Well Hi there friends!
I've been busy as a bee doing all sorts of fun things lately. Here's one of the crafty things I've made.
The other day was National Sewing Machine Day, (June 13th to be exact) and in honor of the occasion, I dug out my sewing machine (out of the ever growing craft pile that will one day be fabulously organized, I swear!) and low and behold, it still works like a champ! Yay!
Now, what to sew?? Or, to be precise, What to sew first?
Since it was on the closet shelf staring at me, I finished a blanket I made out of 2 vintage sheets straight from the 70's! I had previously tied them, and just needed to finish the edges. Totally easy project. Couple straight lines and I was done!
Can you tell the 2 sheets apart? They match so well! I'm still really pleased that I found 2 different sheets during 2 different shopping trips, that totally match! (I'll post a full picture of the blue 70's blanket later.)
Then my neighbor reminded me that I promised to make her a quilt. Good timing huh?
So.. since I was starting from the beginning this would be the perfect time to take pictures!
I realized after the fact that all my pictures are dark. It's highly likely due to "operational error", but I'm thinking it's because every time we work on this it's after dark, edging towards the middle of the night? I'm gonna go with the middle-of-the-night excuse or that it's planned. You know, "Mood Lighting." Dark. Cozy. Blankets. See? I meant to make the pictures dark. :)
Let's get to it, shall we?
This is my instructional on How to make a Tied Quilt, Barney-style (the easy way)
You'll need:
1. 2 flat sheets in the size of your choice,
2. quilt batting (the fluffy stuff) in the size of your choice.
3. big safety pins, and lots of them
4. big quilting needle and yarn
5. scissors
6. sewing machine or supplies to sew by hand
7. find a big space to lay out your sheet. I've done this on the living room floor, in a gym, outside, on a ping pong table, whatever flat area that'll fit your fabric. I've made many a tied quilt like this without a quilt frame. I've had them for years with no problems. (I once made a quilt from cut up jeans, a forest green flannel sheet, with a working electric blanket as batting. But that's another story... )
Instructions:
A blanket is basically a big fabric sandwich. You'll be using the sheets as the top and bottom bread with the fluffy stuff in the middle.
Step 1. place one sheet with the side you want to see, facing down. Spread it out nice and flat. This will be the bottom of the quilt. Make the good side face outwards, or down towards the ground.
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| This is just an example so it's on the table |
Step 2. lay/spread the batting out over the sheet, smoothing out any wrinkles. don't worry that you have extra batting on one or two sides. This will get cut off eventually. It's better to have the batting hang over the edge than not even reaching the edge.
Step 3. Place the top sheet/quilt top on top of the batting. with the good side facing up, smoothing out any wrinkles.Lining up as much as possible with the bottom sheet. Get at least one long side and one short side matching. You can adjust/cut off the other 2 sides later to even things up.
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| bottom-stripe, top=print. fluff=middle |
Step 4. Safety pin the crap out of it!! The safety pins will mark where you want to tie the quilt together. You can place the pins randomly, or make exact lines. Your choice. The batting packaging will specify how far apart it needs to be anchored. Make your pin spots there. We used the low loft batting which calls for pin placement every 5-6 inches.
Break time! Here's where you can stop if you need to. Everything should be all pinned together so you can fold up the blanket to take with you, or get it out later while watching a movie. Now is when you can trim off the extra batting and/or fabric, make all the sides line up.
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Pinning completed! Sophia starting the tying process
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Step 5. Tie the quilt. Use your big eyed needle (usually called a quilting needle) and thread it with yarn, color of your choice. Have a double strand of yarn, but don't knot the bottom. You can also use multiple strands of embroidery floss, or even super skinny ribbon. Whatever matches your blanket.
To tie: stab the threaded needle down through everything then right back up. Pull the yarn through to close to the end of your yarn, but not all the way, leaving a short tail to work/tie with. Tie a square knot. (Right over Left, then Left over Right) This knot is more secure, less likely to come undone than regular double knots. Cut the yarn so both tail ends are the same length. Then repeat until your done tying your blanket. Remove the safety pins as you go.
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| If your pin line is crooked you can adjust as you tie. |
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| I pinned the edges to make sure they're straight, then trimmed them to match. |
Step 6. Once it's all tied, it's time to finish the edges. "Finishing the edges" sounds fancy, but its basically hemming, but through all the layers. The edge of bottom sheet is rolled up over onto the top side and sewn down. If that sounds complicated, just grab the edge of the blanket, all layers of fabric, (top, fluffy in the middle, and bottom) and fold it once, fold it again, then sew it down. You can pick which side you want to the fabric to roll to. You can have the bottom rolled up to the top, or the top fabric rolled to the backside. Whatever looks good. It's your blanket, it's up to you. :)
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| It's a different blanket, but I'm still sewing the edges. |
Sew down all 4 sides and your done!
Look at that ! A blanket in 6 easy steps! No quilt frame needed. :)
Here it is! Sophia's finished blanket! She's holding it up so you can't see her, but she's there. (it looks better in person)
Bonus round!
If you to don't want a plain sheet as a quilt top, and you're feeling creative and up to a challenge, then this part is for you!
Here's how to applique a quilt top
We had the striped sheet and a plain lavender one. It needed to be jazzed up a bit. Sophia loves purple and butterflies. What's better than purple butterflies!? I'd like to start by saying I've never done this before. If you are an expert at applique and have some tips, I'd love to hear them, or share a link!
Step 1. Decide on your shape.
I looked up butterfly patterns online. I decided on 2 sizes of butterflies, a big one with the wings spread open and a smaller one in profile view. I free-handed the pattern from a couple clip art images.
Step 2. Cut out your fabric pieces. I cut out butterfly bodies in solid purple and wings in purple leopard print, both from my personal stash.
Step 3. Interface the back of your pieces. (this helps when you sew it to the main fabric. if not, it's really flimsy and can stretch around) I ironed fusible interfacing to the backs of the body and wings. I didn't want to iron the interfacing to my ironing board, so I used pieces of paper under the body parts. (This was the perfect time to use leftover orange paper from Halloween)
Step 4. cut or trim the interfacing from your applique pieces. Here's us cutting out butterfly bodies. The paper backing just falls right off. The striped butterfly is in profile. I think in hindsight, this would have been better in a solid, and the wings or body of the big butterfly in a stripe. The small profile gets lost in the stripe.
Step 5. Placement of your pieces. Here's my niece Aimee laying out the butterflies
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| Pinning of the butterflies |
Step 6. Sew everything down.
I used a close zigzag stitch and sewed over the edges. I went around each wing and then over the body. The big butterfly is 3 separate pieces. When it's all done, they look really good. Even better considering it's my first time. It's a lot of prep work with the ironing and pinning, but it's totally worth the effort.
Now back to step 1 of laying out your quilt.
Happy sewing everyone!
Hugs!
Caroline
