How to Make a Quilt From Old Baby Blankets

One of the reasons many people starting time sewing is considering they would like to make a quilt. I am quite smashing to make i now too, but I'm not overly sure almost the process. Luckily my lovely friend Jenny from Mend and Make New is guest posting today for my Back to Sewing Basics series, and her fabled mail service is all about how to make a quilt! I volition exist studying this post very closely! Jenny is a very talented seamstress and makes beautiful clothes and other gorgeous things for her children Noah and Isabelle. Make sure yous pop over and visit her at Mend and Make New for lots of sewing inspiration!

Information technology seems that many beginner sewers aspire to run up a quilt. A lovely, well made quilt has an heirloom quality to it – something to be treasured and past downward. Yet despite these aspirations, it seems many sewers (both beginner and even those with more experience and skill) are daunted past the prospect.

I'm here to tell you lot that you demand non be daunted by quilting. If you tin can run up a directly line (or are willing to larn how to) and can follow simple step-by-step instructions – you tin can do it!

The quilt I made for my girl Isabelle (pictured above) is 1 of the commencement things I sewed when I got dorsum into sewing as an adult; and it is one of my favourite and most professional person looking projects that I've completed to date.

If yous're notwithstanding daunted by the prospect here are a couple of other things you can do:

1) Start small – this is the beauty of quilting – your projection tin exist as little or as big every bit y'all desire it to be. If fifty-fifty a cot quilt seems to large, perhaps start with a dolls quilt, patchwork absorber cover or something like. This will help get your conviction up.

two) Start with a simple pattern – directly lines and squares (more on this soon.)

Hopefully past now you take the confidence to plunge into your first quilting project, hither's what you need to know in order to get started:

The nuts:


a) Materials required

• Pins for the piecing stage
• Basting  / safety pins
• Rotary cutter
• Thread
• Sewing scissors
• Seam ripper
• Quilting ruler
• Cocky healing mat
• Material pencil / mark

I will explain the use of some of these further, later in this mail.
The ane affair that I left off accidently is my quilting pencil – a very helpful tool that I utilize to draw my quilting lines on during the 'quilting stage.' This pencil's markings launder off.
And of course you need batting and bias bounden too.

b) Quilting demystified – jargon and the stages.

A standard/traditional quilt is substantially fabricated up of 3 components:

1) The 'quilt top' – The design on the top made up of lots of quilt blocks in rows and often surrounded by a border.

2) The 'batting' – The wadding the centre that gives the quilt information technology'southward substance. You're local sewing/ quilting shop should stock various dissimilar types of batting. The more expensive ones will most probable be made of natural fibres – cotton, wool, or bamboo, whereas the polyester or poly-cotton wool blends should exist cheaper. They also vary in thicknesses.

3) The 'backing fabric' – This is essentially the lesser of the sandwich (with the quilt top being the other piece of breadstuff and the batting being the filling). It is worth checking the width of your selected material (compared to the width of your quilt) before buying information technology, to see if y'all will need to bring together two pieces together. For about larger quilts y'all will need to practice this, merely for smaller ones this may be able to be avoided.

In my view there are essentially four stages to making a quilt:

i) Preparation – selecting a blueprint and cloth, washing material.

2) Making the quilt top – cut and 'piecing' (sewing) together the blocks.

3) Quilting – sandwiching the batting in the middle of the quilt top and bankroll fabric and sewing them together. (You can choose to do this yourself or get it professionally washed.)

4) Bounden – sewing the binding on to brand the edges all finished and dainty and not bad.
Then you're done!

We'll explore these four stages a trivial more here, and I'll share with you a few helpful tips and time-saving techniques (and refer to other helpful links where necessary.)

1) Grooming

Get a quilt pattern yous like. You lot can either find these online (inquire Mr google or Pinterest.) Or blueprint your own. Either fashion equally a beginner quilter you probably want to be going for something uncomplicated with mainly squares and rectangles. In my opinion unproblematic is often better and more effective anyway.

All of my quilts so far accept been my ain designs. This is not at all difficult to do – but I would recommend that you depict a plan.

In the earth of quilting everything is pretty much done using inches, and most quilt blocks are built on a (finished) 6 inch square.

I utilize one/4 inch seam allowances, and so if I want a finished six inch square I will cut information technology half dozen one/ii inches square (to let for the 2 ten 1/4 inch seam allowances on each side.)In the case of the quilt my Mum and I fabricated for my sister (above), this is what we did for the larger blue and floral squares, while the smaller rectangles we cut three i/2 inch by 6 i/2 inch to give a finished 3 by half-dozen inch rectangle.

I generally don't worry well-nigh getting the exact size of the finished quilt sorted until later; as I will add borders afterwards to get the size I want.

In one case you've finalised your quilt blueprint, you need to select your fabric. Most textile stores will have a selection of pre-packaged co-analogous fabrics for quilters. Or you lot can choose to pick the fabrics yourself (usually my favoured selection.)

When selecting your ain fabric, one helpful tip I've found is that on the selvedge of the fabric you often observe something like this higher up, which shows the colour tones used in the fabric. Once you have selected your characteristic fabric yous can take this into the textile shop and match coordinating with information technology.

