Handcrafting A Lovely Baby Quilt

Be sure and press each piece over the seam allowance as you go and to use rectangular pieces and cut back for more shapes and sizes after each go-around. Also remember solids then patterned pieces.

Turn and press this rectangle over the seam allowance, again pressing away from the center piece. Trim the seam allowance close to the stitching line.

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 For making perfectly straight cuts, choose a thick, clear acrylic ruler. A good size to start with is a 6x24" rectangular ruler marked in 1/4" increments.

String quilts made by women in Gee's Bend, Alabama, and Mid-western Amish communities, have become an art form. Their stringed blocks are often square in shape or close to it, with one above the other. Sometimes sashing strips divide the blocks. The Amish string quilts can look like stacks of small squares. This pattern is named Coins.

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.