Gina Martin, a member of my fabulous guild (the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild), put a call for bloggers from the guild interested in taking part in a blog tour to help spread the word about her new line, From Bump to Baby, with MODA fabrics. I happily jumped at the chance to have a really good reason to make myself write a blog post.
And how ridiculously gorgeous is this line? The colors are amazing! I love that they’re soft (visually, but their soft to the touch, too) without being over the top pastel. Does anyone else get tired of the same old pastel prints for babies?
I paired it with a few colors from the Moda Bella Solids line that matched to create the project you see below.
In case it’s your first time visiting my blog, welcome! I’m Jessica Toye, a long-arm quilter & quilt designer living in Kansas City, MO. Gina gave us total freedom in choosing which type of project we’d like to make, so I chose to design a baby quilt. This quilt top is pretty quick and easy to put together and lots of fun to quilt. It’s created using fused, raw-edge appliqué, so when I say fast, I mean lightning speed!
Ready for the tutorial? Here we go!
TUTORIAL
Notes:
- All seams are 1/4″ unless noted otherwise. Read all instructions before beginning.
- If you like to plan your layout instead of leaving it to fate, feel free to use a design wall as you go to organize your arrangement before sewing anything together.
Supplies and Materials:
- Sharp scissors
- Sewing machine
- Ballpoint pen
- Lightweight, paper backed fusible web (I like Pellon #805)
- Printed templates for diaper pin appliqué (get it here: Diaper Pin Template)
- 4” x 4” of nine solid fabrics to coordinate with Bump to Baby Fabric line. (I used Bella Solids in these colors: 30’s pink, robin’s egg, 30’s blue, betty’s pink, silver, popsicle, Amelia orang, Amelia lavender, and key lime)
- 7/8 yard of solid white fabric for background (I used Bella Solid in white bleached)
- 1/8 yard of each of the prints in the From Bump to Baby fabric line (or you could use scraps instead and cut them to the dimensions listed below).
- 3/8 yard orange solid for binding (I used bella solids – Amelia orange)
- Thread for quilting (Optional: separate thread for applique)
- 1 ¼ yard backing (Optional: you can piece the backing fabric instead like I did)
- 40”x40” batting
Cut:
- 9 squares from solid white: 9 ½” x 9 ½”
- 54 rectangles: 2” x 3 ½” (2-3 from each fabric for a good variety)
- 36 squares: 3 ½” x 3 ½” (2 from each fabric for a good variety)
- 1 square of each of nine colored solid fabrics: 4” x 4”
- 9 rectangles from grey solid: 8″ x 4″
- 9 squares from fusible web: 3 ½” x 3 ½”
- 9 rectangles from fusible web: 7½” x 3½”
- 4 strips 2-1/4″ x width of fabric (WOF) from orange for binding
Trace:
On the glue side (bumpy side) of 3 ½” x 3 ½” square of fusible web, use your ballpoint pen to trace Template A. Repeat for all 9 squares. Set aside.
On the glue side of 7 ½” x 3 ½” rectangle of fusible web, use your ballpoint pen to trace Template B. Repeat for all 9 rectangles. Set aside.
Iron:
On the backside of your 4” squares of solid fabric, iron your 3 ½” x 3 ½” squares of fusible web according to the manufacturer’s instructions, making sure the glue side is touching the backside of your fabric. This will sandwich your pen outline between the glue and the backside of the fabric. Repeat for all 9 squares. Set aside.
On the backside of your grey solid fabric, iron your 7 ½” x 3 ½” rectangles of fusible web according to the manufacturer’s instructions, making sure the glue side is touching the backside of your fabric. This will sandwich your pen outline between the glue and the backside of the fabric. Repeat for all 9 rectangles. Set aside.
Applique:
Peel the paper off the backside of each of your appliqué pieces. Discard paper. See how your pen marks are still there? Magic!
Use your sharp scissors to cut exactly along the ballpoint pen line you traced. Set aside & repeat for each of the appliqué pieces. You should have 9 grey metal parts of the pin & 9 different colors for the tops of the pins.
Once you have each of your appliqué pieces cut, you can start to fuse them to the white fabric. This is how:
Lay one of your 9 ½” squares of white fabric on your ironing board. Now is the time to make sure there aren’t any wrinkles, so press it again if necessary.
We want the entire diaper pin to be approximately centered on the diagonal of the square. Lightly finger press a diagonal line from corner to corner across the white square to help you align the pieces if you need.
