When your batting is too short for the quilt on your longarm

Oh no!  You advance to the final pass of your quilt and are about to do the happy dance, when you discover your batting is too short for the quilt on your frame!  Not to worry – there’s a simple solution, and you don’t have to unload your quilt!

Here’s how

Step 1

Move the unquilted portion of the top out of the way.

Step 2

Layer an additional piece of batting down, overlapping the batting already on the quilt by a few inches.

Step 3

Cut along both layers of the battings in a gentle smooth curve, making sure to stay within the overlapped space. A smooth curve helps hide where one batting stops and the other starts.  Cutting is most easily done with batting scissors, but any long-bladed scissors will do.

Step 4

Gently remove the thin extra pieces from both layers.

Step 5

Smooth the two battings together, ensuring there are no gaps between them. The battings should stay in place.

If you’re concerned about the battings shifting, you could do one of the following:

• Use spray basting on the battings
• Adhere the battings together with batting tape
• Whipstitch the battings together
• Use your longarm to tack down the battings
  • Using a top thread that will not show if left in the quilt between the top and batting, take a stitch on one batting, about ½” – 1” from the batting seam. Then jump across the seam and take a stitch in the other batting, continuing down the length of the quilt, jumping across the batting seam.
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  • Remove tacking stitches from the back after quilting.

Step 6

Lay down the top, being careful not to shift the battings.

Step 7

Quilt as normal.

That’s all there is to adding more batting!

Additional tips

Of course, the best thing is to prevent short batting from happening.  I like to fold my backing, batting and top in fourths and compare them by placing them on top of each other with the corner with two folded sides together.

I will immediately see if one of the layers isn’t square (90 degrees in each corner) or not large enough.  I orient them to how they will be loaded and place a safety pin in the middle of the fold of each layer.  This helps me make sure I don’t put one of the layers 90 degrees out of how it should be loaded on the quilt.   I match the safety pin to the middle of my leader and everything is centered evenly.

 Conclusion

Whether you’re new at this or very experienced, quilting “oops” happens to everyone.  Just know that there’s a creative solution to almost anything you encounter.  Enjoy and Happy Quilting!