Here’s the story of how I made a cute little quilt for our baby boy on the way.
A few years ago I chronicled how my not-nearly-a-seamstress buns were compelled possessed to make a quilt for the bean.
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.
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…
… but she brings it in the car for road trips, and even drags it downstairs to to the sofa for lazy Saturday snuggling.
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…
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)
- 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.
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.
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).
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
And here’s what it looks like from the back:
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.
Can’t wait to meet this little bun and wrap him up with all sorts of love and quilt-y snuggles.
Right now it’s just chilling in the nursery, waiting for the big arrival.
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.
Psst- Wanna know where we got something in our house or what paint color we used? Just click on this button:
Wow, so much love and time on this sweet quilt! I think Captain Barnacle will love it!
Well thanks to Clara’s comment about her beautiful quilt, my heart puddled on the floor. How could you not make one for the lil man after a sweet comment like that? Though being a boy, his way of thanking you might just be taking it everywhere like Linus and then making sure when he has nuggets of his own that it would be great to dig it out of the attic for him to use for your grandkids. ;-)
I love how simple the pattern is but love is definitely in every stitch!
So cute and charming. He’ll love it forever (just like Clara). I like that he got his own variety too and it isn’t an identical design to Clara’s. Good call on the double-sided quilt fabric.
P.s. Just in case over 600 comments on your office wasn’t enough I wanted to say that I loved someone’s idea of adding a sofa/lounge area and having two monitors is life-changing. :)
it;s beautiful and so cozy….it’s the little things, just the little things that makes us so happy. can’t wait to meet the bean all cosy up on his new blankly!
I’ve had that pinned forever and haven’t gotten around to making it yet…yours looks great! I actually think I prefer it over the original.
I’m a big sewer so I always get excited when you do a sewing project. Oddly enough, I always find myself in the beginning of the posts going “Come on Sherry, you can do it” and then I’m always so proud of you when you finish. Haha! Consider me your virtual cheering section.
Aw, thanks so much Becca!
xo
s
LOVE THIS! You did such a great job. I made a quilt for my first born, but I have yet to make one for my second… but he’s only 6 months old, so I still have time, right? I actually have the fabric down stairs too. I need to get on that. Thanks for the reminder, and kuddos to you for getting yours done before the birth!
My Mum took up quilting when her 4 kids were all teenages. She made my sister a quilt that took 2 years and then she promised me one. It took her four years, I got it for my 25th birthday but it is awesome and well worth the wait.
It was a life list goal to make a quilt for each kid. 100% by hand. Check! I also embroidered hankies for my wedding party. Love working with my hands in a low-tech way. It was especially handy (pun alert) when I was flying a bunch for work.
Her quilt/nursery (we were Team Green):
http://theittybittythings.blogspot.com/2011/01/hey-would-you-like-to-see-nursery.html
And his:
http://theittybittythings.blogspot.com/2012/07/not-to-be-out-done.html
So sweet! You’re good!
xo
s
CandiceMcC — that brought a flashback to me. I took a small lap quilt on a plane once to work on. The lady I was sitting by must have asked me 15 times if it was done. I thought maybe I was bothering her, but she was just really interested in seeing the finished project. She was obviously not familiar with how long hand quilting takes me! I pride myself on fairly tight, small stitches (12-14+/inch). I am completely intrigued by miniature quilts and want to make some of those one day. Ease of traveling with them is a plus!
That’s so funny! She was the quilting equivalent of a kid asking “are we there yet?”
xo
s
LOVING this gorgeous quilt! I’ve found myself hand sewing and embroidering a lot too (also preggo – 29 weeks) There’s something so calming and blissful-zen about it. The bun is just going to LOVE this quilt.
This is precious! Love the quilt . . . almost as much as I love this line: “revealing my evil sailor-mouthed alter ego to my sweet husband in the next room.”
That is absolutely adorable!!! Loves me some crafty quilting! We were in the adoption process for so many years, that part of my “nesting” while waiting was just making baby quilts. So quilting still makes me feel really connected to our daughter and I decided to try to make her a quilt every year for her birthday. Not sure if I can swing it, but I’m going to try! I pulled it off for her first birthday, and I’m totally inspired by this quilt for her second! thank you so much for sharing!
Oh I really really love this and I think I must try to make one for my son as well. He’s almost 2 but still…:) Such a sweet and simple design that looks professionally imperfect! Great job and thanks for sharing!
