givio

Some long arm quilters refuse to quilt for you if you don't use a manufactured batting. But if you quilt your own, you can suit yourself. If you don't want a heavy quilt, choose accordingly something lightweight to put inside, or put nothing. I make baby quilts with a top and a flannel back, because I want to make my baby quilts more like the 'receiving' blanket one uses around a baby indoors, rather than the cozy quilts for colder situations.

But for a heavy quilt-- the heaviest quilt I made was with nylons. I had 2 sisters, a mother, a grandmother, aunts, and women from the office who all gave me their nylon stockings (the older women) and pantyhose (the younger women) that they otherwise would have thrown away because they had runs in them. I wrapped a piece of the leg around my hand, and put it flat into a pocket (or envelope) that I'd prepared for it, using a 4" square print sewn around 3 sides to a 4" square of old sheet. Not turned inside out, just with the raw edges of the seams showing. The next pocket was sewn to the first at the open side of the first in order to close it, right sides of the prints together (the seam at the back on the old sheet side). I used the panty parts cut into pieces for filling too. I sewed strips of the square pockets to the width I wanted, then sewed the rows together with the prints right side together again . After it was double bed size, I put flannel on the back, and sewed long lines diagonally (to make an X in each square) to hold the front layer with its nylons and the back layer together. This construction was not my idea. My grandmother taught us to do it, my mother had a quilt that grandmother made her in this way. It was beastly heavy though!

My son loved the one I made. When he grew up and moved out, he asked me if he could have it. We had used it a lot for family camping trips, as a pad under a sleeping bag. Folded a couple of times, it was so thick that you didn't notice if you were laying on a stick or a stone. :-)