A Quilting adventure

 

 

This post is very delayed…mostly because the gift-giving was delayed so I couldn’t share it until the special little-ones received their gifts.

 

 

Last summer I made pillowcase-dresses for two of my friends’ daughters. Here’s one of the finished dresses (lets call this Fabric no.1) –>

 

I had some fabric left over from each dress and designed to make each little girl a blanket for their First Birthdays.

Let me first say I have never quilted before.

I learned how to sew the seams so that the fabric lays flat, and how to make borders…thank goodness for You Tube!  There are so many great resources on the interwebs; I’m a very visual learner so while reading a book with instructions is great, watching videos is much better for my learning style.

Here’s the quilt top to the blanket using Fabric no. 2)

 

The quilt tops take the most time, all the cutting, piecing, arranging and then sewing. For the backing I decided to use one large piece of flannel.   I sandwiched some cotton batting (I used Warm and Natural) between the flannel and the quilt top and started to quilt the blanket.

I decided to keep the lines on a vertical/horizontal plane, and quilted in straight lines, at equidistance to each other.  My sewing machine came with a quilting guide, I was very happy to have it as I can’t cut/sew a straight line on my own to save my life.

Let’s go back to Fabric no 1 (I didn’t take any finished pictures of Fabric no. 2 blanket).

I like the ‘crinkly’ look of quilts, so I didn’t wash the fabric before hand to preshrink it, I wanted that to happen after it was sewn.

Both blankets are lap-size, perfect for the car or stroller or little naps on the couch.

Overall, I`m pleased with how they turned out…I’m less intimidated by my sewing machine now, am very friendly with my seam-ripper and well…I vow to conquer the elusiveness b*tch that is binding. (I used this amazing tutorial…sewing the binding isn`t difficult, but you do have to go slow and learn to sew a straight line…hence my frustration)

These little blankets are basically warm up for my next quilting adventure…a quilt for my Queen size bed.  I bought the fabric last summer on a birthday shopping trip to Michigan and bought the Alice Quilt Pattern by Red Pepper Quilts. 

I don`t know when I’ll be starting, but I’ll be sure to post the process…maybe you can give me tips on sewing straight lines?

 

Happy Wednesday!

 

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