Good luck Courtney! It really is sort of soothing and sweet to do each night after the little one’s in bed.
xo
s
Beautiful!!! We used the same exact quilted fabric from Joann Fabric in a light green to recover a hand-me-down glider. It came out great and is still holding up and comfortable (18 months later!). I can’t take credit. My awesome mother in law did the recovering :)
That sounds awesome!
xo
s
That is just the most adorable thing! Man, it makes me really wish I knew how to sew. Instead of me sewing, I roped my mom into making blankets for the kids. Those blankets are their favorites and I am sure this quilt will be your guy’s favorite too!
Sherry, this is incredibly sweet and beautiful. I really love it! Some may think this is a simple little blanket but I really appreciate it. I love that your kids will have these handmade things to keep and cherish for a long, long time.
Aw thanks Maureen!
xo
s
This is so sweet. Adding it to my list of must-do’s for my daughter!!
It’s a beautiful quilt and will mean so much to him. TFS!
I love this! I recently sewed a picnic blanket for my fiance for our anniversary. It was so cheap for the materials but I thought I was going to die while making it. I’m sure you feel the same but just knowing how much your son will appreciate it will make it all worth it!
This is very sweet. My husband still has a homemade quilt made by his mom. I bet Barnacle will treasure his just as much.
Love it! I’ve had that inspiration image pinned for forever and have really wanted to try to do my own version and I think you’ve given me just the right “you can do it” push I needed. This one is sweet too http://www.pinterest.com/pin/135530270006297856/
So sweet! I haven’t seen that one, but it’s adorable!
xo
s
So beautiful! I’m in awe. I want to make a quilt for our impending arrival. As always, you are motivating me!
The quilt is lovely and will be such a sweet keepsake for him! I just made my first two machine-sewn quilts this winter and love how they turned out–imperfections and all. Sewing machines have a tendency of producing bad words, as this happens to me as well. Maybe next time I will try a little hand-sewn action inspired by your lovely blanket.
It’s SO CUTE. And I love that you did it by hand, because I suffer from the same sewing machine phobia.
And funny, I picked up some quilted fabric for myself a couple of weekends ago. Except mine is going to be a new makeup bag, haha.
Sounds really cute! Would love to see pics when you’re done!
xo
s
We’re expecting our first baby the end of April, and I’m tackling my first quilt for them. All of the fabric arrived this week, and I had so much fun choosing the colours! I chose white, mint, coral, a white/grey stripe, and two shades of grey. I have a pattern for a triangle quilt that I’m eager to get started on next week. I can’t wait to make something special for our little one!
Love the colors you picked! Send pics when you’re done!
xo
s
Why is it that the sewing machine always turns us into bad mouthed sailors?? I can’t even keep my kids around when trying to sew something because they would constantly remind me that I’m using “bad words”. Love the colors you chose for the quilt!! And thanks again for the laughs this morning!
Seriously. I think chocolate brings out the best in me, and sewing machines bring out the evil monster that hides in my deepest crevices.
xo
s
That looks great! Blame ot on my postpartum hormones (hey, its a thing even if you have a 4 month old!) What Clara said made me tear up at work,I’m trying not to look a hot mess haha. You definitely have a sweet little girl :)
LOVE this quilt! I’ve always admired quilts with some hand stitching like this; glad to know it’s “easy” (but time consuming). And the colors are great!
I really admire your energy and your love for the little ones. Both quilts are absolutely gorgeous! I especially love this one you made for your little man. Hand stitching is very time consuming, requires lots of courage and will power, sometimes lots of bandages. How many did you use? Such a loving mom, and very lucky kids in deed.
My little girl is about Clara’s age, I actually bought all the fabrics for her quilt, but then chickened out. I only made a tiny one for her doll bed. =( Now my baby boy is turning two. I missed the chance for both of them. Well, just have to find other fun ways to use those fabric. You are a way better mom than I am. Again, lucky kids.
Oh man, I did jab my pointer finger a few times, but zero blood was drawn, so I was a lazy prego gal and just stayed on the sofa, band-aid-less! Haha!
xo
s
It’s never too late to make them a quilt. Just call it a lap quilt instead of a baby quilt and you’re all set!
My mom made me a quilt out of all my old t-shirts when I was 21. Its NEVER too late!
