butterflywing

Greetings Quilter Barbara,

Have you ever thought about using something other than
traditional batting - the cotton, polyester, wool, or
silk you can buy at your local quilt shop?

Using something different seems to go with the whole
quilting-thinking (using scraps, bits and good left-overs).

Some quilters have gotten quite creative!

Here are some ideas of other fabrics you can use in place
of batting in your quilt.
Thin cotton blanket
Bath towel
Good parts of an old mattress pad
Osnaburg cloth (frequently used in doll making)
Cotton flannel sheet

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren
www.TheQuiltingCoach.com
Where Quilters Connect

7925 Pasadena Avenue, La Mesa, CA 91941, USA

Tiffany

Actually, I love using the old wool army blankets. They work great!

butterflywing

tiffany - someone was once moving and gave me a BUNCH of old itchy wool army quilts, that olive green color. after looking at them for almost a whole year, i ran them through hot, hot, hot water (they had been stored in her attic for g*d nows how long) and then washed again in cool water with a load of softener. then finished the shrinkage in the dryer.

when i was done i had the softest wool. thick, soft, warm as could be, and 2/3 the size. but i knew what i was working with. my cats each got one for himself. YAY! the rest are inside quilts all over nj. some have been carefully joined to make bigger batts. oh, and you wouldn't believe the wool lint that lets go in the wash. all that lint would have been inside a quilt working its way out. after washing, wool fibers are practically glued together. they make the best batting ever.