Search the Community

Patchwork quilt for a child If you have a small kid or are expecting one and love sewing, this tutorial is for you. Using only natural fabrics, you can decorate a child’s bed with a patchwork quilt of your own making. Haven't tried patchwork quilting yet? Now is the right time! To create a simple quilt block, you’ll need scraps of bright-colored fabrics and a sewing machine. Let’s go! Patchwork quilt for a child. Materials For this patchwork quilt, I’ve bought a ready set of fabrics with batik print and a piece of sole-colored backing fabric. There were 40 squares in the bundle, size 12.5x12.5 cm. You may cut your own squares or buy a ready fabric set, as I did. To make the quilt warmer and puffier, you’ll need a thing called quilt batting, designed specifically for this purpose. It is usually made of cotton, bamboo, wool, or their combinations. You’ll also need some lining fabric. As you’re making a kid’s quilt, this fabric ought to be natural. Cotton, calico or lightweight calico will do splendidly. Patchwork quilt for a child. Cutting For a patchwork quilt, cut the same number of squares out of your sole-colored backing fabric. Place the squares by pairs with their right sides together, a bright-colored plus a sole-colored one. Draw the lines on the sides to mark the seam allowance. In my bundle, the size of the squares didn't ideally correspond to the one I needed. So I drew two parallel lines at a distance of 11.5 cm. That would mark the width of the ready square. Done that? Pin the pieces together. Patchwork quilt for a child. Joining the pieces Stitch along the lines on the right and of the left. Repeat with the top and the bottom of the square. Press the seam allowances. Now draw the diagonal lines from one corner to the other. Cut the squares along those lines. Join these smaller pieces by pairs, their right sides together. This is the most interesting part; you can “play” with the squares and create various combinations. Remember the kaleidoscope you’ve probably had in your childhood. Choose your pattern, arrange the blocks and pin them together so as not to mess up the whole thing. Baste them together and press the seam allowances. Lay the resulting short strips of fabrics together and sew them to each other. While arranging the pieces, position them so that their seam allowances are oriented in different directions, thus “locking” them. Having sewn the pieces together, unstitch the fabric near the “lock” and press the seam allowance open (see in the photo below). In our future tutorial, we’ll tell you how to arrange the quilt blocks into a ready quilt. Original text by Irina Lisitsa See also:

Making patchwork quilt on the embroidery machine Level: beginner. If you are fond of both quilting and machine embroidery, this tutorial is for you. Do want to make high-quality quilt blocks quickly? Patchwork quilt on the embroidery machine: high quality without painstaking and time-consuming work. Just a few easy steps will enable you to decorate your project with an ornate stitched pattern. Patchwork quilt on the embroidery machine: Materials: Upper fabric (front) Mid-layer (batting) Lower fabric (back) Upper thread Machine embroidery design (straight stitch) Visit our store to find a suitable embroidery design! Patchwork quilt on the embroidery machine: preparations Load the design into the embroidery machine or use the one from the memory. Activate the Basting option. Hoop the mid-layer only. For the mid-layer, you may use a high-loft polyester batting (150 gsm, two layers), cotton batting or any other kind of wadding for quilt. Choose your batting in accordance with your needs and the desired outer look of the ready item. In this tutorial, we’re going to quilt both the front and the back. In order to attain high quality and a beautiful back side, use identical upper and lower threads. Secure a piece of the backing fabric on the wrong side of the hoop with the help of a temporary spray adhesive. The wrong side of the fabric should face the batting. The piece of fabric should be approximately 5 cm larger than the ready quilt block on each side. When you make a quilt with the high-loft mid-layer, the covering fabric will get smaller, hence the shrinkage allowance. Patchwork quilt on the embroidery machine: machine embroidery Having attached the hoop to the machine, cover it with the fabric for the front, with its wrong side facing down. Hit the start button. With the Basting option turned on, all layers of the future block are first stitched together with a basting stitch. If your machine doesn’t have this option, create an outline with straight stitches no less than 7 mm long in any embroidery software. You will be able to use this outline for basting in your future projects. The outline comes first in the sewing order, before the design. After the embroidery is finished, you’ll have a ready quilt block. The front and back will look equally fine due to the identical threads. Original text by Irina Lisitsa