This is so sweet! Right now I’m working on knitting lots of dishcloths (using dishcloth-appropriate string/yarn). My grandma had made some for our whole family a few years ago, and I got her giant bag of dishcloth yarn this December when she passed away. I’m hoping to have enough knitted by Christmas this year to give to our extended family! It also makes me feel like my TV watching is so much more productive!
That sounds like fun!
xo
s
Sherry, what you did is called kantha embroidery. It’s from India & was used to extend the life of worn-out saris. Good job!
So cool!
xo
s
This is the sweetest quilt! I’m completely in love with it. Your little boy is already so loved.
Also, I had a dream I talked to you and John on the phone. And Clara was saying something in the background but I couldn’t hear. I asked you what your favourite room in your house was and you said “the nursery!” and I thought “Duh. I knew that. What a stupid question to ask them! Oh no – I’m wasting time asking stupid questions! Ah!” I was so nervous. So you’re totally allowed to think I’m creepy now lol
You’re so sweet Evelina! That’s hilarious. The part about Clara being loud in the background is 100% accurate. She was singing Frozen songs while I was straining to hear our accountant this morning. It was kind of hilarious in that “my life has officially dissolved into chaos” way.
xo
s
So precious! I’ve never felt the urge to hand stitch until now haha It’s adorable how attached Clara is to her quilt I’m sure the bun will be the same way!
Such a beautiful project, Sherry! I’m totally inspired to make my own now, even if it does take 11 hours. :) I don’t have any babies myself – nor do I know anyone with one on the way – but the results are so beautiful, I’d like to just have one for myself!
This is beautiful! We did a photo project with our toddler similar to yours, and we have 52 weeks’ worth of fabric that we’ve been meaning to quilt up for her. This is a great reminder and inspiration – thank you!
Good luck Laura!
xo
s
That is the sweetest quilt! I made a quilt for my son, nearly 15 years ago, but haven’t yet made one for my daughter. Even though she is 5 now, you have inspired me to get cracking! We are in the midst of redesigning her room, so this is the perfect time! Thanks for continuing to be a huge source of inspiration for me:)
Thanks Grace! Good luck and happy quilting!
xo
s
Love it! It turned out so sweet and charming! Your little man is going to treasure it!
I made a quilt for my boyfriend for Christmas. It has a border and a binding and everything. I was so proud of myself. It’s not even close to perfect and it nearly killed me, but now it’s MY most prized possession. I let him use it sometimes too. Haha
That sounds so sweet! Congrats Bethany Ann!
xo
s
Of all your grand projects, this sweet little quilt has to be my favorites. Baby boy will love it
Aw, thanks so much Mollie!
xo
s
i agree!!
So sweet! Way to go, mama! Made me a little teary to think about.
I HATE breaking needles in my sewing machine, the last one broke and jammed everything up and it still sits there broken.
Clara telling you thank you is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. What a sweet grateful heart she has. Did you guys do anything to encourage her to be grateful or did she just naturally come out like that?
Aw thanks Andee, you’re so sweet. I think the best thing we have done is just try to model things for her, so at dinner John and I might say what we’re thankful for or grateful for about the day, or we’ll just be out on a weekend doing something fun and I’ll say “I’m so grateful to have you Clara (and Daddy and Burger and the baby – can’t leave them out), and this day is so much fun – I’m thankful for that too!” It seems easier to teach her something just by demonstrating it. It’s sort of the same way she has learned to love pretend play. She didn’t know what to do with her play kitchen until I sat with her and pretended to wash my hands and bake a cake and pour a drink, and then she picked that all up like a sponge.
xo
s
It looks so amaze balls! Great job! I may use it as inspiration, I am expecting our 3rd in August and I always get nesty near the end of my pregnancies and sew a quilt for my little one. Your quilt gives me all kinds of ideas, not just your regular minky fabric…. I repeat: Great job!
First of all, can Clara get any more adorable?!
But how cute and easy is this! I’ll tuck it away for future babies.
I love doing needlework while watching TV. Right now I’m working on a counted cross stitch.
Oh my gosh, I just had the urge to cross stitch. Is that crazy? I want to try it!
xo
s
I was totally going to comment the same thing! I did a counted cross stitch for my sister for Christmas, and now I’m working on one for me. :) I love the irreverent patterns on Etsy; the one I’m doing now says “Please refrain from doing coke in the bathroom.” I find it hysterical; all the words are done, just working on the border!
