# Blankets As Quilt Batting?



## Peacock

I'm a fairly new quilter -- I've made...um, let me count...7 quilts now...and I think I've got the basic technique down for the plain old utility, stitch-in-ditch machine quilting process. I am not patient enough to do hand quilting and someday I may make a quilt top worthy of a long-arm machine, but not now. 

But this is all I really want right now, some tidy little machine-sewn quilts that make good bedcovers, or maybe wall hangings, or window draft stoppers...you get the picture. Not works of art. I love scrap quilts, and actually the look I'm going for is Depression-era, as I am fascinated with that period. 

I have a few old blankets -- some twin-size cotton hospital blankets, some of those old polyester blankets (the kind that pill really bad, with the satin bindings)...wonder how those would be to use as batting in a quilt? I was thinking especially those thin cotton hospital blankets might be good for a summer-weight quilt, and you can get them in bulk for maybe $5-10 each or find them in thrift stores, a lot cheaper than a roll of batting.

Anyone tried this? How does it work?


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## AngieM2

Well, that's what they put between the backing and quilt tops my Grandma made and never got done.
They held up well.
You ought to try an army blanket between design layer and backing if you want a heavy duty one.
But I have purchased a couple of on sale blankets just for this type of use.

Angie


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## Ardie/WI

Like Angie said, that's what my grandma used! In fact, she sometimes even sewed old pieces of worn out clothing together to use as batting. Those quilts were HEAVY!


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## Calico Katie

You can use whatever you want as a batting, it will just come out different weights and thicknesses. I've read that in Colonial times they sewed their rags together and stuffed them with dried leaves. Of course, that was when it was illegal to make cloth in this country and all that most people had was what they wore over here.

A few years ago, I was given a lot of blends and polyester knits. I made some quilt tops from the blends and used the knits as the batting layer. They were thin and somewhat heavy but would keep a body warm. Those were strictly utility type quilts. 

You might want to tie the quilts with the polyester blankets as a filler. Those would be hard to hand quilt. I like to use crochet thread to tie with rather than yarn.


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## jc12551

My grandma and great grandma used to use old quilts, blankets, clothing, flour sacks, etc. for batting. I just fixed a quilt that my grandmother made (it was tied and the thread was all rotting out) and I found another quilt on the inside! It was worn to pieces. I took a pic and my mom remembered the inside quilt from when she was little (she is 55). The outside quilt was made for me. If I ever have a daughter (doubtful) I will stuff these two inside of hers. Kinda a neat concept. Of course, I can't quilt, but my mom does. I don't have time. I am more of a crochet person.


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## Trixie

I'm not really a quilter, but have made some 9 block quilts and used blankets for batting. I did tie, rather than quilt.

My Mother used to recover her old quilts that were wearing out.

One time she used jeans fabric, scraps from worn out jeans and overalls. She covered both side. That was a warm quilt and I loved it as we had no heat in the house at night. The one thing, you had better crawl in and get comfortable because turning over was a real chore.


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## ErinP

My grandma used to use blankets not only for batting, but for the quilt back, too! She'd basically piece the top and then attach the top to the blanket. The first quilt I ever made was out of old jeans that I did this way. I pieced the top (just squares!) and then attached it to a blanket. The denim was plenty heavy without adding more layers. 

I made it ten years ago and it's on my bed right now. 

PS: Grandma always tied her quilts, blanket ones and regular. But I machine quilted mine--stitch in the ditch.


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## treesonggal

I have a flying geese patterned quilt I bought in South Carolina years ago. The batting is a hand-loomed cotton blanket!

I use Hobb's heirloom cotton/poly batting for my quilts now but, have used old cottong mattress pads with great success. Also, I use 300 thread count sheets that I prewash for the quilt backs.


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## Garnet

I have made camper quilts and quillows using an acrylic blanket for the batt.

Sometime around Y2K I bought "economy" acrylic blankets at Kmart. They were very inexpensive, and I got some to have on hand in case we needed to offer emergency accomodations. The blankets would be ok for temporary bedding, but would not wear well for extended use. But I thought they would be protected and stabilized used as a quilt batt.

Anyway, here's how I made camper quilts - something to take in the van if we had to make an emergency marathon cross-country trip in the winter months. Or just for car camping. 

I used a couple of yards each of 45" fabric for the quiilt top and back. I either bought extra for the binding or used something in my stash. (I think I made one quilt about 6" longer than the other.) I serged the ends and prewashed and dried the fabric and squared off the ends. 

The size of the acrylic blanket I bought was about 80x90. So I cut the blanket in half to make 2 pieces 80x45 and stacked them to make a double thickness, resulting in a nice warm quilt. I made the sandwich and trimmed the extra batt off one end, stitched on the binding, and tied the quilt. 

I use the quilt that is 6' long and my husband uses the one that is about 6 1/2' long. Some extra yardage of the top fabric made a couple of pillow cases for 18" square pillows.

The quillows were about the same dimension with the extra 18" square for the pocket. I just used a single thickness of the blanket since these would be mostly used for snuggle quilts for watching tv or a nap. The resulting quilt was a little stiff and did not fold up well to stuff into the pocket. But the pocket is perfect to tuck your feet into. 

If I make another camper quilt, I will add a square (with just a single layer of batt) for a foot pocket.

For a cost comparison, 2 yards of cotton batt on sale recently cost about $10. That would make a double layer camper quilt. At the time I bought the economy acrylic blanket, I paid about $3.


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## COSunflower

I watch yard sales for acrylic blankets and can get them for a dollar lots of times - I love using them for quilt batts as they make the quilts so nice and warm and don't add alot of weight. Just recently I went to a inventory sale at Bed, Bath and Beyond and got some nice big polar fleece blankets for $3 each. They are a weird color but it won't matter as they are going to be used as quilt batts. I always tie my quilt if I use a blanket for a batt.


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