Quilting Designs On A Toddler Quilt

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.

The method above uses machine embroidery on relatively small quilts. Larger quilts can be done the same way or may be quilted with machine embroidery by individual quilt blocks. Experiment to decide which method is easiest for you and remember that the machine embroidery quilting method may change with each unique project.

For each block you want to make also cut a five-sided piece of solid fabric. Make the sides angular, not parallel. Don't make it too big or too small roughly about a ninth of the block (like a tic tac toe pattern on the muslin foundation square). It will serve as your crazy, off center middle of your design.

Set your sewing machine to the standard seam allowance used for quilts, which is an exact quarter inch seam. One way to improve a block that is either too large or too small is to use the freezer paper method and square up the block before sewing it together. Gridded freezer paper makes the job easier, but the plain freezer paper will work to help make the block more even.

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.

Blanket Quilt Now you will need to begin putting it together. Follow your pattern and read the instructions carefully to know how to do this correctly. If you have small pieces, you will have to sew them together first to make larger squares and them continue to sew them together to make the larger blanket. For this you will need to use a sewing machine. Sew them together and add the border.

We have taken our family on many picnics. These picnics are not complete without a quilt, to cuddle on after we have our meal. We have recently bought a Jeep and we always have a quilt with us in the Jeep as we go on outings. We tend to use heavier quilts for these outings because of the sturdy sewing and materials that are used, the quilt will not show the wear of outdoors as easily.