Congratulations Weareborgswife!

Patriotic Play Blanket

The way to square your fabric is to first, find the weft on each raw edge that runs all the way through from one selvage edge to the other. One way to do that is to make a small cut in the fabric and tear but I’ve found that that makes the edge pretty much unusable and makes the second part of squaring very difficult.

The way I square my fabric is as follows.

1) Start with a woven fabric (this won’t work with knits and non wovens). Cut into the selvage about and inch in from the raw edge. The more fabric you square the better your eye gets at figuring out which side to make the slit. Sometimes you’ll find that the fabric was a far cry away from being cut straight and even cutting an inch in will not yield a weft thread that goes from one end to the other.

2) Pull at the threads along the selvage and find one that you want to work with.

3) Gently pull downward on the thread as you guide the fabric up. The fabric will pucker and gather. When it does, pinch where the fabric starts and gently guide the gathering up the thread you’re pulling. The gathered fabric will smooth out and it will leave you with a line where the thread is shifted. Continue pulling and guiding until you get the end of the fabric or until the thread breaks (which is the more likely of the two).

4) If the thread doesn’t break and you make it to the other end of the fabric then you will want to cut next to the shifted thread. Then proceed to step 6. If the thread breaks before you reach the end, cut along the thread that has shifted up to the point where you can no longer see the shift. Then proceed to step 5.

5) after cutting up as far as you can go, remove the threads in-between the newly cut edge and the shifted thread you’ve been working with, find the thread again and continue with step 4 till you reach the end.

6) Once your weft thread has gone from one end to the other, cut off the excess fabric on the raw side and remove all threads and the shifted thread. Trim down the edge one more time and you are now ready for the final step of squaring.

7) Fold your fabric so selvages touch. If, when you fold your fabric in half, your squared edge lines up with itself then you are ready to rock. If, like my fabric, the squared edge is off then you need to pull your fabric back into square. If your fabric is off like mine, where the bottom layer is showing on the right side, then you will want to unfold your fabric, take the bottom right corner and pull as shown in the picture. Continue working your way up the right side and along the bottom, pulling on the bias, till you get the upper left corner.

If your fabric is not square but in the opposite direction as mine, then just reverse where you’re pulling from and start at the bottom left and work to the upper right.

Fold your fabric one more time to make sure that it is completely even. If it is then you’re ready for some awesome precision cutting. If it’s not then repeat step 7 until the edges align.

My oldest daughter received a hand made baby quilt when she was first born. I liked the quilt so much that I made one for my son when he was born. When my youngest daughter was born she too had to have a quilt of her own. Now, a very good friend of mine is having her first baby so I wanted to pass on one of these quilts to her.

Materials:

1/2 yd of three coordinating or contrasting fabrics for the top
1 yd of backing fabric (I use flannel)
seam ripper
scisors or rotary cutter and mat
thread and sewing machine

**note: I used a much larger seam allowance for this blanket because of the terry fabric. The measurements I’ll give you are for a standard 1/4″ seam allowance but when you look at some of the pictures you’ll notice that my measurements aren’t the same as the ones listed… go with the written measurement.**

1) prewash and press everything.

2) with each of the three (3) top fabrics, square the fabric, then cut two strips that are 6.5″ wide and 39″ long. When you are done you will have 6 strips total.

3) decide which fabric is #1, #2, and #3. For me, #1 was white/pink/silver, #2 was green and #3 was the pink terry. Take your first strip of fabric #2 and lay it ontop of your first strip of fabric #1 right sides together and pin down the right side.

4) open up fabric #2 and lay one strip of #3 ontop of #2 with right sides together. Pin down the right side.

5) continue opening and pinning in order #1, #2, #3, till you run out of strips ending with #3. Then fold the top on itself wrong side out with the very first strip of #1 from step 3 is on the last strip of #3 and pin them together.

6) Using a 1/4″ seam allowance, sew from the top to the bottom of every pinned seam. Press your seams. You have now made a tube.

7) lay the tube as flat as possible and, starting at one open side of the tube, cut the tube into 6.5″ wide sections.
**remember the note above**

continue till you have 6, 6.5″ sections

9) OK. Now I realized that I changed around my #1, #2, and #3 fabric from here on out. So sorry, so from now on, fabric #1 is green, #2 is terry, #3 is white. Take your first section and separate the seam between the #3 and #1 fabric. Take your next 6.5″ tube and separate the seam between #2 and #1. Take the next tube and separate the seam between #3 and #2. Repeat with the last three tubes.

10) Open up the first strip and lay it out right side up. Open up your next strip and lay it out above your first strip, right side up. Make sure that each block on the top is diagonal to it’s matching block on the bottom. Open the next strip and make sure that it matches the diagonal pattern started by the first two strips. Continue till you have your strips open and in the diagonal pattern.

11) start pinning the strips together making sure that you keep the seams that are supposed to be together, together. Make sure that when pinning you remember to lay the sewn seams on their sides in oposite directions. Unlike garment construction, quilt seams stay together. If you cut correctly and precisely, which I didn’t, your seams will line up flush with each other and your finished top will


Pinned and open:

12) Sew your pinned seams and press.

13) Square up your quilt top.

14) Cut your backing fabric to a little longer than your top.

15) With right sides together, pin your quilt top to your backing.

16) Round the corners if desired.

17) Sew a 1/4″ seam around the entire perimeter of the blanket making sure to leave a 1 square width opening in order to turn the blanket through it. Backstitch at the beginning and end. Press.

18) Turn the blanket right sides out through the opening.

19) To finish we’re going to topstitch the edge. Press the edge of the blanket. Turn the opening inward and pin closed making sure that it is at least 1/3″ in so when you go topstitch, the seam is closed.

20) Start topstitching at the beginning of the open section. Topstitch a 1/4″ away from the edge, all the way around, finishing by stitching over the section one more time to make sure it is closed and secure. This would be a great place to add a cute decorative stitch.

21) press your edges and enjoy!
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Here are the two other quilts I’ve made using this technique. The first one is my son’s and the second one is my youngest’s.