Charity Sewing - Infant Layette Shirt

There is a charity organization located in the next town over from me here in Maryland called IMA World Health.  A month or two ago they contacted our Relief Society President at church and asked if we would help provide layette shirts and gowns for their "Safe Motherhood Kits".  To quote from their site, these kits "provide clean and sterile birthing supplies to expectant mothers in areas where infant and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world."

Of course, I jumped right on board with this project!  First of all, I try to take any opportunity to serve others with my talents, but also, as a mother of severely premature NICU twins, I have been on the receiving end of  many others service in the form of handmade and crocheted blankets, layettes, even hand-sewn Christmas stockings for my babies while they spent their first Christmas in the hospital.  

When you are in that situation, it is very overwhelming to know that there are so many people out there willing to spend their time and talents to help serve and comfort those in need.  I vowed then that I would do what I could to try to give back to others in a similar way, especially when it comes to babies in need.

The little football player bear shirts were the first ones I made (only one is pictured).  I wanted to hurry and get one made to use as an example for the ladies at church.  I don't have a ton of baby-type fabric in my stash, but did find this old piece that has been hanging around for about 4-5 years now and was able to get two shirts out of it.  

For the rest of the shirts, I tried to go a little more gender neutral, since these will be going to a variety of babies.

While their website has suggested guidelines for the shirts and gowns, it didn't have an actual pattern.  I looked online for something similar, but didn't find exactly what I was looking for. So, to make things easier I offered to draft a pattern for anyone who wanted to help make them. It is a mash-up of the website's  guidelines, 2 other patterns/guidelines I had, plus my own alterations.  

I sewed the first one with french seams, as the website suggests. The enclosed seams are definitely nice for concealing the raw end of the inner tie, but my biggest complaint was that it made the shirt smaller than I wanted.  I wanted them to be fairly roomy, since they will be going on a variety of sized newborns.  So after that, I took to my serger, which neatly enclosed the tie ends into the seams as well as giving it a nice, finished look. It is definitely the way I would suggest finishing these shirts. 

I used both regular cotton fabric as well as flannel.  Both worked great for the bodies of the shirts, but I suggest only using the thinner cotton fabric for making the bias tape ties.  The brown polka dot ties are adorable, but made from flannel, and they didn't want to play nice. 

 Now, If anyone would like to make a layette or two to DONATE to our cause (wink, wink), I would gladly accept any sent to me before the May 1st due date. I can email the pattern. It's hand drawn and not professional in the least, but it works.  (At this point, it is JUST the pattern, not written instructions.  I have been directing the people at church to the IMA website to follow their general guidelines for construction. However, if I had enough people interested, I would write up some instructions to go with it.) 

My email address is: krysllyn@gmail.com

If you want to send a shirt to donate, email me for my mailing address. 


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Tutorial - Envelope Binding

Every now and then, I find myself making this type of quick little blanket for my boys.

This one, for example came about from my 3-year-old's current obsession with Sulley from "Monsters University" and a trip to the fabric store where he spotted some Sulley fabric.

I'm not going to take the time to make a pieced quilt out of something he will probably outgrow within the next year.  And besides, when you are three, you want your Sulley blanket RIGHT. NOW. 

That is where a quick and easy tied blanket comes in.  Minimal work for me, and he gets his new Sulley blanket by bedtime. 

This type of blanket is also a super fast option for baby-sized charity blankets.

One thing I like to do on this type of blanket is an envelope binding. I think it makes the blanket look nicer and neater than a folded edge binding, and doesn't take as much time or effort as the traditional strip binding that you would normally see on quilts.

Here is a quick tutorial on how I create an envelope binding.

First, choose your fabric.  I got 1 1/2 yards of both the top and bottom fabrics for this blanket.  After washing, trimming and sewing, this blanket measured about 40 x 50 inches.  I used flannel, but you could definitely use quilting cotton, or a combination of both, if you want.

I choose to wash my fabric for these quilts, because I am only tying them, not quilting, so I don't want them to shrink too much after they have been tied. You can choose to wash or not.

After the fabric has been washed, I press it and square it up, just like I would before cutting any fabric.  Then I trim my fabric into two, equally-sized pieces.

Cut your batting out to the same size as your fabric pieces.  (I used a low loft polyester batting in this blanket because I wanted it to have a bit of puffiness.  Feel free get a higher loft batting to make an even puffier blanket, but I will say from experience that it is harder to work with.)  

