Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Make An Easy Baby Quilt

Here’s the story of how I made a cute little quilt for our baby boy on the way.

Baby-Quilt-Simple-Sweet

A few years ago I chronicled how my not-nearly-a-seamstress buns were compelled possessed to make a quilt for the bean.

Quilt Done2

And here I am a few years later (after a tornado of thread and a surprisingly successful sewing machine date) with another homemade quilt – this time for our little man.

Quilt17

I don’t think I would have been so into making him a quilt if Clara hadn’t grown so attached to hers. She not only has slept with it pretty much every night since I finished it…

Clara Quilt1

… but she brings it in the car for road trips, and even drags it downstairs to to the sofa for lazy Saturday snuggling.

Clara Quilt3

The sweetest thing about it is that John has told her a few times that mommy sewed it just for her, so every once in a while when she hugs me or kisses me goodnight she leans in and whispers “thank you for my beautiful quilt.” Yup, just typing that made me tear up. She’s the best.

So I wanted to make something for my little man to hopefully love just as much, but I thought it might be fun to try a different method this time. I hedged for a while, not really sure where to begin, and then I saw this awesome hand-stitched quilt and knew it was just the inspiration I was looking for (it’s by Citta Design, but sadly no longer for sale).

I love how charming that sweetly imperfect hand-done stitching is. Each line is irregular enough to clearly not be machine-made, and it feels so full of love thanks to those slightly varied dashes. So I decided to give it a try…

Quilt Detail

Here’s a list of my materials:

  • one square yard of white diamond-quilt fabric from JoAnn (the kind with a quilted cotton front and back with some thin batting sandwiched in the middle), which came to $4 after using a 40% off coupon that I googled for on my phone
  • 17 little packs of embroidery floss in a variety of colors from Michaels – like chartreuse, kelly green, pale green, teal, navy, and lime (I actually bought 5 of each of those colors for a total of 30 packs, but ended up returning 13 of them, so at 27 cents each, the 17 that I used rang in at $4.59)

Quilt2

  • a leftover pack of embroidery needles, which just look like giant sewing needles and can be threaded with embroidery floss instead of string (they were originally 99 cents at JoAnn when I bought them for a book project a few years back)
  • my sewing machine (I already had Oh Brother all loaded up with white thread)

All told, I spent under $10 to make this quilt (and about ten million love-filled man-hours spaced across a weeks’ worth of evenings, but we’ll get to that in a second). While I was pre-washing my quilt fabric (I thought it was best to let it shrink up before I embroidered it), my first step was just to decide what type of stitched pattern I liked best. I debated everything from evenly spaced lines like the ones in the inspiration image to some sort of diagonal or crosshatched design, but in the end, the idea of some simple stripes in varying tones of blue and green won out.

Quilt10

I just started from the left side of the quilt and hand stitched four different lines of embroidery floss – each one in a different color.

Quilt3

I made sure not to double up my thread (I kept it single like the inspiration quilt, which meant threading the needle like this with a little excess, but not looping it all the way down and knotting it like I do when I sew a button with regular thread).

Quilt4

After completing my first “stripe” (which was comprised of four different stitched lines that went from top to bottom) I used the diamonds on the quilted fabric to roughly space the next stripe about two diamonds away. That way I could keep the spacing somewhat even, although I did some of the stripes 4-stitched-lines wide and some of them 3-wide, just for variety. I really do love how the inspiration quilt is unmistakably done by hand – and it doesn’t hurt that I couldn’t make something look perfectly spaced if I tried.

The diamonds in the embroidery fabric also helped me keep my lines somewhat straight from top to bottom. For example, if I started one hand-stitched line at the peak of a diamond, as I stitched from the bottom of my fabric to the top, I made sure to connect each diamond peak as I went. This kept me from veering off too far to the right or left.

Quilt5

Now let’s talk about the time factor. You know I like to keep it real with you guys, and I’d never say “fast and easy” if something takes forever. Well, the good news is that this quilt is mad cute. The bad news is that it takes forever. I don’t know if I’m slow or just easily distracted by Housewives drama (I did it every night across about a week while sitting on the sofa watching TV), but my average was about 3-4 stripes (made up of either three or four colors) a night, which took about 2 hours.

So all told, this 16-stripe one-yard quilt (well technically there are 57 stripes, but they’re spaced to look like 16 thicker ones) took me around 11 hours in total (including one more hour spent hemming the outside seams with a sewing machine, which actually wasn’t too bad).

