A friend of mine saw your beautiful patchwork quilt and really wants to make one for her twin sister. I am not good enough at sewing to attempt a quilt with out a pattern sadly. I was wondering if you used one or if you were talented enough to just whip it up all in your head? We both just love it!
Thank you so much! The great thing about this quilt is that it’s so random. I didn’t use a pattern. I cut up random pieces of old clothes and fabric scraps, and used a few new pieces of fat quarters I bought at Hancock Fabrics. I started with one center square, about 3 in x 3 in square. Then, I cut various sized pieces to go around the edges and sewed them together in a spiral from that center square. That’s why the patches are all different shapes and sizes. When I had a piece about a foot square, I sewed it to the next piece that size. I stopped when I had something big enough to roughly cover the top of my bed. (Had to cut the edges to make them straight.) Then I sandwiched some light-weight fleece in between the patchwork layer and a backing of cotton jersey (like t-shirt material). I used that just because I had it, and I like it because it’s soft, but it’s not all that easy to work with because it’s stretchy, so I would really recommend a backing of muslin or flannel. Trimmed the edges again to make sure they were all lined up and straight. Then I sewed on the border, which is just satin ribbon I found at Hancock (Walmart has it too). Just folded it in half and sewed it on. There are some great tutorials online for quilt bindings that look a lot better, but I tend to just wing everything I do sewing wise. I also have not actually “quilted” this. Meaning, I haven’t really sewed all three layers together. I have considered it, but I’ve washed this a few times, and there hasn’t been any bunching, so I don’t really think it’s necessary. I hope this helps! If you have any more questions, please let me know!
Shannon said,
March 22, 2012 at 9:59 am
Hi There!!!
A friend of mine saw your beautiful patchwork quilt and really wants to make one for her twin sister. I am not good enough at sewing to attempt a quilt with out a pattern sadly. I was wondering if you used one or if you were talented enough to just whip it up all in your head? We both just love it!
Thank you,
Shannon
meggitymegs said,
March 23, 2012 at 10:25 am
Thank you so much! The great thing about this quilt is that it’s so random. I didn’t use a pattern. I cut up random pieces of old clothes and fabric scraps, and used a few new pieces of fat quarters I bought at Hancock Fabrics. I started with one center square, about 3 in x 3 in square. Then, I cut various sized pieces to go around the edges and sewed them together in a spiral from that center square. That’s why the patches are all different shapes and sizes. When I had a piece about a foot square, I sewed it to the next piece that size. I stopped when I had something big enough to roughly cover the top of my bed. (Had to cut the edges to make them straight.) Then I sandwiched some light-weight fleece in between the patchwork layer and a backing of cotton jersey (like t-shirt material). I used that just because I had it, and I like it because it’s soft, but it’s not all that easy to work with because it’s stretchy, so I would really recommend a backing of muslin or flannel. Trimmed the edges again to make sure they were all lined up and straight. Then I sewed on the border, which is just satin ribbon I found at Hancock (Walmart has it too). Just folded it in half and sewed it on. There are some great tutorials online for quilt bindings that look a lot better, but I tend to just wing everything I do sewing wise. I also have not actually “quilted” this. Meaning, I haven’t really sewed all three layers together. I have considered it, but I’ve washed this a few times, and there hasn’t been any bunching, so I don’t really think it’s necessary. I hope this helps! If you have any more questions, please let me know!