With baby number two due today, 4th July, I decided to have a go at making a 4th July/Independence Day quilt. Unfortunately, like my 4th July baby, it is not quite ready yet. This is how far I have got...with the quilting that is: For this quilt I have used a selection of red, white and blue charm packs and am following the instructions in my beginners quilting series here. Now, I am aware that quilts are not recommended for babies under the age of one so, once finished, I plan to add a few teething rings, mirrors etc and use it as a play-mat initially. I will update here when ...
How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 9: Binding Your Quilt
With all the quilting completed it is time for the final step, binding your quilt. Before we tackle our binding fabric it is time to tidy up the quilt. Using your ruler, cutting mat and rotary cutter carefully remove all the excess batting and backing fabric from your quilt. Next cut your binding strips. You will need four strips measuring 2.5" wide and the length will be approximately 42", or whatever the width of the fabric you ordered. Trim the selvage edges of each strip. Now take two of your strips, place right sides together and align one edge. Pin and then bring this to your ...
How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 8: Quilting!
So, we have basted our quilts and FINALLY made it to the most exciting part, the quilting! My apologies for the delay in getting this post up but we were struck down with a rather nasty case of Norovirus here at Casa B and energy levels are only just returning. Tonight though I have managed to crack on with the next step. Quilting basically means just sewing all three of your quilt layers together. How you do it is entirely up to you. Some quilters like to quilt along the edges of their squares, known as 'quilting in the ditch', some can manage that super pretty free-form quilting with ...
How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 7: Layering and Basting Your Quilt.
Now that we have added our borders and the front of our quilt is complete it is time to start putting all the layers together. First I would strongly recommend that you iron both the backing material and the front of your quilt so that both can be laid nice and flat. Next lay out your backing material, right side face down, on a flat hard surface. If you have a wooden or tiled floor this would be ideal. I had to make do on the carpet. Smooth out any creases to make sure that it is flat and then secure the edges to the floor with masking tape. Now, roll out your batting on top of the ...
How to make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 6: Rotary Cutting and Adding Your Borders
Now it is time to cut the fabric strips for the borders of our quilt. If you began with a charm pack of fabric squares for the front of your quilt this may be your first time cutting fabric with a rotary cutter. I was terrified at first but if you just follow a few simple steps it really is as easy as can be. Before you begin cutting off strips make sure your fabric is folded squarely. This may well mean re-ironing the center fold when folded in half width-ways so it is time to get the iron out again...sorry. It is also a good idea to iron your quilt out flat at this stage too. Align ...
How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 5: Ordering Border and Backing Fabric and Quilt Batting.
Now comes the step I found to be the most confusing when I made my first quilt, ordering fabric. I just could not get my head around it which is weird as I am pretty good at maths. The fabric world however appears to operate by it's own rules, and if you don't know the lingo it can take some figuring out! The switch from yards and inches to metres and centimetres I also find quite frustrating but am beginning to get used to now. I shall endeavour to supply both where I can. I have listed a few conversion factors below. 1 yard = approx 92cm (91.44) 1 yard = 36 inches 1 inch = ...
How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 4: Sewing Your Rows Together.
Congratulations on finishing step 3! Now, I'm afraid to say, it is time to get the iron out. You should now have your 8 individual rows of squares. Before we sew them together we need to iron down the seams. This makes pinning them together ready for sewing much easier and you will find it helps to line up the squares more accurately. Take row 1. Place right side down on your ironing board and iron down the seams so that they are pointing to your right. Then take row 2, place right side down and iron down seams pointing to your left. Repeat, alternating direction for each row in ...
How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 3: Sewing an Individual Row of Squares
Now we are ready to sew row 1 together. Take squares 1 and 2 from row 1, the first two squares from the left. Place 'right sides up', for us newbies that means the side you want facing outwards is uppermost. Now place square 2 face down on top of square 1. This is called placing 'right sides together'. Now pin the right hand side of your squares together ready for sewing. Align the right hand side of your fabric with the side of your presser foot as shown. This will ...
How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 2: Preparing to Sew the Front of Your Quilt
Ok, so we have all of our materials ready for the main part of the quilt, the front. You should have 64 5 x5" squares of fabric. It is time to lay out your quilt. You need to lay out your squares in eight rows of eight squares as shown below. This is harder than you first think. You need to try and avoid bunching up similar colours or patterns and it may take a good few attempts before you are happy with it. This is mine. As you can see Mr B was supervising from above! Once you are happy with your arrangement you need to start stacking your squares in rows. We will call the ...
How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 1: Materials
I only recently bought my first sewing machine but have rapidly become a huge enthusiast. I am still very much a beginner but following this wonderful series I was able to produce my very first cotbed quilt. Ok, so it is a little wonky, but I am still amazed that it is finished and I think a little bit of wonkiness adds to the charm. I learnt quite a bit along the way and when I found out that my next door neighbour was expecting her 3rd baby in April I figured it was a great opportunity to have another go at it. I am not sure what she is expecting yet though so am going to have to be ...