Lay your fabric down in this order: 

1 - top piece, right side UP

2 - Bottom piece, right side DOWN

3 - batting on top of the bottom piece

Pin all around, but I recommend sewing opposite sides together instead of starting at one corner and sewing all the way around the perimeter.  It seems to reduce shifting and stretching of the batting this way:

I sew a 1/2 inch seam using my walking foot.  I highly recommend using a walking foot if you have one. It will also help reduce stretching.

Make sure to leave about a 10 inch opening along one edge of your blanket.

Once you have finished sewing your blanket together, snip off the corners to reduce bulk.

Trim excess fabric around the entire perimeter of the blanket, except for right around the 10 inch opening.  I like to leave the seam allowance on this section longer so that I have more fabric to work with once I have turned it and am tucking it in to press and sew closed.

Now open up your blanket at the opening, reach in, and pull the right sides out.

Using a crochet hook or another turning tool, poke your corners out, and press.

Now, pinning the opening closed, press the entire perimeter.

 Once the entire edge is pressed, take a needle and thread and sew your opening shut.  I prefer using a blind stitch.

At this point, tie your blanket.  (I recommend tying the blanket over quilting, because at this point, the blanket is bound and there is not a lot you can do about any shifting or puckering if you were to quilt it.  However, a very large and simple straight line design may work if you decide to try quilting it.  I have never done it myself, though, so I can't say how well it would work.)  

Another option if you want a quilted look is to quilt the top onto the batting before you add the backing fabric.  However, you would still need to either tack or tie the backing fabric onto the front fabric once your envelope binding is done.

Now that your blanket is tied, this is how your envelope binding looks:

  

Definitely nothing wrong with it, and you could leave it like this and your blanket would be just fine.  However, I like to add one last step and sew a 1/2 inch edge around the perimeter of the blanket.  It gives it the look of being bound, and is a nice finishing touch.

And there you have it!  A fast, easy blanket with a sweet, envelope-bound edge...

...and one very happy boy!

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Sew Many Books - A Summer Sewing Series

I'm excited to be a part of the summer sewing series, SEW MANY BOOKS, over at Nap Time Creations today!  Head on over to read my tutorial on how to turn an illustration from your child's favorite book into a wearable piece of clothing!

Extra bonus: you get to see a bunch of photos of my adorable twins! (Who, me biased??  Nah....)

And while you are there, don't forget to sign up for some fun giveaways. 

Tutorial - Personalized Baby Boy Flannel Rag Quilt/Cuddle Blanket

It is interesting to see what brings people to your blog.  Even though I have only made one previous rag quilt, "baby boy rag quilt" is one of the top three things that bring people to my blog!

I know there are a ton of rag quilt tutorials out there, but since mine is a little different with the name personalization, and since I was making another rag quilt for my son, I thought I would make it easy for those who come upon my blog in their search for a rag quilt and write up a tutorial for how I make mine.

(This tutorial will make a small, lovey-type quilt, about 32x36 inches.  It is the perfect size for a small child to carry around and cuddle with!  The quantities I list here will be for that size.  To enlarge, simply cut more flannel squares until you have enough for the desired size.)

(To see a few more pics of this quilt, CLICK HERE to view my original post.)

You will need:

 - FOR THE TOP - Various scraps or cuts of flannel to equal roughly 1.5 - 1.75 yards - (most of mine were already-cut squares that I saved from my earlier rag quilt, and scraps from some other flannel blankets I had made for my twins, so this is an estimation.  If you do purchase cuts of fabric, I would recommend getting 1/3 yard (or 12-inch) cuts.  A quarter-yard cut would only be 9 inches long - not enough to get two rows of 5-inch squares out of!)

- FOR THE BACKING - 2 yards of coordinating solid flannel

- FOR THE NAME STRIP -  2 strips of flannel, 5-inches x WOF (width of fabric) - 1 in your desired top fabric and 1 cut from your backing fabric

- 1 strip of "batting"

flannel, 4-inches x WOF

-  contrasting flannel scraps for the letters - choose scraps that have high contrast to your background fabric to make the name stand out and easily readable.

