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FREE QUILT PATTERN BABY CRIB QUILT

You don’t need any previous experience to make this baby crib quilt – just bags of enthusiasm.  Even a sewing machine is not essential, although it does speed things up enormously.  My instructions are based on the assumption that you have a sewing machine, but you could handsew the seams if you choose.  


Apart from the seams, the only handsewing that you will need is slipstitch and basting (see Sewing Tips on the navigation bar). The finished size of the quilt is approximately 760mm x 760mm (30” x 30”).

You will need 1metre of the backing fabric, 1 metre of the wadding (or a square 800mm x 800mm), 3/4 metre of the main fabric and ½ metre of the contrasting fabric.   A metre and a yard are very similar, so 1/2 yard will be near enough 1/2 metre.  I always use good quality natural fabric and wadding for sewing quilts, but this is particularly important in a baby quilt because cotton allows the skin to breathe and this is essential as a baby cannot kick the quilt off if she gets too hot.         

PREPARATION 

   

Many people feel that it is always best to prewash the fabric.  I would choose not to for this quilt for 2 reasons:  first because the quilt is relatively small and second because if you are giving this as a gift there is something special about the smell and crispness of brand new fabric - you can tell I am a fabric junkie, can't you!

You will need a decent, sharp pair of scissors for cutting the fabric.  Dressmaking scissors have long blades which obviously make cutting quicker and neater.  It is also useful to have a smaller pair like embroidery scissors or even nail scissors to cut off all the trailing bits of cotton at the beginning and end of each seam.  There is less risk of cutting the fabric itself with a small pair and you can get closer in to the fabric to cut the cotton.  

I wouldn’t be without my rotary cutter, ruler and mat, but it is probably worth waiting until you are making a larger project before deciding whether to buy them.  Click onrotary cutters for more information.

MAKING THE BABY CRIB QUILT    

From the backing fabric, cut a square about 800mm x 800mm (31" square).  With what is left, cut strips of fabric 65mm (2.1/2") wide sufficient for a length of about 3300mm (65") when joined together.  This is for the binding.  

From the main fabric you will need to cut 16 squares and from the contrasting fabric 9 squares. Each square is 165mm x 165mm (6.1/2" square).   The easiest way to do this is to cut a 165mm (6.1/2")  strip of fabric across the width of the material and then cut across the strip at 165mm (6.1/2") intervals to make the squares.  
    




Lay the squares out in the pattern that you wish to sew them.  If the pattern on your fabric has a direction, then remember to place the squares so that the pattern faces the right way, for example the hearts in my fabric all need to face in the same direction.






Take the square in the top left hand corner and sew it to the square next to it on the right.  In quilting it is really important to keep 6mm (¼”) seams (6mm from the edge of the fabric to the line of stitching) so that the seams on the squares all match up when you sew the whole thing together.    If you are not used to doing this, it would be worth marking 6mm in from the edge of the fabric with a pencil. 




Another way would be to sew a seam at 6mm (1/4") and mark where the sewing machine foot needs to be relative to the edge of the fabric.  I use the zipper foot on my machine and that gives me exactly the right size seam, but I have put some masking tape on my machine at 1/4" as well. 





Sew all the squares together across the top row.  Then do the same on the second row and continue down until all 5 rows have been joined.  Take care that you are always sewing right sides together and keeping the pattern the right way up.  It is easy to get distracted and sew the wrong 2 sides of the square together.  You now have 5 strips of patchwork.   Press these strips of fabric with the seams going all the same way on each strip, but in opposite directions from one strip to the one below it.  This way you will have less bulky seams when you stitch the rows to each other.    


Flip the top row so that it is on top of the row beneath it, right sides together.  Match the seams of the top row with those of the row underneath it and pin them together.  You can see the pins at the top of the photo (just). Sew the two strips together, easing the fabric slightly if necessary to try and keep the seams from the 2 strips matching each other.  Remember the 6mm (1/4")  seam. 

Continue by adding the third strip to the 2 you have just joined, then do the same with the fourth and fifth rows.  Well done – that’s the top of the quilt complete.  

