Uses for small pieces of batting..and I mean SMALL
 

I am terrible when it comes to having to throw anything away....I think it comes from my grandma, but I digress....
I piece my larger pieces together for backs and use some for potholders / rag quilts / but is there anything I can do with say 3" strips of batting? The stuff left behind after trimming your quilt?
Any ideas would be appreciated!

Carole

I save all my trimmings and then use it for stuffing for pet beds that I donate to the local SPCA.

You can also use small pieces as padding, for appliques.

Bookmarks, and coasters, mini blocks for ornaments or keychain fobs.

My really small pieces go in a separate bag that I use for packing material when sending packages in the mail. My kids gave me a bad time until they got fragile items all safely padded. Teeny, tiny pieces become mulch in my garden.

I use them for purse straps. I'd piece them together for small items too. I found a great tip on here a while back...put 2 pieces together, using the ruler/rotary cutter, cut a nice straight edge, sew it with a hem stitch (has a few straight stitches, then a zigzag - keeping the straight on the outside and the zigzag catching both pieces), open and smooth it out. Works great and easier to line the two pieces up.

sometimes, a larger piece that i have is a smidge short on one side or just in the corner... so i use these small pieces to fill the larger piece out to a usable size

Zig-zag together, use for rag quilt squares

Besides what the others have said, I make a "strip sandwich" to test my machine, thread, etc. when getting ready to quilt.

Those small pieces can be used outside the realm of quilting! Use them to dust off your Tv, computer screen, and dashboard of your car. If your strip is wider than 3", put it on a swifter handle and give a quick sweep of your floor. You will be surprised how well they work for this!

GREAT idea!

At garage sales, I buy old pillow cases which I channel quilt and stuff with little batting pieces for the Pet Shelter, they are always glad to see more.

they can be used for handles on purses,

Pin a small piece of batting to your shoulder as a place to stick small pieces of thread while you are sewing. You can also use it to "blot" snippets of thread off your clothing. When you're finished sewing for the day, use the scrap of batting to clean up small bits of thread or tiny fabric scraps around your sewing machine. Then throw it in the trash.

I sew the larger pieces together for quilts, but I take the itty-bitty ones down to a guild that gives them to someone else who wants them. I don't know where they end up, but at least they're out of my home and still being used.

I wad them up and use for dusting and cleaning my sewing room, they always pick up loose threads and bits of fabric dust.

I have used them on my floor swifter that lives in my sewing room, works great, and sometimes I will even wash them and reuse a couple times....keeps my hardwood floors clean of all the little thread clips that don't make it into
the wastebasket. have used in and for drink coasters also.....Batting is so expensive, I don't throw anything away.

Machine embroidery in the hoop projects.

Use them to catch threads when sewing, put one on the edge of your table next to your machine. Works great. Also for you Swifter dry mop. Works great and usually the right size. I also keep several handy for this use too.

mix with catnip and stuff cat toys.

What great ideas! I feel so wasteful after reading this thread. I usually throw away the strips after doing a quilt.
Well, sometimes I will cut 4 or 6" squares for my quild to use on rag quilts.

I'm going to be trying a lot of these ideas! Thanks for the tips.

HeHeHeHe...give them to another quilter! :p

This board is fantastic! What great ideas. You guys are the best. . . any question or problem and everyone kicks in with great ideas. So glad I found you. :-)

Thanks for all the tips everyone!
I Just comlbined some of the ideas and thought I should cut the ones that are right right size for rag quilts into enough squares to make a complete quilt and put a pretty bow around it and give it to some quilting friends who like making the rag quilts. Love the swiffer idea too!

You guys are great!

I would not use smaller pieces or strips for a quilt. To much of a chance of them coming apart after numerous washings. Save them for smaller projects. Its ok to sew a couple larger pieces together for a quilt. We always have pieces from a roll leftover.

What about purse straps, bookmarks,piece them together .

I keep all small pieces of batting and then cut them up in very small pieces for stuffing the teddy bears and dolls I make.
Nothing wasted.

I have a question on this -- I spray baste my quilts but toss the trimmings only because I thought if the dogs/cats chewed on the bedding, they might get sick from the basting spray. Your thoughts ???

As for leftover batting scraps, I use them in whatever I can - sewing together what I can. Those too small and not sprayed, I also use it for dog beds.

I use tiny bits as stuffing for heart shaped pillows for the cartiact unit of a local hospital. I always keep a few hearts sewn up and then fill as the bits are trimmed off of projects.

I feel so wasteful now. I throw away the trimmings around my quilts...the small pieces. And now I've read about all the good uses for them. Shame on me.

I zig-zag stitch pieces together to get to the size I need. Or maybe use for stuffing pillows, pet beds.

Insanity I know - but I have a plastic bucket of diced up small smidgens that usually gets used up when making stuffed Christmas ornaments. Free stuffing!

Cotton Theory by Betty Cotton uses strips as small as 11/2 inches wide for blocks and is a quilt as you go method.

Do you knit? I'm knitting a bunny and I'm supposed to put a tennis ball in the body. I used larger needles and it doesn't snug up. You just gave me inspiration -- I can wrap the batting around the ball.

Long story short -- batting could be cut up and used to stuff things.

I sew the strips together and use for small wallhangings. If you do fairly heavy quilting, you can use it for a lap quilt as well - the heavier quilting makes up for the fact that sewn together batting doesn't actually stay together that great. Sounds strange, but some nursing home residents wouldn't use the quilts they were given because they were 'too nice'. By telling them that EVERYTHING was bits that were left over, they seem to feel better about it and will USE the item. I have a brother who is the same way. He's afraid of wrecking something I've made, so he gets stuff made totally from scraps so that he will use it.

You can also use small smidgens to stuff objects that won't be washed. Batting doesn't drain fast enough so can get a moldy smell if you use it in stuffed animals and such, but some things like ornaments never get washed anyway.

I save them too and practice make sure tension and stitches are ok

thank goodness I save all of mine too. I needed to correct a quillow by adding a border and the strips were exactly 3 inches for the pillow part and just long enough. I also use them in pincushions, and as some stuffings. The flatter kind like warm and natural I have also use to make book markers. There are alot of uses as mentioned above.

What a fantastic thread! One I have not seen yet it to make a design board with them. Purchase one of those big craft cards that takes pins, open out your stapler and nail those scraps on there. Then you have a board that you can audition pieces on, and it takes pins too!

If the scraps are wide enough (6") I use them in Kaye Woods 6 hr quilt. which is a quilt as you go. The real small pieces go into stuffing animals for the hospital or children at the abuse center or pillows