Take one metal wire appliqué piece and set it on the square at about a 45 degree angle. Don’t iron just yet!
Take one colored top appliqué piece and set it on the block. Make sure the colored part overlaps the grey part by 3/8” or so. Once you’re satisfied with your placement of the pin, you can fuse the appliqué parts to the background of the block by following the manufacturer’s instructions.
Note: Looking back at this now, I would have opted to trim the grey part shorter on the lightest colored blocks. You can see on this orange one that the grey really shows through the orange fabric. If this bothers you, cut the grey a little bit shorter and it will be much less noticeable.
Repeat this process until you have all 9 of the diaper pin blocks fused to the white background fabric.
Next we get to stitch our appliqué pieces down. I chose grey thread and am using the standard zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine. Place your needle into the grey fabric at the corner where the grey meets the colored top of the pin.
Bring your needle back out of the fabric to pull the bobbin thread to the top of your work. Pull both the bobbin and top threads to make a tail that is about 6″ long or so.
Hold onto your tails of thread and zig-zag stitch around the outer edge of the appliqué pieces. Be sure to slowly move around the curve to keep your stitches as even as possible. Continue following the colored fabric’s edge until you have outlined the entire thing.
When you reach the point you started at, raise your needle and pull a tail of thread about 6″ long before snipping it.
Use a pin, awl, or other sharp object to pull the thread tails from the front of your work to the back.
Tie a knot with the tails as close to the fabric as you can.
Trim the thread tails to about 1/4″ – 1/2″ long.
Repeat to outline the circular part of the appliqué.
Repeat for all 9 appliqué blocks.
Piecing the Strips:
COMBO SET A: Select 36 of the 2” x 3 ½” rectangles of printed fabric. Stitch these together in pairs along the long edge with right sides together. Be sure to mix up the fabrics you sew together to give yourself a nice variety. You should have 18 pairs after you’ve finished piecing these. Press the seams to one side. Set them aside for now.
COMBO SET B: Select 9 of the 3 ½” x 3 ½” squares of printed fabric and 9 sets of COMBO SET A. Select one COMBO SET A and lay them flat with the seam going vertically. Choose one of the printed fabric squares and lay it on top of your COMBO SET A square with right sides together. Stitch the two squares together with the new seam going parallel to the seam within the COMBO SET A square. Press seam away from rectangles. Repeat to make 9 COMBO SET B.
COMBO SET C: Select 9 of the 3 ½” x 3 ½” squares of printed fabric and 9 sets of COMBO SET A. Select one COMBO SET A and lay them flat with the seam going horizontally. Choose one of the printed fabric squares and lay it on top of your COMBO SET A square with right sides together. Stitch the two squares together with the new seam going perpendicular to the seam within the COMBO SET A square. Press seam away from rectangles. Repeat to make 9 COMBO SET C.
STRIP SET #1: Choose one COMBO SET B and one COMBO SET C. Stitch them together as shown below. Press seam towards COMBO SET B. Repeat to make 9 of STRIP SET #1. Set aside for now.
COMBO SET D: Select 18 of the 2” x 3 ½” rectangles and 18 of the 3 ½” x 3 ½” squares. Stitch one rectangle to one square with right sides together along one long edge of the rectangle. Be sure to mix up the fabrics you sew together to give yourself a nice variety. You should have 18 pairs after you’ve finished piecing these. Press the seams to one side. Set them aside for now.
STRIP SET #2: Choose 2 COMBO SET D’s. Stitch them together as shown below. Press seam towards square. Repeat to make 9 of STRIP SET #2. Set aside for now.
Piecing the Blocks:
Choose one appliqué block, one STRIP SET #1 and one STRIP SET #2. Sew STRIP SET #2 to appliqué block with right sides together. Press seam towards appliqué block.
Note: For the sample project I didn’t keep all of the blocks oriented the same direction. The diaper pins are going every which way. You can choose to be more organized in your placement if you like.
Attach STRIP SET #1 along one side of block with right sides together. Press seam towards appliqué block.
Repeat to make 9 blocks.
Piecing the top:
Sew blocks together, with right sides together, in rows. Press seams to one side. Alternate the direction you press seams from row to row. (Example: Row 1, seams pressed to the right. Row 2, seams pressed to the left. Row 3, seams pressed to the right.)
Sew rows together. Press seams to one side.
