Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Make An Easy Baby Quilt

Here’s the story of how I made a cute little quilt for our baby boy on the way.

Baby-Quilt-Simple-Sweet

A few years ago I chronicled how my not-nearly-a-seamstress buns were compelled possessed to make a quilt for the bean.

Quilt Done2

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.

Quilt17

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…

Clara Quilt1

… but she brings it in the car for road trips, and even drags it downstairs to to the sofa for lazy Saturday snuggling.

Clara Quilt3

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…

Quilt Detail

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)

Quilt2

  • 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.

Quilt10

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.

Quilt3

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).

Quilt4

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.

Quilt5

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).

Another Corner Shot

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.

Quilt7

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.

Quilt9

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.

Quilt6

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.

Hem Machine1

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:

Hem Machine2

And here’s what it looks like from the back:

Quilt17

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.

Quilt Broken Needle

Can’t wait to meet this little bun and wrap him up with all sorts of love and quilt-y snuggles.

Quilt Detail

Right now it’s just chilling in the nursery, waiting for the big arrival.

Quilt16

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.

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Comments

  1. KiwiKat says

    When I was about 10, my mother took up quilting and made my brother and I quilts. I got to pick the colours for mine and was given it when I turned 11. I turn 40 in October and still have it. It has a few places where it needs repairs because the fabric is so worn after nearly 30 years (so I look after it carefully), but it is mine and I know how much love went into it.

    Reply

  2. Ash says

    That is a totally precious blanket idea! I love it so much – totally pinning it for my future bambinos :D

    I’m current knitting the first of what will be three (!!!) baby blankets in the next few months. The first will be a basketweave pattern (like this one: http://www.lionbrand.com/stores/lionbrand/pictures/50073ada.jpg) in a denim blue for a little boy. Then there’s a girl coming up about 6 weeks later, and I’ll do a green/yellow/pink/white ripple knit (like this one: http://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/5523244/il_340x270.84360412.jpg). And THEN I’ll get started on this third one, colors TBD once they find out the sex, in a triangle/patchwork blankie (from Lion Brand’s pattern, http://www.lionbrand.com/stores/lionbrand/pictures/l20049ba.jpg).

    SO MUCH KNITTING! ;D

    Reply

  3. Brandy J says

    Yay, I am not the only crafty/creative type that cannot master the sewing machine!! I went back and read your sewing machine post and it’s so good to have a kindred spirit. I bought the same machine last year and have had similar luck. i’ve made a couple things, but cannot sew a straight line to save my life and my mother, who hasn’t sewn anything in probably 20 years, laughed at me. the quilt is adorbs! maybe i’ll give one a try for my new godchild that’s on the way… maybe :)

    Reply

  4. Trish says

    Isn’t handmade the best gift? Not only giving a something, but the gift of your love that you put into it, giving of your time and talent. I made a quilt (full size) for my daughter when she was 16. I copied drawings of dragons from a library book (with permission), then used a transfer pen and ironed each picture onto muslin. I hand painted each dragon, including using a black paint pen to outline all the details. Then I used geometry (gasp), and set up all the squares to be blocks, and cut her favorite colors of fabric to fit in between, and it all worked out! I used a nice weight batting, and backed it with a soft white sheet, then stitched in the ditch to quilt it. She still loves it, and is 25 now. Labor of love!

    Reply

  5. Mary Ann says

    Both my sons had quilts made by my Mom. They took those quilts everywhere and the more they were loved, the softer they got. My sons are now in their 20s and sadly, their Grandmother died last year, but they still have the remaining scraps, yes scraps, from those quilts. Hopefully some day I’ll be the grandma making the quilts. (I’ve made quite a few for nieces and nephews.)

    Reply

  7. Suzy says

    That Clara is such a sweetie pie…Love that comment. So lovely to hear…She is an appreciative wonderful daughter.
    She is going to be such a great Big Sis!!!