- Equivalent of 2 yards flannel scraps OR batting for the middle of the quilt - For the quilt pictured, I used scrap flannel for the "batting".  I did not want this quilt to be heavy or too warm, since it was intended as a cuddle blanket for my 2-year-old son.  For my earlier rag quilt, I used actual low-loft quilters batting.  (You can view it HERE if you want to see the difference in thickness, etc.)  The color or pattern for the "batting" flannel doesn't matter since it doesn't show on the outside of the quilt (I used a medium-toned blue, again leftover from my previous quilt), making this a great opportunity to use up random scraps you might have lying around!

- Wonder Under, or other light fusible webbing 

- Sewing Notions - sewing machine, thread, rotary cutter and mat, acrylic ruler, scissors and iron.

Instructions:

First: Prepare your fabric - If you would like, you can wash your flannel.  I usually do, simply because I have found that flannel shrinks quite a bit, and I don't necessarily want it to shrink unevenly or excessively once this type of quilt is finished.  But it is totally up to you.  If you do wash it, I recommend clipping your cut edges with pinking shears to minimize fraying in the wash.

Next, whether you wash your fabric or not, iron your fabric and square it up before cutting.  (If you do not know how to square up your fabric, HERE is a good tutorial you can follow.)

Second: Cut your fabric - Once I have squared up my fabric, I line it up on my mat and cut it into strips 5 inches X WOF (width of fabric - about 42 inches).

I then carefully stack 2 of my (still folded) strips on top of each other, matching all my edges, and line the stack up straight on my cutting mat.  Then, placing my ruler on top of my stack, I line up the edge of my ruler  to the line on my mat closest to the raw edge of my fabric and make a straight cut through all the layers of fabric.   

I them move my ruler down 5 inches, line up my ruler again, and cut again.  Repeat until you have cut the entire length of the strip into 5-inch squares.  

I continue this process with all my TOP and BACKING fabrics until I have 64 squares of each (128 squares total).

I repeat the process with my middle "batting" flannel, EXCEPT I cut it into 4-inch squares.  You will need 64 total "batting" squares.

Here I cut two rows of fabric stacks at the same time. It makes the cutting go so much faster!

Cut the name strip TOP and BACKING fabrics the same as the other 5-inch x WOF strips, but DO NOT sub-cut them into squares.

Cut the "batting" flannel strip the same as above, only cut it 4-inches x WOF.

Here is what you will have when you are all done cutting:

Third: "Sandwich" your squares - Place one BACKING square, wrong side facing up, on your surface.  Center one "batting" square on top.

Place one of your TOP squares, right side up, on top of  "batting" square, matching the sides with the bottom square.  

 This is your square "sandwich".  Repeat this process with all your TOP, BACKING and BATTING squares.

I stack my sandwiches, turning every other one at an angle (as illustrated in the photo below), to make it easy to grab each sandwich while chain sewing.

Fourth - Chain stitch your sandwiches together - The photo below is the only one I took while I was chain-sewing the "x's" through the square sandwiches, so hopefully I can explain the process clearly without any additional photos!  Basically, you want to sew an "X" through each square sandwich  from corner to corner. The easiest way to do this is to chain sew them.  (You can use a matching or contrasting thread.  I used a medium turquoise on all the squares.)  

Place your stack where you can easily reach, and, taking one at a time, begin sewing diagonally, starting at one corner down through the opposite corner.  Without cutting your threads, immediately begin feeding your next square sandwich through your sewing machine, corner to corner, and repeat the process until all your squares have a line of diagonal stitching through them.  They should still all be connected and you will have a chain of 64 squares that you will now separate by clipping the stitches between the squares. 

Once they are clipped and re-stacked, you will repeat the chain sewing, this time sewing down the opposite corners to form and "X" through the squares. Once all your square sandwiches are sewn together, clip them apart and set them aside.

Fifth: Prepare the applique name strip - Prepare a word document with the name you will be appliqueing.  The easiest fonts to applique (and read) are thick and fairly simple.  (I used the font "Rojo".)

Print out a sheet with the letters in the name sized to about 2.5 inches at the tallest point.  Cut each letter out right on the line.

Take your scrap that you have set aside for the letters and make sure your letters will fit on them.  Then cut out a piece of Wonder Under the same shape, but just slightly smaller than the scrap (You don't want any of the Wonder Under to hang over your fabric, otherwise when you fuse it to the fabric, you will also fuse it to your ironing board wherever it is overhanging!) 

Place your scrap flannel onto your ironing board, WRONG side up.  Iron the Wonder Under onto the flannel, rough side DOWN.