If you have ane or two pretty busy fabrics, then perchance consider getting something with a simpler design (plain or with subtle spots or stripes.) And don't be afraid of white infinite – it can exist very constructive in quilts. 100% cotton of similar thicknesses is best.

2) Making the quilt top
This is the most fourth dimension consuming stage of your projection and often the cut process can feel the most wearisome. Cutting accurately very is of import then that all your corners friction match upwardly crisply. This is why nosotros employ a rotary/ roller cutter.

I fold up my fabric and so can cut through a few layers at one and then line upward a corner of this textile with the markings on your self healing mat, to give a correct angle. (You lot may need to neaten the raw edge of the fabric first, if it is not already cut in a direct line.)

And so y'all line up your quilting ruler to give the size you need to cut. In the instance given hither, (a vintage picnic blanket) I want to cut a width of iii 1/ii inches. (As you can meet the corner of my material is at '1' on my mat not '0' so I've cut at the 4 1/2 inch mark.)Before you cut check that the ruler is lined up properly both at the top and bottom.

Equally you can see at present I'm left with some long strips of 3 1/ii inch wide fabric. I need iii 1/2 inch squares, so usually I would just get along the line and cut at 3 1/2 inch intervals – but I'm going to show you a time saving technique that you may be able to apply.

Instead I've cut an identical 3 1/2 inch long strip in a contrasting piece of textile. Then I sewed them together with correct sides facing (using a 1/4 inch seam assart) and pressed the seams open up*.
Then I cut this at 3 1/2 inch all along the strip(thus saving fourth dimension!)

NB: This time saving technique will only be useful for you lot yet, if you accept a repeating design where the two fabrics are side by side to each other throughout your design

I establish it extremely useful when making Isabelle'south quilt (acme photograph). I was able to flip one of the pieces round (equally besides demonstrated below) to give the diagonal design.

You basically go along making your blocks and join them together with other blocks until you have a total row. Then make another, join the ii rows together and you so on and so forth … and you will see your quilt abound before your eyes!

I accept already stressed the importance of accurate cutting. Other things that will help your corners line up and your quilt to look professional person are ironing and pinning. *As I said above, I press my seams open up, although I understand that a lot of other quilters printing there seams towards the darker coloured cloth. Practice what you suits you best. Regarding pinning – I pay special attending to meeting up vital corners and junctions and make sure that I pin at these points.

One time you have finished all your rows, add together any borders that you crave to requite the desired size (I usually google or measure old quilts/duvets to get the size I want.) And la voila you have finished your quilt top!

iii) Quilting

Before you can begin quilting you showtime need to 'sandwich' your batting in betwixt your quilt top and backing textile. I find it easiest to do this on a big clean scrap of floor. (It also pays to remove curious babies and pets at this point!)

First lay down your pre-washed and pressed bankroll fabric with the wrong side upwards on the flooring (retrieve you lot may have had to bring together a couple of pieces together to get the correct size.) Ensure that this is very polish. And then place your batting on elevation, followed past your quilt top, correct side up. polish all layers out. The backing fabric and and batting should exist bigger than the quilt top. Yous tin trim around the edges subsequently.

In one case you take it how yous like it start pinning through all layers of the quilt with condom pins. These serve to hold all layers of the quilt together until it is quilted. As this is a very important job I say the more pins the merrier!

One time you have all your pins in you can now trim the batting and backing fabric downwards to size. in line with the quilt meridian.

Then draw your quilting design with a quilting pencil and ruler. I personally dear to quilt on the diagonal through squares and detect it easy to keep this directly.

My Mother-in-constabulary tells you shouldn't have more than a hand'south gap betwixt any two lines of quilting so that your quilt holds together really well. She as well tells me it is good to quilt a large chip in the centre to really 'anchor' your quilt to start with. Plain remove your safety pins as you go.

Use a long stitch and take it dull to avoid puckering (and unpick if necessary!) If your making a large quilt it tin be tricky at times dealing with and so much cloth, but persevere, it'southward worth information technology!

Some people cull to get their quilts professionally quilted, obviously at that place is a price to this but the results are astonishing and can save you lot a bit of piece of work (and possibly stress) – then this always is another selection.

If you want to avoid the cost of batting, you tin can always cheat equally I did on my son'south quilt (above). I used a woollen blanket from the op-store which served as both batting and backing.

four) Binding

Hold on, you're on the habitation stretch!

Some people choose to make their own bias binding – and if you lot wish to do so there is a actually good tutorial hither.

I personally am a chip lazy and prefer to buy squeamish wide binding from my local fabric store.

In that location are few dissimilar options when information technology comes to sewing on your binding.

I personally like to follow this but end the back by hand sewing using a bullheaded stitch.

I would also recommend this tutorial if want to utilise rounded corners instead.

Once your bounden is complete, congratulations! You have only created a quilt, a piece of work of art, a family heirloom! Well done!

(And well done making information technology all the way through this post! There is and then much to talk most when it comes to quilting!)

Cheers for having me Ros!
Jenny x

Thank you so much Jenny! Y'all tin can find out more well-nigh Jenny and her beautiful sewing projects on her web log, on Facebook, Pinterest and Flickr.

Some links are affiliate.

How to Make a Quilt From Old Baby Blankets

Source: http://sewdelicious.com.au/2012/09/quilting-for-beginners.html

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