February 21, 2010
Please tell me how to make a quilt of old baby clothes-just squares, nothing fancy.?
Posted by: : Category: Quilting
Please help! I have all these baby clothes that have not the courage to make a donation (which are the ones I could not part with) and instead keep them in stock I would make only a simple square quilt with them. Can you please send some simple instructions? I have a sewing machine, and can not really sew a straight line and do not really know how to use a model. I would just cut into squares and sew them together. Any guidance in this easy? I really appreciate! Thank you!
February 21st, 2010 at 7:17 pm
we used to make a hillbilly quilt out of old clothes just by using squares we just sit and hand sew them togather we count the squares to see how long we wanted it and how wide then we start sewing them very easy to do .
February 21st, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Make sure you don’t use the old diapers.
February 21st, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Cut your squares to the desired size then cut wadding to the same size. Put a square of wadding at the back of each fabric square. Now picking up each square of fabric and wadding together, sew two squares together, fabric to fabric. Open out flat then add another square in the same way (fabrice sides together) until you have strip as wide as you want your quilt to be.
Make more strips in the same way until you have enough for the length you want. Join the strips to each other in the same way (fabric to fabric) and you are almost done.
To tidy the back you will need a piece of fabric the size of your finished quilt. Lay this on top of the fabric side of the quilt and sew around three sides to make an “envelope”. Snip the excess fabric off the corners of the seam and turn it right side out. Now turn under the last edge and hand sew it together.
February 21st, 2010 at 8:19 pm
It sounds to me like you already know what to do. Open up hems and seams and iron all those pieces. You may want to remove elastic, but you can probably cut and work around most of that. Remove all the buttons or zippers, but buttonholes might be kind of interesting. Since you don’t have a zig zag to close those up, stitch a piece of fabric behind any button holes. Cut the pieces in squares, as many of the same size as you can. “Pro” quilters stich them together using 1/4 in. seams, but you can use larger seams. Be sure all your seams a the same depth, so your squares stay square. Straight stitching is perfect, no fancy stitches needed. If you have designs and appliques on some of the clothes, try to center them in a square as you cut. Or cut them out and make another applique for a square you do have. For a border, open up the sleeves, cut those in long rectangles, sew them end to end. Or cut long rectangles from pant legs. Try to balance colors and textures. When you’re happy with your ‘top’ quilt, add some batting to the back side, stich it down and then add a backing, like baby flannel, or soft cotton. Sounds like you will have a beautiful keepsake when you’re done. Happy stitching, Joanne