A question for the quilters out there!

[kirsty b]

Hi all,

I know some of you on here are talented quilters and I would like to pick your brains if I may...
My SIL is expecting twins this summer, and we are all buying things like baby wipes and toiletries and stockpiling them for her but I would like to make a patchwork quilt for the babies cot/general use. We will hopefully know the sexes in the next couple of weeks which will definitely help with colour selection and my mother says its a doddle! I'm tending more towards caution however......

Any words of advice for a newbie to the world of quilting?

[taff]

dont bother unless you like sewing, pins, and deadly organised squares.

make a throw together quilt instead, where you just patchwork any old bit of material together, put a backing on it, they look better too some of your own clothes chopped up and thrown in would be a nice touch.
mind you, I am not a qualified quilter, just a player with of sewing machines.

[Hazel at the Hill]

That's a lovely idea, Kirsty!

The quilt(s) that you make will mean more than money can buy! I'm only a novice, but I'm sure that it would be pretty straightforward to make 2 x cot quilts, or a couple of play mats.

They can be as simple as you want (think plain top/wadding middle/plain backing all stitched together) or as complicated as you want (colour themes/'scappy' fabrics/ complex design/wadding/pieced backing) - and there are plenty of patterns out there for want of a quick google.

I'm with Taff, though - to make something really personal, I'd nick a couple of mum-to-be's skirts/blouses/maternity dresses and pop-to-be's shirts (make sure they're cotton) cut them all into - say 4" squares/triangles to lay out to a simple pattern, sew 'em all together and add a border; then sandwich with wadding and a plain backing & sew together & bind.

Congrats on your imminent aunt-hood!

PS that's not Brad's sis expecting, is it?

[kirsty b]

Simple is the way I want to go, was planning on various coloured squares in a symetrical design, but I have seen on ebay some Beatrix Potter squares which I could surround with white/pastel material. I do like straight lines etc almost to the point of obssessive so should be ok to do a square design as long as I banish children and animals from the vicinity and take it nice and slow

I'll definitely be having a practice first as I want to enjoy making this, not be tearing my hair out!

[scarey55]

When I started quilting, I watched the Missouri star quilt company videos on you tube. I found that she gave very clear instructions on how to make a baby quilt (my first project too)
If you look at some of the other videos, they show quick and easy tricks to making some very beautiful quilts because I'm sure the love of quilting will take you over as it did me I think your sister in law will be thrilled to be given hand made quilts - they can be very special heirlooms too. Look forward to seeing a picture of the finished article(s).
ETA: other quilting tutorial videos are available

[donnakebab]

The only thing I would say is to make sure the pieces of fabric are of the similar fibre and weave so that when they have to be washed (possibly at a high temperature) it doesn't cause any distortion. Any dark colours would probably fade too. I have made a few things in patchwork and quilting. I love it but don't have the time any more. Use a relatively plain backing and border fabric and then chose the other fabrics to co-ordinate. Pastel colours always look good mixed together and would work as a unisex quilt. It's a lovely idea to cut up some family clothes (if not wanted any more obviously), but make sure they aren't too worn. After all this is how they were made in the first place hundreds of years ago. You could embroider names and birthdays on some individual patches (best done before cutting out the patches and using an embroidery hoop) to make it a real family piece to pass down the generations.

Happy Quilting!

[Patchninja]

As already said, make sure it's 100% cotton for washing. Have you got a sewing machine? You want it to be rugged!
Have a look at this pattern for a shooting star quilt. It's lovely for babies and easy and quick to make.
Shooting Star
You can add things like prairie points round the edges to add fun.
Prairie Point Quilting Borders 101 : Decorating : Home & Garden Television
Have fun and congratulations!

[lizzylemon]

I've dabbled with quilting as a complete novice (who didn't look up any instructions first!) and loved it

I worked out how many 4" squares I needed (I made mineso it would go on a cot bed and get longer use - I think it was 15 in total to make 1 strip, and then timed it by how many strips I would have needed for the width, this included allowing for seams) I brought a load of 4" squares precut from ebay (they can be as cheap or expensive as you like and they're normally from quilters so the fabrics are cotton, some are mixed or others grouped colours/themes) I made mind for my daughter so I picked feminine colours, some stars, some lovehearts and some frogs.I laid out the squares first so I could choose the colours as completely random selection didnt work too well. I then sewed them end to end to form strips, ironed the strips and then sewed edge to edge- the ironing is really quite important as it flattened the seams and made the strips longer and easier to match up/pin to the next strip. I used an old duvet cover for the backing and binding.

I would advise to keep the backing and wadding bigger than the front as no matter how I tacked it or pinned it, it all moved when I sewed it together and I had to trim the whole size down. If I had larger wadding and backing I would only have had to trim them down to match the front, and not lost any of the over all size (I hope that makes sense). You can also buy curved quilting pins, which makes pinning much easier but they're quite expensive. There's also a little machine that folds the binding for you which was a brilliant idea, but I just ironed a crease into the strips I'd cut with a rotory blade.

There's also quilting cotton thats thicker and stronger than normal cotton which I used to sew the pattern on the finished item so it was a bit more visable, but when you get up close.

It came out a bit wobbly and wonky in some places but it's totally unique and is now folded up and used as a pillow on her bed.

It's not a very good picture as the colours aren't so bold in real light.

[vicky]

I used a Hungry Caterpillar (cheat's) panel in the centre for one I made last year for a newborn nephew, it saved lots of time and looked fun. And co ordinated the materials used round the edges.
The curved safety pins are worth their weight in gold! And practice quilting before having a go on the actual item!

[kirsty b]

I have been looking at the precut squares on ebay and have been putting together the wish list. We now know the sex of the babies (one of each - how exciting!) so I have been looking at colours/patterns. have seen very hungry caterpillar fabric, think its fab. Was thinking along the lines of cotbed size then they will hopefully get plenty of use. Now have some annual leave from uni, so can look at things and plan at leisure without feeling I should be hard at the books instead!

Thanks for all the tips xxxxo