Waste Not, Want Not {Batting Scraps}
Hello everyone. Here is a scrappy little quilt-top I’ve just finished basting onto its batting. I’m so excited to get it quilted and bound–it sure seems like it has been such a long time since I’ve completed a quilt.
You probably can’t tell just by looking, but the batting underneath this quilt-top is just as scrappy-looking as the quilt-top. It all began with one of the many heinous piles of batting scraps sitting in my sewing room. Bleck!
I have the hardest time getting rid of batting scraps! On one hand, it seems wasteful to throw them away. On the other hand, I’m usually too lazy to piece them together for a quilt. What’s a girl to do?
Thank heavens for Therm O Web’s HeatnBond Batting Tape. This stuff is brilliant.
Step #1 is to align your batting scraps. If your pieces are crooked, just trim them beforehand so they fit together easily.
Step #2 is to lay down a strip of batting tape (fusible side facing down) to connect the batting pieces.. The batting tape is thin and lightweight (reminds me of gauze) so it is not going to cause extra bulk or thickness when you quilt through it. You will not even know it’s there!
Step #3 is to set an iron to a medium or “wool” heat setting. Next, place a cloth over a section of batting tape and iron over the area for about 15-20 seconds. The heat from the iron will fuse the batting tape to your batting scraps! Neato! Repeat in sections until the whole strip of batting tape is fused in place.
Repeat to piece together your batting scraps until you have batting coverage larger than your quilt-top.
That’s it! I told you it was easy. Now it’s time to move on and baste the quilt-top to the batting. Boy it sure feels good to use up a few of those batting scraps!
Now, if only I can settle on how to quilt it!
11 Comments
molly
March 15, 2013 at 12:28 pmVery Cute! I knew there was a good reason not to just throw those scraps in the rubbish!
Ruth
March 15, 2013 at 1:01 pmTotally brilliant. Never heard of this stuff before, and I definitely will be using it in the future. (Oh, and I absolutely love your quilt. It's so bright and cheery!)
Jennifer
March 15, 2013 at 2:55 pmI do the same thing! I tend to just zigzag mine but it's so much easier to use up all the scraps
Britney
March 15, 2013 at 3:50 pmBeautiful quilt. I wish I had a scrappy stash of fabrics like yours. Question, is the fusable tape easy to sew through when you quilt? Once in your quilt does that secocion become hard like fusable web (wonder under stuff)?
Vanessa Goertzen
March 15, 2013 at 4:43 pmIt IS easy to sew through. The batting tape feels like gauze, so it is very thin–not at all thick like the fusible web adhesives used for applique and such. Hope that helps!
Kim
March 15, 2013 at 8:53 pmWhat a clever idea! I suppose you could use any iron on hemming tape. Definitely going to be using this method for joining scraps of batting in the future, thank you!
Bloom
March 16, 2013 at 11:48 pmWhat a great tip! Hope you don't mind, but I've shared it on my Facebook page 🙂 Totally lovely quilt too.
Prayeriewife
March 17, 2013 at 9:25 pmyes, very pretty quilt and a nice tip!
carol
March 19, 2013 at 7:52 pmHi Vanessa,I have always accessed your blog through Google reader, which is going away on July 1. Do you have any suggestions for an alternative for me and your other readers?
Vanessa Goertzen
March 20, 2013 at 1:59 pmOh yeah, bloglovin.com is what I'm using personally. Here is my blog post about it: http://lellaboutique.blogspot.com/2013/03/for-my-lovely-subscribers.html
Ann Wray
April 8, 2013 at 6:51 pmwonderful. My puppy chewed thru a bit of the batting on my quilt as I was top stitching so this idea will help repair.