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Turning batting scraps into usable bats or is it batTs?
Spent most of yesterday organizing batting scraps. Then sorting. Then fusing. I never have good luck with the Frankenstein stitch, so I use fusible interfacing. I buy it by the yard.
Anyway, I now have batting all set to go. Made them large enough to fit my most common size of quilts for Project Linus. I hate piecing batting but listening to movies on YOUTUBE kept me working. My mountain of scarps has been reduced to a manageable pile, and I WILL make it all disappear today. My long armer gives me pieces she cuts off so most of the scraps were the same fiber content. So far, I have made batting for 9 quilts. Just think of the money I've saved to buy.....? (NO MOE FABRIC) |
Good for you! For 80/20, I use the widest zigzag and longest stitch length on my sewing machine. Works for me. I have never had luck with the fusible strips. I know that a few of my longarmer friends will just overlap poly batting scraps instead of anchoring them together in some way, but I still prefer to do a quick running stitch with needle and thread, just to make sure the pieces stay together.
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I do that but since I have plenty of time and no ailments I rough hand sew them together. Very mindless and satisfying.
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I got some batting tape at an estate sale for $1.00. I tried it and it works really well. I mostly use interfacing scraps cut in strips and sometimes stitch over it. Once it's in the quilt and quilted it seems to be fine either way
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I've done both the batting tape and the Frankensteining with my batting scraps. Works well for Kennel Quilts, and other smaller projects. Batting is too expensive wo waste.
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OK, I lied. Yesterday I did start piecing more scraps but after an hour I yelled UNCLE. SCRAPS YOU WIN. Stopped piecing and started to sew instead. I have a manageable bag of scraps left and will return to the mole hill sometime after PL meeting on Friday.
Yes, I have the bag visible in my sewing room so I won't let it get out of control. I hope...lol. |
We have a lot of longarmers in my guild. They are always bringing left over batting pieces to give away. They seem to all use 80/20 which makes it nice to have all the pieces the same. We have several members who like to piece batting, so they take the pieces and bring back pieced batting for anyone who wants to make a donation quilt.
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I've always pieced batting but I have to admit it's not my favorite chore. Usually I wait until the mountain of batting scraps is ready to topple, then get on with it. Amazing how many smaller quilts have battings that in earlier days might have been tossed.
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I used to think I couldn't pass up all the bags of batting pieces being given away. Soon my sewing room was full of bags of batting that needed to be sewn together. Sometimes it's best to not go down a path.
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I do the same but use batting tape I buy by the 100 yards roll. I try to order the same type of batting but once I tried Hobbs so have some scraps from it. I'll also never buy it again. I normally used QD 70/30 or maybe it's 80/20 but I like it much better. Any scrap too small to piece together I'll use either for embroidery designs or I'll cut them into 3x3 inch pieces to use with alcohol to clean my quilt frame rails so not much gets tossed into the trash can these days.. They're also great to dust with too.
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