Hand-Made Quilts

Another goal of mine for 2011 was to learn to sew! I've never had talent nor desire previous to this year, but with baby #2 on the way, I figured it was time I learned to make something! So I figured sewing straight lines would be a good way to start and I got busy learning about quilting.

While the fabrics are neither organic nor "green" learning how to make things definitely is a good thing for sustainability and saves a bit of $$ too. I started with picking some cute boy-ish fabrics and buying the appropriate tools to make the job easier. Its no longer about measuring tape & a good pair of scissors. A wonderful tool called a rotary cutter and a self-healing cutting mat are a quilter's best friends. Add to that a large see-thru measuring mat and you're good to go.

Of course a good pair of scissors & a sewing machine are also helpful. I don't have my own machine so I borrowed my sweet niece's who is away at college :)

Once you have the tools, its time to decide what you want to make and how big. I didn't really know anything about quilting but I knew I could at least a sew a straight line so a simple patchwork quilt seemed like a good choice.

I wasn't sure how big I wanted to make it but since I was just learning I figured I'd start with one very small. And I knew I wanted it to be soft & warm so I went to choose from soft flannels at the fabric store, and matched the prints with a super soft minky fabric to go on the back.  We just have a small fabric store here but even then, the choice took me almost an hour.

I got a few tips for working with flannel, because it shrinks quite a bit I was told to wash & dry it first. And then iron it if its wrinkly. And I read a tip online that said to use a 1/2 inch seam allowance instead of 1/4 inch because flannel frays. (This just means to start sewing in a half inch from the outside edge) What I learned after my first experience is that not all flannel is alike. The printed flannel is much sturdier than solid. The solid frayed & skewed & looked awful in general so I did not use it (it was plain yellow)  But when I went to the fabric store the second time they said that instead of running it thru the wash (with the agitator) to just WET it and put it in the dryer and it shouldn't be as bad. But it definitely needs ironing when its cheaper material.

Now its time to cut!! The fun part! I decided that I wanted each square to be 5x5 inches, so in order to achieve this with a 1/2" seam allowance, you need to cut the squares 6x6 inches. First thing is to align the two straight edges perfectly & smooth it in half (or iron it if you want it perfectly aligned... I was a bit impatient for this so I just smoothed it) Trim the non-straight edges with a ruler & a cutter so they are as straight as you can get them.

Then I cut full strips of 6 inches, still folded in half and used my see-thru ruler mat to cut 6x6 squares (2 at a time because of the fold) Note: I tried folding again but cutting thru 4 layers didn't make a nice cut so I would stick to 2 layers only.

Use the most of your fabric, starting from the straight edge and not the folded edge. (Trim off the very ends of the straight edge)

Work thru each fabric the same way and you should be left with a few stacks of perfect 6x6 squares!

Now you want to decide on the lay-out or pattern of your quilt. You can choose a complex pattern or just lay them out in alternating colors/prints to your liking. For my first quilt I just alternating prints making sure the same print wasn't touching in the following row.  You can either do your layout on a big table, or, in my case, I lay it all out on the floor, rearranging squares till I had it how I liked it. Because I just wanted a small blanket to start I made the size 5 squares by 5 squares. Great size for a cuddle blanket or to cover a wee babe up in the carseat.

Once the layout is decided... start sewing. I chose to do one row at a time. First face two squares together, pattern side in, and sew one edge. Then do the next two in the row face to face. Then piece the 4 squares face to face and sew that edge. Because mine was uneven (with 5 squares instead of 6) I sewed the final sqaure on last.

I placed that row back in its pattern & picked up the squares for the next row and so on until I sewed all 5 rows. A good idea now is to take your iron and quickly press all your seams open & flat - this will make sewing easier.  Then take the two rows, match them along the appropriate edge and what I did was match the seams & pin them together and the two outside edges so it wouldn't move to much.

Now you should be left with something that looks like a finished quilt!! Be proud! It wasn't that hard afterall was it.

To add a backing, lay the fabric of your backing material down (nice side up) and lay your quilt top on it (nice side down - so the nice sides face eachother) This is when I pinned A LOT. Especially because the backing was minky and minky is quite stretchy. So I pinned & pinned, trying not to stretch the minky too much. After it was securely pinned, I trimmed around the edge of the minky so it was the same shape as quilt top.

Go ahead and sew it all the way around now! I left the width of one square for turning it inside out. I tried leaving a smaller opening but it was just too much of a struggle (hence I learned of the other wonderful tool called a SEAM RIPPER) Once its turned inside out - there it is - your beautiful almost finished quilt. All that is left to do is stitch that opening closed. You can either hand stitch this, or in my case, I just zipped a line across with the sewing machine. I changed the bottom bobbin to a chocolate brown thread to match the minky backing so the white thread wouldn't be so obvious and tried to keep the seam close to the edge. Ta-da! You're finished!

I was so pumped by my first accomplishment (picture at the top) that I went to the fabric store and got more fabric. I wanted yellow to be in the original quilt so instead of the cheapo solid yellow, I found the same color with a dot print & bought some of that to go with the others. I knew I wanted to make a slightly bigger one with a fancier lay out, also for baby#2 so after cutting and changing the layout a million times, I came up with this one.

 So, now the new guy has two made-by-mama-with-love blankets and I have learned a new skill. And, I have the fabric all picked out for Ethan's big-boy quilt when I get time to pull out the sewing machine again.

All this to say... if I can sew some straight lines that make a quilt, then anybody can do it! Give it a try!