As a longarm quilter I buy batting by the roll which means I inevitably end up with all sorts of strips of batting that aren't quite big enough for another quilt. For example, for a 60"x60" quilt, the batting required is approximately 66"x66". However since the batting is on a roll that is 90" wide, I end up having a 66"x 24" strip left over. Multiply that by a LOT of quilts and I just end up with a bunch of strips... so what's a girl to do?
There is batting joining iron on tape and I've also heard of others zig-zag stitching 2 pieces of batting together. I learned my favorite way to join batting from Angela, but it does require you to float your top. Start longarming like normal on your batting, make sure there are several inches that are not getting stitched. Once you index the quilt and the end of the batting is in the throat of the machine, add your second piece of batting by overlapping a good 6 inches or more.
Cut a WAVY line across BOTH layers of batting where they overlap across the batting strips. Take out the ends of the strips and smooth the batting together. You may need to click on the photo to see the batting seam line.
Smooth down the quilt top again and continue quilting. Repeat this process the next time you run out of batting with another piece to add on. I use this method all the time on my quilts to not waste batting. Because the join is not a single straight line it's really hard to tell on a finished quilt that the batting was joined in the middle on your quilt. Pretty neat right?!
Have you tried this way of joining batting before?
As a reminder, I'll be sewing on Twitch tomorrow at 9am! We'll be finishing up the Hiraeth Handbag that we started 2 weeks ago. Come hang out, chat, and sew!
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