Another Corner Shot

Even though it took a while, it wasn’t one of those torturous projects that makes you want to poke your own eyeballs out (that’s painting blue trim or peeling wallpaper, FYI). It’s more like one of those relaxing repetitive motions you can do at night from the sofa, where your butt might be parked anyway. But instead of taking quizzes on Buzzfeed or scrolling around on Instagram, you get to be stitching something while snuggled under a blanket with your chihuahua and feeling pretty dang quaint about it.

Quilt7

As for how I knotted each stripe, I just tied off the top of each one with the thread still on the needle on the top edge of the back of the quilt. And then on the bottom edge I cut the embroidery floss off with about 7″ to spare so I could slip my needle back onto that end and knot it there as well. That left me with a seam full of knots like this along each edge (top and bottom) on the backside of the quilt.

Quilt9

Once I got about a third of the way done with my stripes (working from left to right), I started on the right side and worked from right to left to get about a third of the way done with that side. Then I bounced back and forth doing every other stripe on each side, as I got closer and closer to the middle of the quilt, which allowed me to space everything so it was somewhat symmetrical. It probably would have been just as easy to work from left to right and use that two-diamond spacing, but I might have had to trim off a few inches of the quilt at the end if everything didn’t line up perfectly, and I liked the idea of a square quilt.

Allow me to share this creepy low-lit iPhone pic to demonstrate how I sort of worked in towards the middle.

Quilt6

To hem the edges I broke out the ol’ sewing machine and said a few prayers to the sewing machine gods. I’m paraphrasing, but they were something like “please let me make it through this attempt without throwing this thing out the window or revealing my evil sailor-mouthed alter ego to my sweet husband in the next room.” Then I just folded each edge over in the back, took three deep cleansing breaths, and stitched them in that folded position.

Hem Machine1

This hid the knots on the top and bottom but there was still not a finished edge along the back hem, so I folded each of them over again and did one more stitch-session with each side for a nice finished look from the back and front. This is the front:

Hem Machine2

And here’s what it looks like from the back:

Quilt17

Lo and behold, I only broke two needles (that’s not a joke, I really managed to break two needles) but I think it came out really sweet.

Quilt Broken Needle

Can’t wait to meet this little bun and wrap him up with all sorts of love and quilt-y snuggles.

Quilt Detail

Right now it’s just chilling in the nursery, waiting for the big arrival.

Quilt16

Is anyone else sewing anything for their kiddos? Friends or relatives? Four-legged babies? Have you ever tried hand-stitching or embroidery? It’s oddly restful. Sort of like hand hypnosis.

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Comments

  2. Sayward says

    This just made my entire life. Seriously, you guys are so sweet and I love that Clara is so grateful for her quilt. This looks awesome. I want a full sized one for myself.

    Reply

  3. MP says

    Hi Sherry – they do make stronger needles for quilting. But, if you broke 2 of them, I have a feeling your tension is off (either the top or the bottom bobbin), or you’re not threading the needle or bobbin correctly. Your machine manual will tell you how to adjust the tension. Each sewing project requires a slightly different tension/stitch length.

    I also have a cheaper machine, and I just realized on my last project that I’ve been threading the top needle slightly incorrectly, and my machine is now behaving wonderfully (after 5+ years of being drama-ish). I figured it out carefully looking at the manual. I also realized 2 projects ago that my lower bobbin tension was too loose, which also was causing poor performance. Sewing machines are subtle creatures.

    Reply

  4. Stacey says

    No sewing for us yet – I am making curtains for our baby girl’s room, but am planning to use your hemming tape method for those. We did get a lovely little grey knitted blanket from our good friend and his partner, though. Love sweet, homemade gifts!

    Reply

  6. Miranda says

    That’s really sweet. And cute and homey and just the kinda love that lasts forever – even after the quilt is worn and tattered. What a blessed baby!

    Reply

  10. jamie says

    I’m 32weeks pregnant but we’ve been hoping for this pregnancy for so long that I actually finished my baby’s blanket months before finding out our good news. I’ve seriously never been that ahead of schedule! ;) It’s crocheted, not quilted but in similar colors to yours with a similar “go with the flow no strict pattern to the stripes”. I’m hoping our little girl loves it as much as Clara loves the quilt you made her. You can see it here.

    Reply

  11. Brenda says

    My mom’s friend made me two baby blankets that I used for years (one of them I still use on especially cold nights when I visit my parents). One was a crocheted zoo blanket with 3D tails that were attached, and the other was a beautiful cross stitched Sesame Street panel in the middle of a big red blanket (the one that’s heavy and super warm). They both fit on a twin bed without overhang, and it was so neat to know they were made for me. Now I knit or crochet baby blankets for friends, and you know I’ll be making a bunch someday when I become an aunt.

