How to make an easy quilt.

I did it!!I just finished my first quilt, I had long wanted to make a quilt for a baby, when I heard that a friend of our family was going to have a baby, I decided to start my project, my considerations were that the quilt had to be something easy because it was my first time and I knew that the fabric that I would use it was flannel (I have some flannel scraps stored in my closet since my childrens were
young).. Here are the pictures of my quilt.

The first thing I bought was this batting, I do not know if it is called so, but

this is the picture.

As the batting measures 36 "x 45", these were the measures I used to make the

quilt. I cut the flannel about 4 "to 5" longer than the length and width of the

batting, then I place on the table a piece of flannel wrong side up, then the

batting and the other piece of flannel right side up. The result is a kind of

sandwich where the stuffing it is batting.

Then attach through all thicknesses with pins.

I  chose different colors of flannels and cut into squares of 3 1/2 ",  I started

to put them over the quilt at a distance of 1 1/2" between them and I secure them

with pins and I sewed over all the squares vertically and horizontally using a running stitch.

I wanted to add a decorative stitch to the edges of the squares, my machine as well

as many sewing machines of today have a variety of decorative stitches, I decided

to use this point ( stippling) and I put it all over the squares.

Then to finish the edges, using a long quilter"s ruler I measured 2 "from the last

line of squares, I marked and cut using a rotary cutter through all the layers.

In this photo you can see that everything is cut and ready for the final stage

which is the binding.

FINISHING THE QUILT

For this baby quilt I cut five, 3" strips along the width of the fabric.

 Don't forget to trim the selvage ends of the strips.

Fold the strip in half lengthwise, wrong sides together, and press.

Unfold and place the strips, right sides together forming an angle of 90 degrees

between the strips of fabric, marking a line of 45 degrees on the diagonal of the square that is formed, and sew along this line using a running stitch.

Then you need to cut using a 1/4 seam allowance and press  your seam open.

Now we just need to fold in half and press to create the long binding strip.

We start with the last stage: Add the binding to the quilt.

I would recommend to use a walking foot, if you have one this  is the time to installing

it on the sewing machine. Take your strip and starting in the midle of one side of the front quilt,

with raw edges of the binding and quilt top even,  start to sew with a 3/8" seam

allowance, starting 4 " from the begining of the strip

As you approach a corner of the quilt, stop sewing 3/8" from the corner of the

quilt. I marked with an erasable pen where I have to stop sewing.

Remove the quilt from under the presser foot, flip the binding strip up, creating a

45 degree angle,

then fold the binding down even with the raw edge of the quilt.

Begin sewing at the upper edge 3/8" from the corner, I also marqued with an

erasable pen where to start. Mitre all four corners in this manner.

I stopped sewing about 4 "from the end of the binding, remove the quilt from under

the presser foot and did the following  :

Bring the quilt back to the machine to finish sewing the binding

Turn the folded edge of the binding over the raw edges and to the back of the quilt

so that the stitching line does no show. Hand sew the binding in place, folding in

the mitre corners as you stitch. To hand sew the binding I used a blind stitch.

First, bring the needle through the bottom edge of the biais strip

then slide the needle,right in front of the place where we did the first point and

bring the needle out the bottom edge of the biais strip again.

This is how I did to sew the mitered corner

Here is my finished quilt!!!!!!!

I could not resist the temptation to show you this picture of my quilt with my dog!!!

I hope that my tutorial has been useful for those who want to try to make a quilt

for the first time. It is a quilt that can be done quickly, we can also recycle

fabric remnants from other projects and ultimately gives great satisfaction. Thanks

for visiting my blog and I look forward to your feedback. If someone makes this

quilt I'd like you send me a link to your blog to see the project and I will visit your blog. 

My next project is a clothespin bag made ​​with the crazy quilt technique, for some time now I want to do one and since here in Quebec, it's summer ... I have no more excuses, it will be my next project to share with you.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, I always appreciate your comments and new followers.

Have a happy sewing day!!!!!

Marisa.

I'm linking this tutorial to Threading Your Way ~ Quilting and Patchwork ~ Link Party  .

How to Sew a gift bag

Do you remember the bibs that I made some time ago? My mother in law asked me if I could make one but adding the name of the baby. Obviously she only asked me one and I end up doing two bibs. I also decided to make a gift bag where she could put these bibs in, and that gave me the idea to create this tutorial.This was the result.

The finished dimension of the gift bag is 8" wide x 11" tall.

If you want more information on the bibs,I invite you to visit my publication HERE.


