Friday, January 17, 2014

Let's Make Baby Quilts

I've really gotten into baby quilts lately. Their small size makes them super easy to piece, trim, quilt, and bind. They're also quick to finish! Even a quilter as slow as I am has a decent chance of finishing before the baby they're intended for heads off to middle school. And they are less intimidating when trying out new tools or techniques.

I've been experimenting with different kinds of machine-sewn bindings lately because a problem with my hands which prevents me from doing much handwork. If I were making larger quilts that really "matter," I think I would would have stuck with my old machine binding technique. But with baby quilts I feel a liberating permission to experiment because I haven't invested that much time or fabric in the project, and the end user will be too young to be critical of my work.

So I have learned several new ways to apply binding by machine, some of which I like better than my previous tried and true method. And I now have a more versitile binding repetoire at my command and can choose the technique best suited to the construction details of a particular quilt.

I recently stumbled upon Michelle's Romantic Tangle which features a "Let's Make Baby Quilts" link-up every Friday. In the sidebar is a link of baby quilt tutorials which I consulted when I decided to make some baby quilts for our church's October Festival last year. This one, Christopher, is composed of one quilt block enlarged to baby-quilt size. I love that  idea and look forward to trying it out with other traditional blocks.

Normally, I choose my own colors, but when I saw Michelle's photo, it reminded me of a particular fabric in my stash of which I have a full bolt. As it turns out, this quilt did not sell. My mom was delighted because it happens to match her dining room, so I let her have the quilt for her table. Here is a picture of it in its new home.

Normally she keeps clear plastic over it to protect it from food spills.
Please click over to Michelle's Romantic Tangle to see the baby quilts that other have made.

3 comments:

DeeDee said...

Cute quilt - I am going to have to give this one a try.8325993

Jean Belle said...

Adorable quilt, and perfect for that room! I've just been thinking of making some small quilts for our church festival next summer. How did you decide on prices? And how many did you make?

Catholic Bibliophagist said...

Thanks! I only had a month's notice for our church festival, so I was only able to make four quilts. Two were baby quilts and two were doll quilts. Only one baby quilt sold. It was $40. I priced the green & white one at $45 or $50. I think the doll quilts were $15 and $25. I looked at Etsy.com to get an idea of prices, but I think that people at our church were looking for something cheaper. I don't think any of the people at our parish are very rich. :-)

If I contribute next year, I will probably make smaller, less expensive items. Maybe mug rugs?