    Reply

  8. Ann says

    So sweet, so excited for your family! I didn’t make our first child’s quilt but I still have it 25 years later and his musical elephant, which he loved and adored.

    Reply

  9. Katie says

    Oh. My. Goodness. I want to make one this instant. My four month old is still sleeping in her swing in our bedroom, so maybe a handmade quilt is the push she needs to get into her own room! Amazeballs!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I felt bad for her when she was crying. It’s so strange how she’s the villain this season though. I thought Brandi was in love with her (and especially Ken!).

      xo
      s

  11. Bethany says

    Aaaaawwwwww. I LOVED this post. I made a quilt for each of my children. They have each been such a labor a love and the reason I refuse to go into labor until they are finished. ;) I am currently making my littles plush Easter bunnies for them this Easter using the leftover quilt fabrics I have from both quilts. :)

    Reply

  12. Laura says

    There must be something in the water! I hadn’t sewn in about a year and then this weekend I made my baby an elephant softie and this week I’ve sewn bibs for a friend of mine who is expecting twins. Both patterns are on Craftiness Is Not Optional – if you don’t already read this, it’s a blog you’d love with great (easy to do) sewing projects.

    Reply

  14. Laura says

    Also, I love LOVE this quilt idea and am thinking I just might need to make two when my girls move from their nurseries into a (shared) big girl room.

    Reply

  15. Hannah says

    I love love LOVE this! It’s so simple (looking) and sweet. I’m a glutton for punishment… Maybe I’ll give it a try for my son :)

    Reply

  16. Steph Nelson says

    I sold sewing machines for awhile. You definitely get what you pay for when it comes to those things (ease of use, staying in time, that sort of thing). BUT… the point of my comment is there are some machines that have a setting that is “handstich”. Looks just like your quilt, isn’t that crazy? Good job Sherry, it’s a cute quilt!!

    Reply

  17. Steph Nelson says

    You know Sher-dog, I had to come back and leave another comment to say how much I love your blog. It is the personal connection you give your readers. The fact that you not only answer comment questions, but you answer so many of them. I left a comment late last night and never expected a response being the time and the fact I thought you would have moved on to todays post, but you did!. It amazes me and thank you for acknowledging your readers. This person appreciates it! :)

    Reply

  19. Kit says

    Adorable! I’d like to make one for my niece. How will it hold up in the wash? Will the colors not bleed? It’s really a wonderful quilt!

    Reply

  20. ~Hope says

    It’s suuuuper cute!! I’m a sucker for all things sweet and handmade, so this totally hit right up my alley. Looove the finished product (and how stinking cute is Clara with her quilt?! GAH!!). The only quilts I’ve made have been 100% machine, so I’ve been dying to try my hand at hand stitches. It’s been a bit daunting, but now I may take the plunge. Eek! *fingers crossed!

    Reply

  21. Ashley Calaway says

    Love this! So simple and so sweet! I have been on a quilt making spree lately, but the quilts I have made are definitely less time intensive :) still, I am kind of thinking I want to try this now!

    Reply

  23. Angela says

    Oh my goodness! This is gorgeous. He’s going to love it. I don’t know if this would be even possible with the thick embroidery floss, but when quilting with regular thread you can pop the knot through just the first layer of backing so it gets caught in the batting and doesn’t show on the outside. You end up with this mysterious quilt that’s impossible to see when the rows start and stop. But regardless your quilt is beautiful and something I’d like to try one day.

    Reply

  24. Patti McHugh says

    Sherry, it looks amazing! Now I want to make some quilts for the couch. I crocheted a lap blanket that our dogs love to snuggle in, but they would love a new quilt. Thanks for the inspiration. :)

    Reply

  25. Shannon [Our Home Notebook] says

    That’s such a sweet little boy quilt. I love the handmade stitches!

    I’m working on a striped quilt for each of my kiddos, so I totally understand all the time involved. Sometimes I think I’m a little crazy for starting two at once – but they’re so rewarding!