    Reply

  12. jenw says

    The boy needs a new blanket for school…he’s just outgrowing the one he’s had. :) That’s a sewing project I could do! And your blanket turned out really really sweet and pretty.

    Reply

  13. Jan says

    So cute! A quilt is like love … you can wrap yourself in it. At least that’s what I tell my son :-D I have made many quilts and knitted and crocheted afghans for him over the years–one’s on his bed now, and I’m working on a quilt for his high school graduation gift in June. This is one that people can sign. Tee shirt quilts are also great graduation gifts, so save those shirts! I sewed one for a friend’s son that used 42 shirts, from his preschool and Little League days right up through senior year.

    Sewing tips: Make sure you’re using a sharp needle, and the right needle for the weight and type of fabric. A walking foot attachment is great if you have wiggly fabrics or lots of layers that could shift during sewing. It looks like you were using the right type of needle, so the breakage might be because the needle is dull, or the needle bar is out of alignment and your machine needs a tuneup (ask me how I know these things, lol).

    Reply

  14. Meg says

    That’s really cute! I love the colors you chose, and the hand-stitching is so charming.

    I’m in the middle of making quilts for my two little boys, too. My dad passed away last March, so I’m cutting a bunch of his old shirts into quilt patches. I thought it would be nice for the kids to have something “from” their grandpa, even though they won’t remember him. It’s taken me nearly a year to be able to even start the project, but at this point, it’s kind of a sweet way for me to be able to remember him, too, as I’m seeing all these shirts that I remember him wearing…

    Reply

  15. Sarah says

    I am working on a bib for a friend’s baby that looks like an oxford shirt with a liberty print bow tie :) I am a beginner at sewing so I may have bit off more than I can chew

    Reply

  17. mary says

    I used to break needles ALL the time, turns out I was pulling on the fabric instead of guiding/gently pushing the fabric through. Pulling on it put stress on the needle and made it bend and at certain points snap. BEAUTIFUL blanket, he’s a lucky boy!!

    Reply

  18. Kimberly says

    It’s gorgeous in all it’s (very) slight imperfection. I love it!!! And I know little man will too. :-)

    Reply

  20. Becky says

    I have that same brother machine, it started jamming up and breaking needles. After some research I found out I needed a new bobbin case (which is the piece inside that spins freely when the bobbin unwinds). After reading my manual I found out that if there are any dings or scratches on the bobbin case it cannot spin as freely as it needs to for it not to snag. This may be why you are breaking needles on seemingly easy straight lines in cotton. So I bought myself the bobbin case for $24 on ebay. Fixed the problem and works good as new. 25 beats the 75 they would have charged me at a sewing machine repair store for my 200$ machine. Maybe unscrew your machine and inspect your bobbin case.

    Reply

  21. Sara says

    I live the quilt! Such beauty in simplicity! I overthink things WAAY too often!

    I’d love to know how the stitches won’t snag on the back? Did I miss a step? I want to make one for my boys but knowing them all of my hours will blow up in smoke. :)

    Excited for all of you!

    Sara

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      The back of the quilt is the same as the front, so if you look at that picture of the folded corner that shows what the back of the hem looks like, you can see that I kept them all really short (the stitches) on both the front and the back of the quilt. They still could snag on a tiny cat claw or something I think, but I’m hoping for the best!

      xo
      s

  22. KatieMW says

    In the past few years, I have nearly become addicted to crocheting. I always have a few projects in the works – right now is a lacy scarf/shawl, a sweater, and a skirt for my daughter. I love it! It feeds some of my quirky personality needs all in one craft – choosing and looking at pretty colors, keeping my fidgety hands busy creating/designing something beautiful or useful, conquering new and interesting stitches/patterns, and touching something soft.

    Reply

  23. janice says

    you can’t possibly be human. you are some masquerading alien life form wrapped up in the cutest little human skin package. (ok, that sounded less weird in my head) but seriously – is there ANYTHING you can’t do?

    Reply

  24. Sarah says

    Way to go, Sherry! So very sweet and cute without being over the top. I’m so impressed by all the things you guys come up with and do!

    Reply

  25. Molly W. says

    Oh, I just love this! Both the Bean and the Bun are lucky to have such beautiful quilts made by their mama. My sister and brother-in-law just found out they’re having TRIPLETS! It’s their first pregnancy and a total surprise. I want to make something but have absolutely no sewing experience. Your tutorial makes it seem (albeit not a short process) somewhat easy for a beginner to follow, so thank you!

