Easy 1 - 2 - 3- Baby Quilt Making

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this sewing machine
in a gift shot; it  looked exactly like my grandmother's.

     Last week I made a flannel baby quilt for a friend's baby shower.  You could always tell when she was sewing because of the thumping sound that foot pedal made on the upstairs floor.  For my grandmother sewing was like any of her other farm chores, she took it seriously. I particularly liked to watch how fast the material flew through her fingers. On a farm nothing is wasted; so when her wool blankets got a little worn, she would tuck them inside flannel and make quilts for the beds.  

     IWhen I was 18 I made a cover for one of my own quilts.  When my sister-in-law Lesley, who is a first-class seamstress (she even made her daughter's wedding gown!) made me a baby quilt, I had to ask her how she did it.   Since then I have made several, and for most of my grandkids I  either a crocheted blanket or made them a flannel one.   Here's some easy directions for you to follow:

Easy 1 - 2 - 3  - 4  - 5 Baby Quilt Making

1.  Go to your favorite fabric store and buy about 1 1/2 yards of printed flannel, plain flannel for the bottom, and batting.   Here's a neat site I found to tell you a little about different types of batting called  Sew, Mama, Sew!    By the way this site also has a Sewing Tutorial that you can click on and see steps to help you with a lot of sewing projects.  

2.  Prewash your fabric and then Iron it so it's flat. (I found out by reading on this site that there are different camps on washing or not washing, so do what works for you!)

Pinning the 3 layers of your quilt. 

3. Lay the two pieces of flannel with what the About.com forum on Quilting site calls the fuzzy sides in, and then the batting on top of the bottom piece.  Here's what that looks like:  

Sewing the quilt.

4.  Sew 3/4"-1" seams around the edges of the quilt, checking to make sure on each side that the material is lying flat.  Leave about 4"-5" open on the last side so you can pull the quilt through.  Check your sewing before hemming this hole shut to make sure there are no gaps anywhere.  It was so beautiful outside and my grandchildren were over playing in the yard, so I set my sewing machine up on my deck. 


5.  Decide how long you want your yarn ties to be.  Lesley informed me that they are usually 3-4" long but you can make them shorter or longer.   Thread a piece of yarn into a large holed needle and bring it through all 3 pieces parts of the quilt and then even up the thread and tie a knot in the center. These ties hold all three layers together so they move together.  If you don't do this over time, your batting will become a ball inside your quilt! Been there, done that! 

Adding the yarn ties.

When I was at my daughter's house last week, I took a picture of the quilt I made for my 2 year old granddaughter last winter: 

If you want to make a patchwork quilt instead, Sew, Mama, Sew has a great  tutorial: http://sewmamasew.com/blog2//04/quilting-basics-preparing-cutting/.
2010