Batting Ideas

One of the things that all quilters have kicking around in the sewing room is leftover batting pieces that are trimmed from the edges of finished quilts. What do we do with all that batting? 
Don't throw it out! There are so many ways to use this pile of wonderfulness! 
I did a demo at my guild meeting this week to share these ideas of how to use up batting scraps:

* make a large quilt using the “quilt-as-you-go” technique (see my sample quilts here and here)

"With a little help from my friends"  5" x 6"

* use small pieces as batting for miniature quilts (my favorite way to use up batting)

* make a sandwich with old/ugly fabric and batting scraps to practice machine quilting

* use batting squares to make rag quilts 

Baby Max on his dog mat

* make flat dog mats (like a miniature quilt with a little stabilizing quilting)

* use scraps to dust your sewing machine or house (with or without your swiffer)

* use small bits for pillow stuffing (with crushed walnut shells or on it's own)

* make a dog bed (throw scraps of batting, thread snips and fabrics into a pillowcase and sew up the end when full) and donate it to the humane society 

Machine stitched batting

* join smaller pieces with hand or machine stitching, or with heat press tape to make a full size batt

One tip for using old battings scraps is to toss them in the dryer before using them. Use a low heat setting to get the dust out if they have been sitting around for a while (years!) Otherwise you might start sneezing :)

And if you don't want to do any of these things, take your batting scraps to a guild meeting and give them to someone who will use them. 

Have a happy Friday!