Let it cool, then trace your cut out letters BACKWARDS onto the Wonder Under. (You can also trace your letters before you fuse your Wonder Under to your fabric.)

Cut out letters and carefully peel the Wonder Under paper from your applique letter.

Decide where you want your name to be appliqued on your name strip.  I placed mine so that the last letter was  about 2 inches from the right-hand edge of the flannel strip.  You will also want to make sure your name is straight.  Simply line up your ruler evenly along the bottom edge of the flannel strip (In this case, I measured it 1 1/8 inch from the bottom edge) and line up the bottoms of your letters along the top edge of your ruler.  You want to keep in mind that you will have a 1/2-inch seam on the top and bottom of this strip, so place your letters so that they will not get caught in the seams.  Play with the spacing until it is pleasing to your eye.

CAREFULLY remove the ruler without disturbing the letters.  Gently place a hot, DRY iron (NO STEAM!) onto the top of the letters and leave on WITHOUT MOVING the iron for about 6-10 seconds.  Lift the iron directly up and again place on top of any remaining letters, without moving the iron around.  Repeat this process until all your letters are fused to the fabric.

Take your fabric strip to your sewing machine and with a matching (or contrasting) thread, applique each letter down using about 1/8 inch or less border.  This will allow the edges of the letters to eventually get a slight ragged look, as well, after it has been washed a few times.  (If you don't want a ragged effect on the name, you can applique it with a zig zag or buttonhole stitch instead.)

I then make another fabric sandwich with the strips, layering the backing fabric (right side down), the batting fabric, and the top fabric (right side up).  With the strip, however, instead of securing it with an "X" like the squares, I just sewed a line along the center of the strip, ending just before I got to the name, and then sewing another short line through the middle of the strip on the other side of the name.  ( I also basted the top and bottom of the strip to avoid any shifting, as you can see in the photo, but I don't really think it was necessary. So feel free to do that step, or skip it, whichever you prefer.)

Sixth - Lay out your quilt and sew your rows -  Take your sewn squares and name strip and arrange them how you would like them to look in your quilt. 

Gather them up by row and label the rows. 

(I take a picture of the layout with my phone so I can refer back to it if I get confused.) Then I take the stack of labeled rows to the sewing machine and and start sewing! 

 Remember, you are putting your square sandwiches BACK sides together so that the seam will show in the front.  Using a 1/2-inch seam, sew each square in the row together until the entire row is joined.  Repeat for each additional row.  You will end up with 8 rows, 8 squares long.

Once you have all your rows sewn, you are going to sew your rows together.  Again with back sides together, pin two of your rows together along the long side, matching the seams.  I pin and sew my seams open.  

Sew your rows together.  Again, you will sew 1/2-inch seams that will be visible on the front of the quilt.  Continue adding your rows, matching seams, until you have sewn SEVEN rows together. 

For the 8th row, add your name strip, again with back sides together using a 1/2-inch seam.  You will probably have some extra length that will need to be cut off of the strip, so be sure to have the end with the name on it lined up with the right-hand edge of the quilt.  That way you can cut any excess off of the left side - the side without the applique.

Add the final row of squares to the bottom of the name strip in the same way.  Trim the left side of the name strip, if necessary.  (You can use your ruler and rotary cutter if you want, but I just used my scissors to cut the excess off.) 

Finally, sew a 1/2-inch border around the entire quilt.  You are done sewing!

Now comes the FUN part (Insert sarcasm here.)  Clipping!

This part is pretty self explanatory, but you will take scissors and start clipping all those 1/2 seams that you made on the front side of the quilt (and also the 1/2-inch border you just sewed around the border of the quilt).  Make the clips about 1/4 inch wide, or less.  Take care not to clip too far and cut the seam!  

When you get to the "intersections" of the squares,  or the corners where the seams meet, I clip the fold open.  The photo below hopefully explains what I mean.  I'm sure this isn't necessary, but it is something that I do to make sure the clips are evenly spaced and fluffed after the blanket is washed.

Once you have clipped all your seams, throw your quilt into the washer and dryer.  I would recommend checking your lint catcher about halfway through drying, and cleaning it out.  These things shed!  (You can try washing it inside a pillowcase, but I haven't tried that tip yet myself.)  

Once dry, give it to your favorite 2-year-old to enjoy :)

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