Handcrafting An Adorable Baby Quilt
If you are better with a needle, you can quilt a blanket. Quilting is a little bit more complicated, unless you've done it before and are good at it. You can shoot for fleece cloth and make soft blankets or regular fabric and go for crazy colors and patterns. If you aren't good at quilting, you can even just take an ordinary blanket and embroider it yourself with the baby's name or a personal message.
If online tutorials aren't your best learning environment and you want a little more direct instruction you can check at your local craft store. They often have crochet classes. Learning to crochet with a teacher is nice because you get immediate feedback and can quickly correct any mistakes you make. They may offer crochet classes, where you can meet up with other women who enjoy crocheting as well. You will end up with a wonderful gift, and maybe even some new friends.
Made To Order. Making quilts for people that know what they want is a lucrative niche, as these people already have exactly what they want in their head and are willing to pay to get the result they are looking for. This niche can be broken down into smaller niches, such as, using memorabilia to make a quilt or providing quilted products for bedrooms only.
Blanket Quilt Double-Sided Bias Tape. You'll use this to make the trim. There are other ways to do it, but this is one of the easiest, and will give your baby quilt a nice, finished look. Try to pick bias tape that compliments the fabric. For example, if your fabric has a pattern, pick one color in the pattern and choose bias tape to match. If you want the bias tape to sort of blend in, try to match the fabric's background color.
Once a quilt block template has been created it should be put on the fabric lined up with the fabric's grain on one straight edge. Then with either a tailor's chalk or a quilter's pencil it can be drawn around. Folding several layers of the fabric accordion style will create several patches at once. Then after the template has been stapled to the layers one can cut the pieces out. If it is possible, it is of great value to use a cutting mat and a rotary cutter should they be available.
Some women used larger scraps, and often the block's strips were a variety of widths. Scrappy strips were asymmetrical and uneven, or pointed, or on the bias. Whatever fabrics were available, they were used as is. There was no time to waste cutting them to size. Women used an old blanket or quilt as the filler and tied the layers together; winter was near -- no time for quilting it.
After the foundation piece has been completely filled with fabric strips, trim the block to the desired size. Press the block on both the front and back. Don't leave any loose pieces.
