Today I have another trick to share with you about leftover batting strips.  Tricks always help us do something easier or faster or in this case more resourcefully!

Have you ever thought “how can I use this leftover batting” after you finish a quilt?  I always wondered about that as I would cut away the extra strips from quilts I made. I hated to throw them away. So I would just fold them gently and put them away “just in case.”

Because they vary in size, you may think it’s more complicated, but I have managed to salvage leftover batting strips in all these projects below!

A wall hanging.

A little tote.

A runner.

A table topper.

Here is one way to up-cycle your leftover batting strips for other projects. My strips varied in size from 3 inches wide to 6 inches (roughly.)

1)  Trim the ends first so they are straight.

2) Fold every strip in half  (one at a time) and line them up on the mat.

2) Make sure that the front and back of the folded batting meet at the line you will use for cutting so you cut through both evenly. (sometimes the front or back will be wider or narrower) Do this for the left and right sides of the batting.  Repeat for each strip. It’s okay if the batting is slightly uneven at the ends. You will trim off the excess.

3) Lay the strips side by side (touching) until the whole size is approximately what you need.  Lay your project over the batting and  make sure there is at least a 2 inches around each side of the quilt top, Trim the really long pieces as necessary.

4) Determine the number of strips needed, Set your machine to Zig Zag stitch with the longest and widest settings.  Using the slowest speed, guide two pieces of batting through the machine until they are joined.  Guide them so that they MEET in the center under the foot, but DO NOT OVERLAP. You may have to stop occasionally to re-align the batting under the foot. Do this until all your strips are joined.

5)  Make quilt sandwich and quilt as desired.

I have also done this by hand using extra large diagonal stitches but I was really pleased with this machine version. I promise as you can see in the picture above, the batting laid perfectly flat and once you quilt it, the batting placement is reinforced with the quilting.

I get a little thrill whenever I pull this off, it feels so sneaky because you totally can’t tell!  I hope you found this tutorial helpful for salvaging your batting leftovers!