(just visualize a very rough, thick, quilt/rug to go on the floor)

I’ve sewn a bunch of old jean pieces together, mostly to learn how to sew jean material with a twin needle (only broke one so far) on my cheap sewing machine, but I didn’t think the project through completely.

There are two problems.

  1. It seems the quilt batting I can find around here is pretty thin (1cm) and pretty expensive: CHF18 (US$23) per meter, and it is only 150cm wide. So to double or triple it up to get some decent thickness, for an ~84cm × ~84cm top and my scrap project is starting to look a tad expensive (like near enough to half the cost of a sewing machine). Any thoughts on stuffing material (it’s just a dog bed after all) - or should I just suck it up and buy the batting? I’ve looked at using a rug purchased from a low-end Ikea-type store, but they seemed too thin and too expensive - and it goes against the reducing waste idea, right? I thought maybe I could piece together a second layer of batting from the remnant of one purchased meter, to get a bed that’s at least a couple of centimeters thick, but wasn’t sure how much integrity a separate strip would have when just tacked in (see problem 2). Or I guess I could cut the cover down to under 75cm × 75cm; it’s not that big of a dog. Any feedback?

  2. I was planning on using an old shower curtain for the bottom under cover, with through tack stitches, instead of buttons, at the checkerboard corners: no problem there I think. But making a bag, to put the filler in, by sewing it inside out leaves one edge different than the others (as the last closing seam) when it’s turned right-side out. How do quilts normally get closed on all sides?

  • Senna@lemmy.todayEnglish
    2·
    9 days ago

    Quilts are normally finished with binding, and not stuffed like a bag. The binding goes along all the edges, sewn to the quilt top and then the quilt bottom. For something being stuffed like a bag, usually the answer is to sew almost all the way around while it’s inside out, leaving a small gap that would let you put the stuffing in, turn it inside out through the gap, and then that little part is sewn closed (tuck the raw edges in).

    Stuffing material - maybe set aside anything cloth that you would have tossed and cut it into strips? Towels, socks, tshirts, that kind of thing. If you know anyone who knits/crochets, maybe they have leftover yarn ends they could give you. Definitely do the actual quilting though, so whatever you stuff with doesn’t end up shifting.