Take the backing fabric (pale pink in the photos) and lay it on the table with right side down, gently smoothing it flat.  Now place the wadding on top of the backing and again smooth it gently.  Place the patchwork on top of the wadding with right side up.  You should have 3 layers of fabric as shown on the left.  Smooth gently, working from the centre outwards.




These 3 layers now need to be secured together before sewing.   Quilting pins are ideal because they have a curve to hold the fabric without bunching it.  If you don’t have these,ordinary pins will do, but be careful not to stab your fingers as you work.       






Pin the 3 layers together, smoothing gently as you work.  Avoid pinning too near the seams as our next step is to stitch along the seams.  Stitching the 3 layers together is called quilting.  I used to think that quilting was the process of making a quilt.  I now know that quilting is the sewing together of the 3 layers.  This can be done using very ornate designs and we will look at this in future newsletters, but for this quilt we are going to use what is termed ‘stitch in the ditch’.



This involves quite simply stitching along the seam lines of the patchwork.  It is best to work from the centre outwards, so I would stitch the outline of the centre square and then along the seams towards the edges next.   This is how it looks on the back of the baby quilt.  On the front the stitching doesn’t show as it is along the seam lines.  




Now you have the quilt complete apart from binding the edges.  This neatens up the raw edges.  There are many ways of binding, and again we can look at these in future newsletters, but the method I have used here is probably the simplest, giving a lovely neat finish.   Before binding, baste all round the edge of the quilt (long running stitches - click on sewing tips for more info).  This stops the edges of the layers slipping while you are binding.

Take the 65mm wide strips of fabric that you cut from the backing fabric.  Join them together to make 1 long strip by putting the ends together at right angles, right sides together.  Sew along the diagonal as shown. 







Trim the edge of the square 6mm (1/4")  from the stitching.  When you open this out, you have a continuous length with a diagonal seam joining the 2 pieces.    Press the strip in half lengthways.  





Starting about half way along one of the edges of the baby quilt, place the binding strip on top of the quilt.  The fold is towards the middle and the raw edges of the strip are in line with the raw edges of the quilt.     Leaving about 75mm (3") of the binding free, begin stitching along the length, stopping 6mm before the corner. 





Backstitch to secure the thread, remove the quilt from the machine and snip the ends of the thread.   It is always worth snipping the ends of the thread as you go because otherwise it takes forever finding them all afterwards.  







Fold the binding up at right angles to the quilt.    Now all will become clear! Fold the binding back down so that it is running along the next edge of the quilt.  Pin in place and start sewing again from the edge of the fabric. Repeat this step at each of the next 3 corners until you are sewing down the edge where you began stitching. 



Stop sewing about 125mm (5") before where you began sewing the binding on.  Now we just need to join the 2 ends together neatly and finish the seam. You have 2 trailing ends of binding - well, I hope you have! 







Lay them straight along the quilt so that they overlap. Mark a line on each strip where they overlap.  I have used pen so that it will show up, but I would recommend pencil or fabric marking pen.   Trim the ends of the binding about 12mm (1/2") from the mark where they overlap. 





Turn under the raw edge of the top (lefthand) piece of binding – along its width, so you are following the pen mark.   Tuck the other piece of binding (right hand) inside the fold of the left hand piece of binding.  Pin in place.  By putting the pin in the up and down direction as shown and keeping it from the edge of the quilt, you should be able to finish sewing the machine with the pin in place.  Never sew over a pin because you could break the needle of the machine.  

I have left a gap in the stitching at either side of the join so that you can see which part has just been sewn to finish the seam.   We’re nearly there now.  Just one more task and then you will have completed a baby crib quilt of which you can be very proud.






Flip the binding over to the other side of the quilt and slipstitch in place against the backing fabric.   You can see why we folded the binding as we did at the corners.  You have neat square corners whichever side of the quilt you look at.    






Well done.  I hope you have enjoyed making this quilt as much as I did.  Of course, this doesn’t have to be a baby quilt.  With different colours and different layouts it could be a lap quilt for anyone special to you.    






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rose@ludlowquiltandsew.co.uk
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