Make Your Quilt Back:
You can use a solid piece of fabric or piece one; it’s up to you! I pieced this backing from the leftovers of fabric I had. You just need to end up with something that is around 42″x42″.
Make Your Quilt Sandwich:
Cut your batting to 40″x40″.
Decide how you want to finish your quilt. I use my longarm machine to quilt, so I don’t need to baste my quilt sandwiches. If your method requires basting, do it now.
Quilt:
Quilt as you like. I quilting my sample quilt with an all-over quilting design that included swirls, feathers, back-and-forth lines, and bubbles.
Finishing:
Use your rotary cutter to trim the excess batting and backing fabric even with the edges of the quilt top.
Trim the selvedges off your orange binding fabric and sew the strips together to create one long strip. (You can get fancy and 45 the ends of each strip to reduce bulk if you like.) Press the seams open. Fold binding in half lengthwise (right sides together) to make a double layered strip that is a little bigger than 1” wide. Press.
Sew the raw edges of binding along the raw edges of the quilt on the top side. Be sure to leave a tail on each end.
Sew the two ends together to make a snug binding. Cut off the excess tail of binding.
Wrap the binding around to the back side of quilt. Hand stitch in place if you’re feeling ambitious. If you don’t feel like having a Parenthood binge and hand stitching the binding to the back, you can machine finish your binding (like me!). Here’s my secrets to a nice machine stitched binding:
- Press the snot out of the binding. Start by pressing the binding flat on the front of the quilt. Flip it to the backside and press it really well.
- Use pins! I’m not a big pin user, but I will use pins on the corners of my binding. I will use about 3 pins coming about about 6″ from each corner.
- Use a zipper foot to ride right along the seam of the binding that you have already stitched. Adjust your needle placement if necessary, so you are stitching right in the ditch. Check out this video of me doing this: http://instagram.com/p/tjH-wqn8zf/
- Use a bobbin thread that matches the binding. Sometimes I will use a clear thread in my bobbin.
- Use a top thread that matches or blends in with your quilt top. You want to be stitching right inside the fold of the binding, so matching the thread to the quilt top is best.
And that’s it! You’re all done!
Details of the sample quilt:
Approximate Size: 36″ x 36″
Fabrics used:
- Prints from Moda’s “From Bump to Baby” line by Gina Martin
- Solids are all Moda Bella Solids (in these colors: 30’s pink, robin’s egg, 30’s blue, betty’s pink, silver, popsicle, Amelia orang, Amelia lavender, and key lime)
Thread used:
- Appliqué was outlined in a grey guttermann
- Quilting was finished in So Fine #50 – Color #451
Batting: Quilter’s Dream Poly – Mid Loft
Quilting Design: The quilting on this quilt featured an all-over pattern that included:
- Swirls
- Swirls with feathers
- Elongated swirls with feathers
- Back-and-forth meander
- Bubbles
- Bubbles with leafy spines
Extra Credit: My little model on this baby quilt is my three-year old son’s doll, Baby Charlie. I let him pick a few of the leftover fabrics from the quilt project and we made Baby Charlie’s outfit together. Here’s the links to the clothes we made him:
A few notes:
- Thanks to Gina for letting me participate in this blog hop! Baby quilts are some of my favorite things to create, so this project was extra fun for me. Hope you all enjoy it as well!
- I’d love to share your versions of this quilt on my facebook page. Send photos of your finished projects to JessToyeQuilts (at) gmail (dot) com and I may share them on the facebook page or this blog!
- The blog tour goes from February 23-27. Here are the other sites participating: Becca Bryan of Bryan House Quilts, Sally Keller of Sally’s Angel Works, Brooke Sellmann of Silly Mama Quilts, Hilary Smith of Young Texan Mama, Tammie Schaffer of Crafty Tammie, and Gina Martin of Pattern and Hue.
GIVEAWAY: Ready for the giveaway? Gina is giving one reader who comments on this blog post a jelly roll from the fabric line used in this project. Tell me, what’s your go-to baby shower gift? Mine is a baby quilt and I usually try to personalize it to the recipient by adding their name, coordinating with the décor of the nursery, or just making it resemble something the parent of the new bundle is really into. Leave a comment by 11:59 on Saturday, February 28th to be entered into the giveaway. I’ll pick a winner on March 1st, so be sure to leave your contact info in case you’re the winner! Also, make sure you visit the other sites in the blog tour. Each stop will have a different project tutorial and a giveaway!
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