Use Quilt Batting More Efficiently
By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador
When I first heard about a product called Heat Press Batting Together, I wasn’t sure it would be worth the trouble. But I have changed my mind, and now my battings are often made from leftover strips and odd-shaped chunks.
It’s common to have leftover batting pieces that seem too large to throw away but too small to really use. That’s where this product comes in.
Heat Press Batting Together is a fusible product that comes on a roll in two widths: 1-1/2″ or 3/4″. The 1-1/2″ version is meant for joining batting pieces. The narrow version has other uses detailed on the product website. My first roll was just 10 yards but when it was gone, I bought this larger roll of 100 yards.
The idea is to join leftover bits of batting into larger useable pieces. Above you can see that I had a very long strip about 20″ wide that I’d trimmed from the side of a big quilt. The green is that quilt’s border fabric, and you can see that the quilt had wavy edges.
I cut the long strip in two and placed the two even edges together. If necessary, straighten the edges of your batting pieces. I use the floor or my kitchen island for this step.
Move the pieces to the ironing board and nudge them up next to each other. I do not overlap them. I just butt them right up close. Cut the length of fusible product needed for your section. There are no instructions about iron temperature so I have assumed that it doesn’t matter and I haven’t had any trouble. My iron is set to the hottest temperature because 99% of the time, I am ironing cotton fabrics. (Edited to add: New instructions concerning iron settings are on the product website.)
Be sure you have the bumpy side of the fusible down against the batting. Iron the fusible strip on top of the area where the batting pieces come together. Move the iron over the entire strip, checking to be sure that the entire length is securely fused.
Straighten the edges of additional batting pieces as needed and join them to the first section in the same way in order to make a batt as large as you need.
Layer the batting with the backing and quilt top as you normally would.
A couple of thoughts:
I only join pieces of the exact same kind of batting. I don’t mix one kind with another.
I have used the joined batting with the fusible down (on the bottom, toward the backing) and with it up, next to the quilt top. It doesn’t seem to make any difference.
I probably would not do this on an heirloom-quality or competition quilt. I think those quilts deserve a complete batting in just one piece.
Of course you can always hand-sew batting chunks together with a large whipstitch, but this product saves time over that method, and I think it’s more secure.
I use this method for quilts I am going to quilt myself on a domestic sewing machine. For me this means the HQ Stitch. If you are taking your quilt to a longarm quilter, I would ask before expecting them to use a piecemeal batting.
Heat Press Batting Together is available at many quilt stores.
Find more information on the product website, including a demo video.
What an awesome product…I will be trying this idea.
I’ve used this since it first came on the market. Love it. I had some concern at first, but I generally quit with spaces no more than 3 inches and there doesn’t seem to be a problem. Great product.
If you have poly batting the tape will not work. Poly will not sew on machine too great either. The 100 cotton or poly cotton will zigzag on the machine,. the tape may be fast but it not cheap. You will know the batting has poly for it will burn. I have done over 100 Linus quilts using whatever given for the cause. Use white thread also to sew on machine.
Where do you find the 100 yard roll
I think you’ll have to ask at your local quilt shop and I’m sure they’d be willing to order it from you. I purchased it through my wholesale account with a distributor. I did lots of math to see which was was more economical and it all comes out to a difference of only pennies either way. But I wanted the convenience of never having to buy it again!