5 Alternatives to Store Bought Quilt Batting

Quilt batting can be costly. If you have a lot of patterns on your list and are planning to make all of them, prepare to spend a lot of money, especially if you want to use high-quality materials. Just like what others said, quilting can be a very expensive hobby. But if you are on a tight budget and still want to quilt, there are batting alternatives you can use. I found this video from Scrap Fabric Love, where she shared 5 alternatives to store-bought quilt batting.

RELATED: How to Make a Self-Binding Placemat

These alternatives are way cheaper than your regular quilt batting. You can find most of them in your home, thrift stores, or charity stores. Although they are not the usual, they still work fine in giving comfort and warmth.

Here’s another trick you might want to try: How to Baste a Quilt Using Spray Adhesive

Low-Cost Quilt Batting Alternatives

1 – Old cotton towels

If you have old cotton towels, use them for your cotton batting. Just cut off the decorative parts that are heavily embroidered as they have different thicknesses to the rest of the towel. Cut off the edges as well if you are going to join it with a different towel.

If you don’t have old towels, you can usually find them in thrift stores and charity shops.

2 – Flannel sheets

Flannel sheets are thinner, so if you are going to use them, use a fleece backing. They are already made for beds so they come in the sizes you might want and you don’t have to do piecing.

3 – Fleece backing fabric

Use an old fleece blanket as the baking of your quilt and don’t have a batting in between. It will be thin but still warm enough. You can also use flannel sheets for the batting.

4 – Old blankets

A blanket already holds itself together so you don’t need to worry about where the quilting stitches are and whether or not they are all even because it is not going to fall apart. Blankets are also available in different thicknesses.

5 – Batting scraps

If you keep your batting by type, your scraps will be the same so you can use them as batting for your quilt. You can piece them together or just slide them in as they go.

5 Alternatives to Store-Bought Quilt Batting