Now let's start with the different steps that will lead to the accomplishment of
this gift bag. This is how I did it:

First step, cut the fabric :
for the outer fabric:
   - cut 10" x 8 1/2 " (front)
   - cut 11 1/2 " x 8 1/2"  ( back)

Tip: I cut the fabric for the exterior 2 "longer than the final measure, I did the
buttonholes and the embroidery  and then I cut to the measures that I have just
given you.

for the lining:
   -11 1/2" x 8 1/2" ( cut 2 )
  (I cut these pieces of fabric   with the measures listed )

for the patchwork:
   - cut two strips of fabric 1 1/4 " x 12"(one white and one blue )

You will need also a bias tape or a ribbon  that you will thread through the buttonholes, I used  36" and the wide of the bias tape is up to you.

The second step is preparing the exterior of the bag, the buttonholes and the embroidery design.


I started with the front fabric, I decided to sew a few  buttonholes and use them to thread a rubban. The buttonholes can be made either by hand or by sewing machine, I wanted to do it  using my 4D software and my embroidery machine. The lenght of the buttonhole is determined by the wide of the ribbon, in my case the ribbon mesures 2/8" (0.5 cm) so my buttonholes mesures 5/8" ( 15mm )
Whatever the way you want to do it, the distance between the buttonholes is 2 "(5 cm) and they are located 1 1/4" from the top edge. I did the embroidered design with the baby's name, 2 1/2 "away from the buttonholes.

If you do click  HERE you will find a sheet with the drawing that I did, you can download the pattern to your computer, is not the exact pattern but just gives you an idea of how I have positioned my items (buttonholes, embroidery, patchwork).

If you have a digitizing software read this, if not you can skip this and go to the next step. I know there are readers of my blog that have the 3D, or 4D or 5D software, so I will share with you what I used to program my embroidery ( I have the 4D Pro software).

I opened my 4D software, I started by choosing a hoop of 240 x 150 mm, for the buttoholes, I used the buttonholes that come with the 4D, after choose the one that I liked, I just copy and paste the buttonhole and I place them at a distance of 50mm between each one.

The embroidery design that  I used is from Husqvarna, Labels and Frames ( disk 76) 
and I use the design number 17.
To create the name, first I cilck on the letter tab,

I used the letters Script / ADINA.

My software is in French but I think the names of the fonts is the same or very

similar.

Here is the front of my gift bag with the embroidery

To the back side, I made the buttonholes, always at a distance of 1 1/4" from the

edge.

This is a picture that I want to show you, you can see I cut the piece of fabric larger

than the final measures.

 After I finished my embroidery, I cut the front and back with the measures that  I have

given at first.

Now let's make the patchwork (not sure if you call it so). First cut two strips
 of fabric 1 1/4 " x 12"(one white and one blue )

Place them with the right sides together, aligning the row edges and sew.

                                                     ( I always use a 1/4 seam allowance)

expose the right side and press

Now let's cut bands of 1 1/4 "

When you are ready to sew, flip each band, so that it looks this way .

Place the bands rigth side together and sew.

We will continue joining bands  until we reach more than 11 1/2"

Now, put togther the rigth sides of the front and the patchwork, aligning the row

edges and sew

To finish sewing the outside of the bag, place the front and back fabrics right

sides together and sew all arround the edges leaving the top open.

I align the side seam with the seam of the base and sew (I used also 1/4 seam

allowance),

so the corners are more beautiful.

Turn right side out, now is time to thread the rubban.

 We are going to sew the lining in the same way. Place the front  and the back with

right sides facing, sew the sides and base, but this time we will allow an opening

of 3 "on the base.

 

Next step,  attach the lining to the exterior fabric.

                       To do this we are going to slide the exterior of the gift bag towards the inside of

the lining, so that both right sides are facing each other.

Now we have to sew the top, aligning the row edges of the outside and lining and

sew together.

Pulling the exterior fabric through the opening

Now we are going to sew the opening that we leave earlier in the lining.

When you are ready, push the lining inside of the gift bag...now is time to enjoy

our gift bag.

I hope you liked this tutorial, I wish I would have given you some inspiration. I used my embroidery machine and my 4D software to create this gift bag, but from here you can create a gift bag, adding an applique or doing embroidery by hand. The buttonholes can be done by hand or using the buttonholes that come with the sewing machines.

I love it when you leave me messages, remember that I always hope to have new followers. I wish to take this post to say thanks to the new followers who have joined my blog, for me to have followers is a way to give me motivation to create more and more projects. I am currently working on a quilt that will probably be the topic of my next post.

Have a nice day!

ENJOY!!!!

Marisa.