Star Pinwheel Baby Quilt Part 3: Quilting

By now you will have made your quilt top, quilt back and your quilt sandwich (if not have a look here and here). Now it is time to quilt your quilt. This is the process of stitching together your three layers across the whole quilt. You will need to feed all three layers of your quilt into the machine at once. For this quilt I have gone with a very simple design.

You may be able to see from the above photo that I have simply stitched 'in the ditch' for most of the quilt. This means I have stitched along the seams between one fabric and the next. This common method of quilting is very simple but effective because it really complements the patchwork design. The photo below gives you a better idea of how I made this work on this particular quilt.

In addition to stitching in the ditch I have also sewn diagonal lines between each diagonal seam. This extra quilting gives more texture to the quilt and makes it feel more complete. For another idea of how you could quilt yours have a look at my baby quilts for a boy and a girls and you can see free motion quilting. This would also look lovely on this quilt but requires a little more time and practice. Since this quilt is designed for beginners I wanted to stick to something much more simple. If you there is anything you don't under stand or if you have a question, leave a comment and I will try and help.

There is only one more stage to go with this series so come back tomorrow for a tutorial on binding. Zoe x

Star Pinwheel Baby Quilt Part 2: Quilt Back

Yesterday I started sharing instructions to make a star pinwheel baby quilt and we made the star quilt top. Now to make a pinwheel for the back of the quilt. You may remember we cut out fat quarters into triangles like this:

We used the smaller triangles on the quilt top, for the back we need the larger triangles. Lay these out to form a pinwheel:

As you can see in the above picture a pin wheel is a square made up of triangles where the dark and light colours alternate to form a 'pinwheel' pattern. In a traditional quilt a pinwheel block is made up of only two fabrics but we are just making one giant one for the back of this quilt so its a little different. Tou need to take the darker triangles and lie them on top of the light triangle that they are next to with right sides together:

You can now take each pair of triangles over to your machine and stitch along the longest side, just as we did for the quilt top with a 6mm (1/4") seam allowance. Then you can press the seem to the dark side and this gives you four squares:

Be careful in all these steps to make sure you are stitching along the correct edge, you can mark it with a pin if you're unsure. Next you stitch the top two squares together to make a row and the bottom two squares together to make a second row using a 6mm (1/4") seam allowance and press the seams again to the dark side.

Then finally you take the top row, lie it on top of the bottom row with right sides together and stitch these two rows together keeping that 6mm (1/4") seam allowance. Press this final seam to one side, it doesn't matter too much which way.

Now you have made your quilt back you can start on your quilt sandwich. You can find instructions on how to do this here from my vintage sheets octagons quilt here. You will need your quilt top star, the quilt back pinwheel and 1m square of wadding. If you have any questions leave a comment and I will try and answer. Come back tomorrow for the quilting stage. Zoe x

Star Pinwheel Baby Quilt Part 1: Quilt Top

I've been waiting for ages to show you this quilt. I made it for my sister-in-laws baby but it was two weeks late so I have had to keep it quiet for much longer than I thought. I wanted to make a quilt for her baby and I came up with this idea when trying to devise a quilt that would be really easy for any one hoping to learn to sew.

This quilt is so simple to make, if you have ever considered making one try this because it's a great beginners quilt. You don't even need to buy a cutting mat and rotary cutter which are normally pretty essential for speedy quilt making. So if you know some one who is having a baby soon, or maybe your are? Or maybe you just want something to pop over your knee on a chilly evening, you should make one of these quilts. It's super easy and also inexpensive as far as quilts go.  Just follow along this week and you will have a quilt. Sorted.

You Will Need:
8 Fat Quarters, 4 dark and 4 light (any colour will do, or you could have 2 contrasting colours instead of dark and light)
Fabric Scissors (You can use a rotary cutter if you have one of course)
Sewing Machine
Thread
Wadding (Batting)
You might need extra fabric for binding depending on the size of your fat quarters

Make the Quilt Top
The quilt top, or the star, is the first thing you will need to make. Take a fat quarter and fold the corner up so that the side lines up with the top as shown (1). Then you need to cut off any excess again as shown (2). This leaves you with an exact square. Some fat quarters are cut as squares but normally they are cut from a metre of fabric (sometimes a yard) from the roll and then this metre is cut into quarters to make the 'fat quarters'. So unless the fabric was originally 1 metre across then you will have some extra. Save this extra piece for your binding (part 4).

Now that you have a square shape you need to carefully cut it into these 5 triangles:

To do this simply cut the square in half along the diagonal, then cut one of these triangles in half again, and finally cut these two smaller triangles in half again. Repeat with all your fat quarters until you have 8 large triangles and 32 small triangles.

Now you need to take your 32 small triangles and pair them up. Make 8 pairs with one dark and one light triangle,  4 pairs with both triangles from your darker coloured fabrics and 4 pairs with both triangles the lighter coloured fabrics. Then put each pair with 'right sides together' and with the long side of the triangles lined up.

Now you need to stitch together each pair of triangles along this longer edge leaving a 6mm (1/4") seam allowance. Then open out the triangles and you will see you have made them into squares, press the seams to one side, if you can press towards to dark side.

Next you can lay your squares out on the floor and arrange them into the star shape. You can move them around until you are satisfied with how they look. Then collect together each row of squares from left to right into a pile. With your sewing machine stitch squares together to make rows, make sure you have each square up the right way so that you keep your star shape. Sew with the squares right sides together and with a 6mm (1/4") seam allowance. Then press your seems to one side, again if possible towards the dark side.

Finally stitch the rows together, again with right sides together and a 6mm seam allowance. You may need to lay your rows out on the floor again to make sure you are going to stitch them in the right order.

And that's it! You have made a quilt top and it wasn't so hard was it? Well if you struggled with anything then let me know in the comments and I will see if I can help. I'll share with you the next stage next Tomorrow. Zoe x

Find the other 3 parts here:
Quilt Back
Quilting
Binding and Finishing

Baby Quilts For A Boy And A Girl

My sister Cassie, whom you met last week when she made this crocheted camera case, has just had a baby! Hooray! Until this bundle of joy popped its head out (if only it were that easy) I didn't know the gender of the baby, in fact no one did. So to be ultra prepared I decided to make two quilts.

Now these aren't crib sized quilts, I think crib size is too big for a baby to actually use, so I made them a bit smaller. To me when you go to the trouble of making something by hand it should be useful rather than just look pretty, so hopefully this will be much more versatile and therefore practical.

The girls quilt was made from a bundle of fat quarters cut into 12cm squares and stitched into a 'checkerboard' style pattern with a plain white in between. The back is also white. If you have never made a quilt before this is a perfect one to start with.

The boys quilt also has 12cm squares but these are randomly spread across the quilt. This one is backed with the stripy fabric used in some of the patches.

The binding is made from leftover fabric from the front patches. This is the first time I have successfully managed to 'free motion quilt' a quilt and I am really pleased with how it came out. I had to try this a few times over to make it work but I think I have finally got the hang of it and it does give a really lovely effect.

I loved how quick these were to make, I have only made double quilts before so these were very quick in comparison.

So here my is newest neice wrapped up snuggly in her blanket, cute or what? The only question is, what do I do with the other one? Zoe xx