My grandmother used to put old "sheet blankets" in some of her quilts. If you're not familiar with them, they were lightweight blankets.. sort of like receiving blankets only adult sized.

You mean something like the light weight sheet type blankets you use at the hospitals. You can find them often at Goodwill or Salvation Army or even the thrift stores.

I'd be interested in hearing how this works for you. Considering that our ancestors used whatever they had available, including old stockings, fabric scraps & threads, ripped up newspapers, straw, feathers, horse hair and even dried leaves....I think your ideas will work just fine!

Oh boy! I am liking all the responses I am hearing so far to "just go for it". I have a stack of old sweatshirts and towels that have seen quite a bit of use. I think I can get a middle out of each stack.
And - I am liking the idea of old flannel sheets (why didn't I think of that...duh..) and those "sheet blankets".
More good ideas!
amma - ty for the tip about zigzagging the edges together - Is that to prevent bulgy seams I take it??

A lot of my donation quilts to a local women's shelter and foster kids had blankets from thrift stores or yard sales. You can even use electric blankets, just cut a slit near the plug in and pull the wires out.

i got some of those one time,from some online army surplus shop..they worked great. and were $5.00. and that description is dead on..receiving blanket for adults!

old sweatshirts would not fray...but should work fine...make it very heavy. one thing to think about is the fact you have to wash and dry it...if you make it too heavy that task will be difficult and very time consuming. i know a lady who uses old towels for potholder insides and they work fine. recycle-recycle! as long as everything can be washed together it can be used together :thumbup:

Back in the old days when they made quilts just to keep warm, they used what they had. I recall one of my grandmothers quilts, a very heavy one, that when it started to fray, you could see that she had used an old wool blanket as the batting. They used what they had.

Goodwill and thrifty stores always have worn blankets that make great batting.

I picked up a bunch of the cheap fleece lap throws at WM last week - they are 50" x 60" and perfect for - amazingly enough - lap quilts.... a back and batting 'all-in-one'...

some were $3 and some were two for $5

and can be quilted or tied