    The other idea I’ve been considering is to sew up some cardigan onesies for the bambinos. http://www.babymakingmachine.com/2013/05/cardigan-onesie-tutorial.html

    Wishing you a comfortable and relaxing last few weeks before your baby boy arrives!

    PS-I met you guys at the Home and Garden Show a few weeks ago and wanted to thank you for politely ignoring my awkwardness as I was clearly star struck! My husband still picks on me for that. :)

    Reply

  26. Sara Wutzke says

    I love it! Simple yet beautiful. I have been having fun with appliqueing onto t-shirts and onesies. I did a really fun ABC sampler last year by heather bailey-it’s beautiful and I intended for it to be in the nursery but it was more feminine than I thought. Kudos on the hand stitching!

    Reply

  27. Sandra T says

    Now this is awesome! This is my favorite thing that you have brought into the nursery! Isn’t it amazing how therapeutic just sewing straight lines are? And how much you love having such a precious gift for your son!! Good for you, Sherry! : )

    Reply

  28. Diane Taylor says

    Oh Sherry this is just darling – I teared up too when you wrote about Clara thanking you for making hers. I get all emotional when you write about projects for your kids. Can’t help it I guess. This speaks volumes on how much you already love this little guy. I can picture Clara holding him whie he is wrapped in this quilt of love.

    xxoo – dt

    Reply

  30. Christine says

    That is so adorable! I’m also amazed at how you find time to do stuff like that! I crocheted a blanket for my son before he was born, but only because I had started it 2 years ago for a friends baby and never gave it to them. Finishing half a blanket seemed so much more manageable than a whole one!

    I’d love to make something special for my other son’s 7th birthday in July. Any ideas?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hmm, anyone have ideas for Christine for a seven year old? I’ve seen really cool lego tables if he’s into that. Or maybe a cool beanbag for his room and he can pick the fabric or something?

      xo
      s

  31. Shevon says

    So cute, Sherry! I might try it, but being that my youngest is almost 9. I may have no fingers left if I try to embroider the whole thing for his size! Maybe just a throw. Once again, you amaze me at your mad skills of creativity.

    Reply

  32. Melanie says

    I just love this! This reminds me of this quilt: http://katiedid.squarespace.com/katie-did-journal/2009/1/27/quilt-how-to.html

    I like yours because you can sit on the couch and do most of it! I did a weekly photo of my second daughter, inspired by y’all, and made a quilt with the fabric, just like y’all did. My third daughter sleeps with it now. Nothing like a quilt made my mama. This one is great because it’s light weight, but also perfect for tummy time on the floor and such. Well done Sherry! Little boy will love it!

    Reply

  33. Stefanie says

    I recently read this letter on the Washington Post and your post this morning reminded me of it. (http://live.washingtonpost.com/carolyn-hax-live-140228.html). I had to share it with you since it might be some foreshadowing … except Clara and the barnacle will be surrounded by a whole house of things you made for them. Here is the excerpt:
    Some time ago, I decided to teach myself to crochet. One of my first projects was to make a blanket for my then-5 year old daughter. It’s, well, odd. The stitches are wonky sizes, the colors don’t quite match, the size is weird, and it took FOREVER for my limited skills to finish. This daughter is turning 16 in a few days. Recently, we had a big blow-out fight about, heck, I don’t even remember what. Clothes, grades, boys, one of those things moms and daughters fight about. I finally ended the argument by saying that I was going for a walk and we could both just cool down. When I got back, she was sitting with a mug of cocoa, wrapped up in that blanket. She said to me “when we fight, I like curling up in this blanket and thinking about whatever we’re fighting about and what we can do to get past it. This blanket…you MADE it for me. So whenever we fight, I have something to curl up in to remind me that no matter what it is, you love me enough that you MADE this. And it’ll be okay, and you will always love me.” Keep making and giving your blankets. It’s so much more meaningful than any diaper genie could ever be, and, some day, it may be exactly what the recipient needs to get through a rough patch.

    Reply

  34. emily hassman says

    Oh gosh, I absolutely love this. I have made a couple of small machine-sewn quilts (and felt like a freakin’ champion for it), but I LOVE the way the hand-stitching looks… and it sounds like a perfect project for a mama-to-be who spends all her time on the couch anyway :)

    Reply

  36. Annie says

    I always read your posts but this is my first time commenting. I love love love this quilt! I think it is so adorable and so much more doable for regular non-pro sewers than a traditional quilt with a thousand little pieces sewn together. Just the thought of one of those quilts gives me nightmares!

