I'm at that point in life when some of my friends begin to procreate. I don't have the money to buy everyone all the presents I'd like (like these Baby Trogdor onesies), but I want them to know how exciting their new arrival is, and to provide something special and useful for this and possibly many babies to come.
Since these friends are good friends for whom I would happily spend several hours poking my fingers with a needle, I've decided to make them a special Baby Quilt.
I've included step-by-step directions here. I am not a hard-core quilter -- you do not have to be a quilter to make one quilt for some special friends! Quilts make terrific hand-made gifts and are useful as cozy throw blankets, bedspreads, extra bedding, as wall-hangings or other decorations. I happened to have the materials needed, but perhaps you can use a friend's machine, or collect unwanted scrap fabrics from more sewing-oriented friends if you do not have available supplies.
This will be a baby quilt. Standard baby quilts are 45" x 60", according to the Internet, but the size of this one will be limited by the amount of material I have. (Finished, mine ends up being 39" x 47".)
The Materials
I happen to have a few different types of fabric lying around, leftover from projects, worn-out clothes, or things I never finished. I have a small-print green floral pattern and a butter-yellow fabric. Both are thin and soft fabrics that I bought on sale years ago to make wimpy curtains for my college dormroom. This is oddly appropriate, since I shared that dormroom with the girl who will be getting the finished quilt. I wonder if she will recognize the material.
I also happen to have some batting that I bought years ago to make Christmas stockings for the very same couple when they were newleyweds, but never actually used.
I also have a sewing machine, scissors, bobbins, needles, and various colors of thread. I switch off thread colors to avoid buying more, and if you don't have a sewing machine or bobbins, you can of course sew the entire quilt by hand, but it will take longer.
I decide to make a double Irish chain quilt, because it is a traditional two-fabric pattern that looks complicated but is actually quite simple and easy to cut, sew, and quilt together. (Sometimes a double Irish chain uses three colors, but as I only have two, it will do nicely.)
Preparing the fabric
1. First, I snip all the stitches out of the floral fabric. It was used to make a gathered valance, and it is folded over and sewed with a channel for a curtain rod. I remove all the stitches, and what remains is a large rectangle of fabric. The butter-yellow fabric has no stitching, as it was just draped over the curtain rod and pulled back with ties.
2. I wash both fabrics in the machine and then iron the heck out of them. Hopefully I'll have enough of the yellow to back the quilt as well. It looks like I will, but sometimes I am sloppy with my seam allowances and cannot predict exactly how much I will use. Good quilters can do this and plan appropriately.
The Design
3. The double-Irish chain quilt pattern is essentially a checkerboard design of two different squares. One is a checkerboard (big square A) of five small squares on each side, with the plain squares in the corner. The other (big square B) is a plain square with small floral squares in each corner. Then, you alternate big squares A and B and all the little squares will line up to make diagonals across your quilt. It doesn't matter what the scale is as long as all your "big" squares are the same size. I drew this out on notebook paper and outlined the "big squares" so I knew what I was doing and what direction I needed to go. Here is my highly technical pattern:
Sewing it the Quilt Top together
4. It is easier to sew together long strips of
fabric than to sew together a million one-inch squares. Since I know that the pattern is just alternating square A and square B, I break down square A and square B into smaller steps, so I can easily make a lot of them.
Square A is a checkerboard design, which means that it has five columns, and each column has five squares. One type of column has more yellow squares than green squares, and the other is opposite. In order to easily cut a lot of squares, I make a big long strip alternating green and yellow, and then cut this into smaller strips to make my big square out of. When I am done, I have a checkerboard pattern. I have to be sure that the yellow squares are in all the corners in order to maintain the overall design.
Square B has two types of columns; thin columns that have the green squares in the corner, and the wide column of yellow in the middle. Since the yellow is such a thin fabric, I opt to make this center column from three pieces to maintain the square-ness of the square. As in Square A, I decide that the easiest way to cut these pieces is to make a long strip and then cut off slices that become the columns for my square.
If my explanations don't make any sense, look at the pictures to see how I cut my fabric to make the squares easily.
5. I sew all my big squares together. Voila! I have a quilt top!
Quilting the Layers Together
6. I have enough plain fabric left over to make a back to the quilt as well. I iron this fabric again (it's gotten a bit wrinkly with all the folding and unfolding and tearing, etc), lay the batting over it, and then lay my quilt top over it.
7. I sew it all together by hand with BIG LOOSE stitches. This is called basting. It makes sure that when I quilt the three layers together, it will not come apart in the middle of the quilting process. These stitches are temporary and will come out later. It does not matter if the thread matches. You can baste your quilt together with dental floss,if you prefer. Although, then your quilt might smell minty.
8. At this point, you can decide to quilt by machine (easier, faster, etc) or by hand (takes longer, more "handmade"). I chose to quilt by hand because a) my squares don't line up perfectly, and they won't fit the straight lines produced by the machine. By hand, however, I can make my line fit any mismatched squares! b) My tension on my sewing machine is off, and if you see the stitches, it will look shoddy. c) It gives that extra-loved handmade feel.
9. Sometimes people use a sewing hoop to stretch the are of the quilt that you are working on to make it taught and easy to work with. I don't have a sewing hoop, so I borrow one from a co-worker. It is too small for what I am doing, but it is easier to use it than to keep trying to sew straight lines on bunched-up fabric. Eventually I abandon the sewing hoop and just stitch while it is laid out flat on the floor.
10. I use the sewing hoop and a dark-colored thread (from a cheap-o "sewing kit" that they sell at grocery stores) to embroider a "Baby W" in the corner. The couple doesn't know the gender of the child, and if they use the blanket, they will most likely use it for more than one kid, so i didn't want to include the date. Some people like to sign their creations with their initials and the year. It's up to you.
11. I decided to quilt on the diagonal down the rows of floral squares. I decided this because I felt like it emphasized the diagonal orientation, instead of just making it look like a bunch of checkerboards. I wanted to emphasize this because not all my square corners matched up perfectly.
12. Once the quilt is all quilted, I removed the baste stitches. Then I trim the batting so that it doesn't overhang the quilt top. Then, I trip the backing so that it overhangs by just a little. Then, I fold the backing up over the front and hand-stitch it into place. I pin it up all the way around so it stays in place while I am stitching.
The Finished Quilt
13. The finished quilt! I lost track of the hours it took-- this is not the sort of thing you make for people instead of picking up a $5 token gift at Walgreens. I mail it off to my friends-- hopefully they will like it :)
Tips and tricks:
- Quiltmaking is a great thing to do in front of movies, talking with friends, or other activities that don't require the use of hands.
- You can find spare material in a number of places. Do you have clothes that are ripped, too small or out of style? Clothes in good condition can be donated to thrift stores, but if they are torn up or missing buttons, you can use the fabric in quilts. Old T-shirts are soft and easy to work with.
- If you don't want to quilt by hand, many people like to tie their quilt layers together with little bits of yarn. This can be a cute way of finishing the quilt and it generally takes less time.
Have you recently made quilts for friends or from reused materials? Share!
No comments:
Post a Comment