Penny Pincher's Quilt Batting

When possible I use thrifted fleece blankets as batting for my community quilts. I like the texture when I quilt with fleece as a batting.   Fleece blankets are generally economical, useful, easy to reclaim and ubiquitous.  They are mostly in gaudy prints and colors that have a tendency to bleed through light colored fabrics so I use them predominantly in dark colored quilts.  If I have a light color in the quilt, I will put a scrap of white tshirt knit or some thin gauzy white fabric under the light area. 

My favorite blankets are the double fleece with the knots along the edge.  At my thrift store they generally sell for the same price as a single layer fleece blanket so they are really a bargain. 
The disadvantage is the knotted trimming when they are cut off.  It's another part to deal with responsibly.  I can't say I've come up with any good solutions.

The nappier the fleece the better I feel about reclaiming it!

Such a hideously stereotypical piece of nappy fleece.  Good bye! 

At this price I usually get 2 pieces of 60 x 60" for $2.50 a piece.  

Quilters have asked in the past how I get the blankets ready for quilting. 

1. Choose the largest blanket & measure to evaluate how much to add.
2. Straighten the edges with a rotary cutter.
3. Align the two edges.
4. Cover the edges with a strip of fusible interfacing.
5. Iron the interfacing down.
6. Finished! 

I was digging around in my supplies last night and unearthed this roll of fusible skirt waistband interfacing.  It's easily from the 1990s & I was pleasantly surprised the fusible still stuck.  I'll be happily using it for edging for many quilts.  Yea!   And, possibly a gathered skirt or two. 

My friend Cindy sent me 6+ yards of a 60" wide very soft dark teal gabardine.  The recent sewing marathon has produced a huge stack of scraps & I have some reels of strips I've sewn together in the past waiting for their 15 Minutes of Fame.

A bunch of miscellaneous scraps, some a friend gave me.  They usually sew into  great looking quilts. 

When I end up with a lot of strips, I will sew them end to end keeping the top edge even.  Then I wind them on a cardboard holder so they are ready for strip piecing. 

I have enough of the teal fabric for 3 - 60 x 72" quilts.  I plan to load it on the longarm and stitch 60" wide strips until the entire length is filled.  When finished, I will cut the length into 3 - 72" quilts. 

Below is the general style although no two are alike.  I enjoy fooling around with the strip widths and color arrangements for some striped variety.  You can see the defined texture the fleece blankets give the finished quilt.

All the preparations are finished.  I like to accomplish that on an odd day so when the time arrives to load and stitch on the longarm, I don't have to spend a lot of time getting the supplies ready.

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