Baby Quilt

I made a quilt! It's the first one I've ever made - and I love how it turned out. I made this for my brother's baby girl and gave it to them as a baby shower gift. It matched their color scheme so well, even though it was just a mash-up of beautiful, crazy colors. So happy they like it!

It's an incredibly easy quilt pattern - the classic rag quilt. The front is smooth...

...and the back has all the seams, frayed to be super soft.

This quilt is super easy to make. Here's the directions in a nutshell:

1. Cut your squares of fabric and batting - mine were 6-inch squares, with the batting cut just a 1/2 inch smaller. Make your squares larger or smaller depending on how big you want the finished size to be.
2. Make little quilt sandwiches with a piece of batting in between two pieces of quilt fabric.
3. Sew an X from corner to corner on each sandwich. This is easier if you sew them in a continuous line, leaving just a tiny gap between each square. So, sew one line of the X for all your squares, then clip them apart, then sew the other line of the X for all your squares, then clip them apart again. (It will make sense when you start sewing.)
   
   

4. Lay out your squares in the order you want to the rows to be. Sew the squares together in long rows, keeping the seams to the same side.
5. Sew the rows together. This part get tricky because your quilt will get super bulky and you'll have to roll it up to fit it into your sewing machine. Just be patient (not something I'm good at!).
6. Edge the quilt with a double-line of stitching all the way around.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Clip the seams just up to the stitch line. Clip them about a 1/4" to 1/2" apart. Yes, ALL of the seams. This will take a long time and you might want to wear a glove to protect your hand. Use good scissors. Watch a movie while you're doing this because it will take a long time.
8. Wash the quilt at least once - you might want to do it twice. This is what will fray your clipped seams. Check your seams after the first wash to see how it looks. When you're happy with the fraying, put it in the dryer. This will fray it some more. You will have SO MUCH lint you will think you surely broke your dryer. Also, you and your clothes will be entirely covered in lint and thread. Go outside and shake everything off. You can also use a lint roller or brush to get more of the lint off.

That's it - your quilt is finished. You will love it even if it seems like you will never be clean of lint again.

One more time - isn't it lovely? I'm ready to make another one for our bedroom. How long will it take to make a king-size one? I'm sure I'll be ready to cut off my hand by the time it's done...

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