    Reply

  26. Briana says

    This is beautiful! I made both my older kids blankets for their first birthdays. The second one was sewn and I went nutty trying to get the silky trim on! Our baby is almost 5 months old and I was just thinking I should start on his blanket. I love this idea! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  27. Louise says

    ADORABLE! I love the clean, classic simplicity of this quilt.
    Second, I think you did that pretty fast…a week and you have a family heirloom! I can totally associate with how long these quilts take. I went to the most old fashioned nanny college in the world, sewing was a HUGE part of our course and I spent weeks and weeks and weeks making a patchwork quilt, tiny pieces hand cut, hand wrapped in cardboard and hand stitched…here’s a really old pic of it
    http://textiletrolley.blogspot.com/2012/06/life-at-norland-college-part-2.html
    Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy and keep on sewing you make beautiful items.

    Reply

  28. Cheryl says

    Can you please put a PIN button on each of your pictures?? I only want to keep the picture of your bun’s quilt.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Sorry for the trouble Cheryl! We added rollover pin in buttons on all of our pictures about a year ago and immediately got a ton of complaints that they were distracting, so we took them off. If you download the Pin It button to your bookmarks you can pin any image on any page (except pages that block Pinterest) though, so that’s how I pin any picture from a site. Hope it helps!

      xo
      s

  29. Jen in. Texas says

    I love the quilt(s), both of them are just gorgeous!

    I know you said you prewashed the fabric, but did you prewash the floss? I had an intricate embroidery that was nearly ruined when the colors ran. Luckily I was hand washing it in the sink and was able to keep a steady flow of cold water rinsing through it until they no longer bled.

    Just want you to be aware that it might be an issue. Sorry if someone already mentioned this, I only got through two of the six (!) pages of comments.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Jen! A few others recommended using Shout Color Catcher for the first few washes and it should be fine. I might hold my breath the whole time though! Haha!

      xo
      s

  30. My Crappy House says

    “…I chronicled how my not-nearly-a-seamstress buns were possessed to make a quilt…”

    I sat there a minute trying to understand how small, unborn children were possessed to make a quilt…

    You’ve changed the meaning of “bun” and you can’t go back now. Gotta just say butt. (I’d probably drop the “A” word, but you guys are not really “A” word kinda people…)

    Your quilt came out awesome. There’s an “A” word!

    Reply

  31. Ashley says

    When I was pregnant with my ‘bean’, Eddie. I was hand stitching a log cabin quilt for him on a hoop. I would sit with the hoop resting on my big belly and my Emily (a female version of Burger) was under the quilt in my lap. Eddie and Emily still fight over it to this day :)

    Reply

  32. Laura Radniecki says

    This is so great, Sherry! Your little one will cherish this forever.

    I laughed out loud when you talked about swearing like a sailor at your machine. That was me two days ago when I was running into troubles with mine. Luckily, I was home alone aside from my toy poodle puppy and she doesn’t mind. :)

    Thanks for the fun read!

    Reply

  33. Pat S says

    Good job!! Be careful or the next thing you know you’ll be joining a quilt guild and you will be lost forever. :D

    Reply

  34. Emily says

    So cutie. I bet if you where worried about keeping your rows straight you could put masking tape in between the rows.

    Reply

  35. Stacy says

    I love it! So pretty and I’m jealous of the fact that you can sew. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but I just have never bothered to learn.

    Reply

  36. Chelsie says

    It is super, SUPER, sweet!!! When my daughter was just over a year old, I decided that I would make her a quilt using all of her “first year” clothing. I gave it to her for her Christmas and was overjoyed that she continued to play with that over all of the toys she got that year!! Unfortunately, we had a house fire last November and that was one of the items that was irreparable and irreplaceable. Everyone was ok!!! But that one item is the one thing that I miss most. :-(

