Originally Posted by
Wintersewer
Yes. Years ago quilters did not have available what we do today and batting was not bought on a roll. It was bought in bulk hunks, cotton or wool.. Before layering it, it had o be "pulled" apart evenly and spread over the backing. As you can imagine, this was difficult and time consuming. Often quilters re-used quilts or blankets in place of batting, to save all this work. When you see old quilts with lumpy batting it was because there was not enough actual quilting, or the quilts were tied. Aren't we lucky today??
I remember helping my Grandma smooth the batting in her quilts. I have some and treasure them especially the one with patches made from scraps of my school dresses. She made them from feed sack fabric. It was fun to go with Grandpa and choose the colors and patterns I wanted. And yes, we are lucky today. Don't think my hands could pull as well after all these years.