    Reply

  37. Katharina says

    Beautiful!
    Can I ask a question about the elefant covered mattress? (Sorry, maybe you’ve decribed it somewhere already…) Where did you buy the fabric? I reminds me so much of the famous elefant print by the very wonderful, elegant and prestigious Swedish design company Svenskt Tenn; see: http://www.svenskttenn.se/pages/Search.aspx?q=elefant
    Greetings from Vienna, Austria!

    Reply

  39. Karen says

    That quilt turned out fabulos! As a regular hand quilter, I’m understand how strangely relaxing it can be. My favorite project was a yo-yo quilt. Fabric yo-yos are super easy and very versatile. I’m sure you could think of a million cute designs for them, check it out!

    Reply

  40. Jessika says

    Such a sweet quilt! I love it and that CLEARLY did not just take an hour or two. Great job!

    Our bun is expected mid-April. I just finished a rainbow-colored bird mobile and then I took the same fabric and made raindrops– the raindrops are falling from a stuffed sewn cloud I made. The mobile is over the bed, and the raindrops/cloud are on the wall by the changing pad. Pops of bright color– I love them!

    Reply

  41. Shauna says

    Sherry, your quilt is adorable. I think I did some baby blanket for my boys many years ago, but nothing this cute. And yes, hand crafts that repeat are soooo therapeutic. Like watching a flame.

    You will never regret the hours your fingers spent doing this project–it’s like saying “I love you” over and over and over.

    Reply

  43. Yetunde says

    Ha! In sync. I’m actually in the process of making quilts for my twins (just got the fabric this week). It has just come to my attention that I may not be having any more biological buns in the oven so I’ll be incorporating their old baby clothes into the quilt to make it a sorta memory/legacy/family quilt.

    Reply

  44. Ann says

    Here in Japan (where we’re expats) I think they call that embroidery technique shashiko and it is very popular on everything, including quilts. Very pretty!

    Reply

  45. DKL says

    In case you are interested, the stich that was on the edge of the inspiration quilt is called a overcast stich. Looks like they did it one direction, then reversed it for a double overcast. They are really simple to do.

    Reply

  46. Elizabeth says

    I’m so impressed! I knit a tiny blanket for my new little man (he’s 3 months old now) while I was pregnant. It took FOREVER, and I’ve sworn that there is no way I’ll be able to make one for any future kiddos. If he loves it half as much as Clara loves her quilt, I might just have to rethink that.

    Reply

  47. Aspen @ little green orchids says

    Ok that Clara comment made me cry…I love the quilt! I used to make them as a teenager, but I love your idea of using pre-quilted fabric. I’ve actually recently started learning how to sew clothing…which is terrifying but oddly, I love it. Even though I sweat and shake the whole time. Here’s a dress I made for my almost-2-year old! http://bit.ly/1ch7UvP
    There’s a pattern I’ve found that I bet you’d have a blast making for Clara…It’s little girl leggings, and it’s by Go-To-Patterns. It was one of the first things I made for her to wear and it’s really beginner friendly and quick. The pattern is called Go To Leggings if you ever feel like looking for it!
    Xoxo

    Reply

  48. Kate says

    Cute! That’s so awesome that Clara loves your quilt, hopefully the same will happen this time. :)

    I’ve been itching to make something for my 1 year old, but I was thinking crochet. I’ve made a couple small quilts before, but like you said, it’s so nice to have something to do while chilling on the couch. Though instead, I should probably take the time to repair the quilted throw a friend made me a few years back instead (like me, she was a beginner but tried a much more intricate quilt, and there are a few places where the fabric didn’t get completely sewn, and there’s nothing holding the front and back together). Hmmm, decisions!

    Reply

  49. Sarah says

    I love this project-and it’s perfectly timed since I’m due in September! I’m already planning a trip to the fabric store. Anytime I can hand-stitch over using my blasted machine, I’m in. Why do sewing machines take such pleasure in foiling our attempts to make pretty things?

    Reply

  50. Heather says

    Congratulations Sherry!

    I know exactly how you mean regarding Clara’s quilt and the way she uses it all the time.

    I made my first quilt last summer for my grand-nephew who was born at the end of September. I used all different kinds of Dr. Seuss fabric and made it with one flannel side and one cotton side. Well, he is now 5 months old and my niece tells me he won’t sleep without it. She has asked me to make a second one so she will always have one handy when the other has to go into the wash.

    Reply

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