    So sorry to be a downer on this post… I absolutely love your quilts and look forward to seeing The Barnacle enjoying his as much as Clara loves hers!!! We’re almost back in our house…. any ideas on painting an entire house at once!!! Without any furniture in it to see how it looks?! Eek!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh no I’m so sorry to hear that! But so glad you guys are ok. For painting I’d try doing it without furniture (would be easier) and just bring swatches home and tape them up in each room and try to choose favorites that flow nicely.

      xo
      s

  38. johnna says

    ok!
    question!
    i am trying this as my husband and i are expecting our first this summer.
    as i was going along last night, my “floss” was getting all messed up and i had to cut mid “stripe.” were you faced with this at all? if so how did you hide the knot? should i start over?
    what needles are you using – i didn’t like the ones i got!
    thanks, sherry!
    xo
    johnna

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh no! I would take the whole line out and start over I think, since hiding the knot would be hard (you’d see it from the back I think).

      xo
      s

  40. Michelle says

    So sweet! I’m always hand-sewing stuff. I love that it’s something I can do in the car on long trips or sitting in front of the TV, and it doesn’t involve getting into a fistfight with my sewing machine (those never end well). My favorite hand-sewn project that I’ve done so far is the mobile I made when I was expecting my son (http://www.rustandsunshine.com/2010/05/counting-sheep.html), although I also really love the felt fruits and veggies I made for him last year just after Christmas(http://www.rustandsunshine.com/2013/01/felt-fruits-vegetables.html). It is totally relaxing…and a little bit addicting!

    Reply

  41. Cori says

    I just made my first machine quilted quilt for a friends baby shower. Coral chevron, I think it turned out well if I do say so myself.

    Reply

  42. Jillian says

    This quilt is so sweet. I think that I want to try this technique on some throw pillows for the couch.

    Reply

  43. Erin says

    This turned out so charming and absolutely lovely for your baby. Each year I (attempt to) embroider stitch my daughter’s name and the date into the under layer skirting of her Easter dress- and those dresses are some of the very few sentimental baby items that I keep. By the time I finish her name and the date, my stitches get bigger and I’m ready to be done- I could never do a whole quilt- haha!!

    Reply

  45. Carolyn says

    I like both quilts. I do also enjoy reading your DIY alternatives to sewing. I’m a sewer so I automatically think about how to sew a project. I made all the bedding for our baby’s crib… Dust ruffle, bumper, sheets… Quilt in progress and a matching pillowcase also in the works. We got a mini crib because we are in a small apartment. I didn’t even try to look for sheets once I saw the forest friends prints at Joanns!

    Reply

  46. Grace@teachlovecraft says

    Ooooh, I absolutely adore your quilt. I saw the original a couple weeks ago, and was definitely gaga for it. You’ve given me some hope to try it on my own even though my last embroidery project was a major bust ( I tried to embroider a cute Jcrew inspired heart on a sweater, and it whomped!) here’s a link in case you need a laugh/visual! http://teachlovecraft.com/what-becomes-of-the-broken-hearted/

    Now, do you think it’s too ambitious/crazy to make your quilt in a larger twin size throw version? I’m off my rocker aren’t i ?

    Reply

  48. Amy Barlow says

    What an adorable quilt! I’m a machine quilter. The only thing I had hand quilt is usuallythe binding. I loved how you folded in the sides for the binding.I think this would make an adorable and heartfelt baby gift too! So easy and inexpensive .( Love those Jo-Ann coupons!!)
    By the way, I had the same relationship with my old sewing machine..after 25 years with the old Kenmore, I bought a new Brother machine…although not as high tech and expensive as a Janome, it actually makes sewing enjoyable again! Thanks for sharing your quilt with us! Your baby will grow to love it too!

    Reply

  49. Melissa M says

    I love this! I do not sew (yet) but I love the idea of things being made by hand with lots of love, so for my son my mom and I worked together to make all of his bedding and some blankets, but I think I will have to make one like this for him now!

    Reply

  50. Mary says

    I have a quilt similar to this except with patterned fabric on one side! I got it from PBTeen, but the style of stitching is called kantha and its used in India to stitch together old saris and make covers.

    Reply

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