Baby Quilt Suggestions

Hi Jerry I'm hoping Polly sees your post - she knows a lot about baby quilts. But..... flannel and minkee should be quite enough for warmth and softness, I wouldn't use batting, and I think I would "birth" it instead of binding it - but that's just me.

Patti in Seattle

I've said this here before, but I like the "Warm Wishes" pattern from the Quiltmaker web site for a quick and easy quilt: . The pattern doesn't call for a border but I have made some with a border. If I have plenty of fabric I may add a couple extra rows of blocks. The quilt is a lot easier to put together than it appears at first glance.

Julia > I plan to make two charity baby quilts with a very simple pieced

together. And you can make it so cute with those sweet baby colors.

Sunny

>

Hugs and Kisses - makes a great pattern. Quick to do too

Jerry, I don't know how much experience you have but you've chosen a difficult combination. Minkee wants to stretch and wiggle. It just does. Use lots of pins. Lots. The cut edges of Minkee want to shed. If you have a cat with allergies, you're going to make her really annoyed. Flannel frays and grabs. You'll want a seam allowance greater than ¼" so you'll still have some when you get through. Flannel will not slide in place like cotton quilting fabric will. Where you put it is where it will want to cling. And, oh my yes. The "Warm Wishes" pattern from Quiltmaker //quiltmaker.com/patterns/patt4/ or Hugs and Kisses is even easier than just a plain old sort of checkerboard. I dare you. Make me wrong on all counts. Just because I think your plan is a tough one for a beginner should be inspiration enough to show us you can do it. Polly

No experience with minkee. But lots of baby quilts are based on using 40" fabric for the back. (no need to piece backing.) So 40" wide and whatever length works with the pattern you eventually choose. I'd probably try to make it about 60" long. Although I've also given quilts that were 40" square -very popular as play mats. Roberta in D

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Ok girls - what is birthing?

Thanks for the reply and the warnings. I picked the flannel/minkee plan not knowing anything at all about the fabric. I started this quilt hobby only three months ago and have found out why my experienced quilter wife has such a large stash. Visiting fabric shops is addictive. My wife says that I am starting with difficult projects because my first project was a tumbing block pattern and my second project (now half completed) is an eight point star pattern.

"Minkee wants to stretch and wiggle"--------- What should I do to minimize this problem?

"The cut edges of Minkee want to shed"------ Can I use fray check or do something else to help this?

"Flannel sheds and grabs"------------Can I startch the flannel or do something else to help this?

"Flannel will not slide in place"--- What can I do to make this less of a problem"

As you can see, I need all the help I can get.

Jerry in North Alabama

It's a method of finishing a quilt without binding; it's all explained here:

Julia in MN

Every living thing here wants feeding except the tourister Robins. They manage quite well on their own. I just have time for one question so I'll take on "Minkee mess". Before you approach, get out the vacuum with the hose and little round brush. Plug it in and place it close to your cutting area. After you cut the Minkee, go outside and give it a hearty shake. You might also want to shake yourself unless the neighbors are already curious about your behavior. Carry on. Polly

has a lot of patterns for infant to teen quilts.

Mary Helen

Because of the clingy, creepy, crawly nature of both the flannel and Minkee you might want to consider either tacking or tying this quilt. I have a cute chain of hearts stitch that my sewing machine does. I try to stop at one heart when using it to tack a quilt, but sometimes I end up with 2 or 3 hearts at a tack point. VBG You can also use your machine's zig-zag for a bar tack. Also, you have received suggestions to make the quilts the width of the backing fabric- 40 to

42 inches. I'd say to make the top a few inches smaller than the backing. You have to allow for things going a tad wonky while basting the sandwich. It doesn't pay to have the top and backing the exact same size- it seldom works the way you planned it to work! Good luck and bless you for making charity quilts.

Leslie & The Furbabies > I plan to make two charity baby quilts with a very simple pieced

Jerry, birthing (as far as quilts are concerned) means sewing the top and back, right sides together, all the way around except for a small opening on one side. If you use batting, you can put it against either the top or the back. Then clip the corners and turn the piece right side out through the small opening. Press and hand stitch the opening closed. (Since we all avoid hand stitching, the opening is as small as possible, hence "birthing".) These projects are mostly tied. But if you want to try quilting one, go right ahead. Sacrifice a few FQs to the Quilt Goddess first. And baste very closely.

For shedding Minkee, if you are really obsessive-compulsive, use a razor to cut only through the knit back of the minkee fleece. Otherwise, do as Polly suggests and have your vacuum handy. Fray check is counter-productive. Basting will help with the wiggle.

Flannel is fuzzy, that's why we use it as a design wall! Just wash it a lot before you plunge in. You can't treat it like nice smooth cotton, because it isn't. OTOH, if all your pieces are flannel, it sticks very well to itself. Use a very simple design with big pieces -this is no time for fiddly little bits. Simple squares with generous seam allowances! Don't go looking for trouble :-) Roberta in D

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Just a postscript to Roberta's message: if you do go ahead with the 'birthing' method - and it is great!, when you get to the corners - or almost, don't sew right up to the corner, pivot and continue along next side. Instead, go almost to the corner, then sew probably two stitches if you are using minkee, on the diagonal across the corner, and then turn and continue down the next side. This gives you a much better corner when it has been turned. The reason is that, otherwise, the fabric bulk has nowhere to go. You are creating a little space with the diagonal stitch(es). You will still need to trim the surplus off the corners. . In message , Roberta Zollner writes

It really does go together easily -- and with the right fabric choices... looks like it was oh ... so... challenging!

Kate in MI

So great of you to think about doing some charity quilts!!!

I agree with the 40 x 60 already suggested for size.

You could use what ever you wanted for a pattern. Something fast would be 4 or 9 patches alternated with plain squares, or even just plain squares (as I think has already been suggested).

If you weren't set on the minkee, one fast and easy pattern would be to use flannel on both the front and the back and do a striped quilt as you go. You could make one in an afternoon Cut your strips of flannel your desired width of your 'stripe' by the width of your fabric. Your backing is just your yardage of fabric at the desired lenght of the quilt. You layer your quilt back right side away from the batting. Then on the other side you lay your first strip down on the batting at one end of the quilt right side up. Lay your next strip on the first right sides facing and lining up the egdges just as if you were going to sew just the two strips together. Sew your seam through all the layers of the quilt, press open and contiue adding strips until you reach the end of your quilt. Since you quilted the quilt as you pieced the top together, all that is left is cutting your sizes nice and straight and bind like a normal quilt (flannel here would also be nice). The end quilt is is a bunch of flannel stripes. You could choose several fabrics and have every stirpe different or just a few and make a patten out of it. You could also adjust the width of the stirps too - make them narrow, wide, or both in the same qult. Only thing you need to watch is that your strips are narrow enough that your quilting lines meets your batting recomended quilting distance.

HTH.

Seems like this could work sewn directly onto the minkee, no batting. Roberta in D

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It probably would if you took proper precautions for the give. What do you think Polly? I think you're the local minkee expert.