With the news of arrival of a baby in your family, you get busy making plans to welcome the new arrival. The preparations include buying baby quilts or blankets for the newborn. These are also one of the popular gifts for a baby shower. Baby quilts can also be made at home.
Steps
The following step-by-step procedure will help you in making the quilt. But before that let's make a list of the tools for quilting.
Tools Required
- Three printed fabrics (1 yard each)
- Cotton batting (1 yard)
- Quilting thread
- Needle
- Scissors
- Rotary cutters
- Curved pins
- Marking chalk
- Transparent ruler
- Sewing machine
Instructions
Once you have the above material, it won't take more than a day to make a baby quilt. Believe me, quilting is fun. It doesn't require a lot of accuracy in the stitching patterns. You can try new stitch patterns while quilting, to give it a unique look. Take a look at these step-wise, easy to follow instructions.
Step 1
Start the quilting procedure with one of the three printed fabrics. This will be the top most fabric. You can opt for your favorite color and designs. Choose cool shades and stick to floral prints, alphabetical designs, polka dots, etc. suitable for a baby quilt. It is advisable to wash all the cotton fabrics before using them.
Step 2
Place the fabric on the floor. With a marking chalk and ruler, make blocks of 3"x3". Cut these blocks, using a rotary cutter.
Step 3
Start stitching the blocks with each other along the borders to form a big square. You can shuffle the blocks to have a collage look.
Step 4
Place one printed fabric on the floor, right side facing the floor. Place the batting over it. The second piece of printed fabric should be placed over the batting. Match the borders of these three pieces and stretch them properly to remove any wrinkles or folds left in-between the fabrics. Now, lay the blocks of the stitched fabric on it, with the right side facing upwards.
Step 5
You will see that the topmost fabric is smaller than the rest. Draw a line along the border of the topmost fabric to mark the extra fabric. Cut off the extra fabric. Now, all four fabrics are of the same size.
Step 6
Tuck curved pins along the borders, to hold the fabrics together.
Step 7
Start stitching these fabrics together. Stitch half-inch inwards, from the borders. Go on removing the pins, as you proceed.
Step 8
If you want to give the baby quilt a fancy look, then, once you finish stitching the borders, you can quilt the three layers together. Quilting means sewing through all the layers in any geometrical pattern. This will create a beautiful design and make the baby quilt attractive. Also, this will secure all layers together and ensure longer life of the quilt.
Step 9
The border can completely turn a simple looking quilt into an attractive piece. Borders give a finishing touch to the quilt, so they need to be really perfect in color and design. If your fabric is printed, you can keep the borders plain and vice versa. Remember, the borders must look different from the remaining fabric, but not odd, and they must enhance the look of the baby quilt. Silk fabric can be used to jazz up the look.
Step 10
Make four strips out of this fabric, each 3 inches wide. Their length must be equal to that of the quilt. Stitch one strip along each border, to cover the sides of the quilt, giving it a finished look.
The basic steps in baby quilt making remain the same. So, just get the material and add your creativity to make a unique quilt for the baby.
