Date: 3/13/10 7:18 PM

I have a small quilt (36 inches by 48 inches) that needs to be sandwiched. I have several pieces of left over batting; none of which is quite big enough for this quilt. Is it worth the trouble to try to piece them together? If it is worth doing, what is the best method?

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Elaine

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Reply to Elaine Dougan
Date: 3/13/10 7:53 PM

for small quilts I have have stitched the batting together.
I just butted the edges together and stitched them with big stitches- the name of the stitch eludes me as I am writing but you end up with a crisscross by taking a bite one side then repeat on the other side - sorr I am not good at describing things. Everything seems to all hold together once it had been qwuilted

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Date: 3/13/10 8:50 PM

Yep. butt the edges together and just whip stitch down on an angle, then switch angle directions and go back up. By the time it is quilted, you'll never know.

Now, I wouldn't bother stitching together several scraps. But, I do save scraps more than 5-6" wide for just this purpose. When the standard 48" roll batting isn't quite big enough, adding on is plenty quick and easy.

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Date: 3/13/10 9:56 PM

I do this for small quilts - butt them together (don't overlap them!) and use a zigzag stitch to sew them together. It will be just fine when it's all quilted together.

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Date: 3/14/10 0:13 AM

I've also joined batting by using a strip of iron-on interfacing on the back.

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Reply to Elaine Dougan
Date: 3/14/10 12:48 PM

Hi Elaine. I have pieced batting but only when I'm pretty sure they're the same batting to begin with or very similar. I also do the grain check as batting is more stretchy on the horizontal direction and match the grain. Then I join the pieces with a wide zigzag stitch, using the foot with the little wall in the middle (obviously I can't remember the correct name). Hope this helps!

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Reply to Elaine Dougan
Date: 3/14/10 1:28 PM

Elaine, I do exactly what DougieB does. I measured wrong and cut my batting too small for a project and had to piece a strip back on to make it usable. I was using warm & white 100% cotton batting: I used my joining foot and large zigzag. It worked and was worth while for me. Here is how it looked afterward. It's hard to see the white on white stitching. Good luck.

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Date: 3/14/10 3:10 PM

I have used my edgestitch foot with a zigzag stitch to piece batting together. I rotary cut the edges to be joined to get a good match. It went together fast and came out perfect.

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Date: 3/14/10 6:14 PM

Thanks for all the tips. The only thing I can add is that I cut the layers in a curvy line so that the join was not so weak all in one line. Then I butted them together and added some washable hash marks.
butted with hash marks
In case you are wondering what all the fuss is about, here is a picture of the quilt top. I am so glad to be finished putting all those little pieces together. I thought it would be easy, but I made a zillion mistakes and it took forever.
quilt top 36 by 48 inches
-- Edited on 3/14/10 6:42 PM --

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Elaine

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Reply to Elaine Dougan
Date: 3/14/10 7:21 PM

Oh Elaine your quilt top is beautiful!! Your piecing looks great. Who's the lucky recipient? Post pics when it's completed.

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