard using a JoAnns coupon, then cut it into long strips about 2 1/2 in wide, I butt the batting together then use a pressing cloth and steam iron and fuse the pieces together it works better for me than using the tape that is made for that... I put the interfacing on the back of the batting, that would be the smoother side.. pimples up, dimples down, that's how I tell the front from the back on the batting, then the interfacing that you use will be next to the backing and it won't show through, although mine never does anyway.

When someone says the right side of batting. What difference does it make? The right side to the backing or to the quilt top? LOL

You had me laughing out loud!

:DLikewise for me ....... and now, I don't think we will EVER forget which way is up/down!:D

Many thanks to all who offered advice. I am now happily -- and thriftily -- piecing away!

Happy for you, that you have found a way that works for you to turn the trimmings into something more usable!