You should totally try it! Counted cross stitch is so simple and it’s one of those soothing repetitive tasks that I think you would love to do while watching TV.
oh, I didn’t think to look on etsy for patterns!
Sherry, there are some really cute baby patterns out there!
I adore making quilts for babies! I usually make eye-spy quilts – they’re cute but also fun and educational. I’ve been told they’re some of the only baby gifts that the family still has years later. A labor of love, for sure, but totally worth it!
http://bonnieprojects.blogspot.com/2013/07/hexie-eye-spy-quilt-for-penelope.html
My Mom is making the quilt for our baby using leftover fabrics from our wedding – I can’t wait to see it!!!
Those look so cool! So much to stare at for a little one. I bet they love them!
xo
s
Super sweet! My quilt that my grandma made for me was by far one of my favorite go to accessories – I’m sure it will get lots of good use!
So adorable! What a lucky little guy:) no embroidery for me but a friend of mine just moved into a new place with some awful tweedy 70’s curtains, neutral colored but so dated and since they were good quality with black out lining and everything (and there were about 10 of them)she decided to hand embroider them-turned out super cute with a multi-colored chevron pattern but she did sew them to the couch while working on it! Too funny:)
That sounds awesome!
xo
s
I really really love this! Nice work. Most handmade stuff like this takes time, the finished product is beautiful!
I also made a blanket for my first born (I knitted it with his initial, there’s a picture here: http://www.thekriegers.org/2011/11/made-with-love/)
And it took FOREVER. While I was making it, I gave myself a pep talk, saying that this MIGHT NOT be the blanket he attaches to, his love for it might not match the number of hours it took to create…
But, like Clara, he totally loves it and it’s his #1 source of comfort.
Now he has a baby sister and I made her one, too. This time I’m trying to do everything I can to turn it into her “attachment item” ha.
That’s so sweet!
xo
s
That blanket (and the teddy) are adorable! I can’t believe you made that. I’m seriously impressed. I want one for myself!
OHMYGOSH- this is the most adorable thing ever. There is something totally chill about watching shows and sewing. I got through the end of Breaking Bad when I made some Peppermint Eye Masks for family members for b-days. Hand-sewn embroidery floss is my fav.
http://thehouseondarlington.blogspot.com/2014/02/i-actually-made-something-off-pinterest.html
Those are adorable! Also, Breaking Bad = the best show ever made.
xo
s
I will have to keep this in mind when I start having kids. I’d love to put something homemade in the room, and this looks like something I could handle! The blanket turned out so cute – great job!
This is so beautiful! I love, love, love the hand stitching technique! I made my kiddos quilted Christmas pillows this year and they loved them! It was A LOT of work for a first time quilter, but so worth it.
http://tashiadoyle.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/ten-projects-project-9/
Those are adorable! And your kids are too!
xo
s
Sherry, The quilt is beautiful. It looks so adorable and I wish I had my kid now instead of 8yrs ago, I would have made the mobile and the quilt.
Sherry, I’m in awe of the love and thought you are putting into the baby’s room. I wasn’t following you guys when Clara was born so following this little man’s adventure into the world is awesome. I Just bought my first house and it’s being built right now. I just want to get in and decorate but it’s little projects like these that make me want to slow down, take my time, and have fun building my home.
Thanks so much Nikki! You’re so sweet. Best of luck with everything!
xo
s
I love the simplicity of the design and the color choices are perfect for a sweet little baby boy! However it still looks very complex and heirloom quality! I can totally relate to sewing-pains! I recenlty made a stroller/car seat baby blanket for my dear friend and just sewed two organic fabrics together to make a simple square. I took stitches out of that thing many times, broke needles, and used not nice words while my family wondered what I was doing with my time. I could not believe how hard it was to sew something with straight lines with out it looking all distorted. For some reason, one of the fabrics was “stretching” throwing the lines all off. How did you manage to get such nice clean looking corners? It looks so professional!
Thanks so much Cappy! My first tip is to curse under your breath (really try to mutter and slur) and my second tip is to break two needles. Honestly, I’m the furthest thing from a sewing pro, so I just try to go slow and sort of keep folding the seam as I go (shifting my gaze from the needle to the area that’s going to be fed into the needle in a second to make sure it’s not traveling or getting crooked). I’m also no stranger to a seam ripper if something gets wonky! I bet that stretchy fabric really made things hard for you though, so some simple cotton would probably be super easy by comparison!
xo
s