If you are new to quilting, then you’ll want to tackle a small project for your first one. What better than making a child’s quilt for a toddler bed? You can create a design using pre-cut squares of fabric, especially for quilting or you could even use old clothes or fabric found in a charity shop to keep the costs down.
Materials you will need:
Your chosen fabric – this design uses fat quarters
Backing fabric
Equipment you will need
Sewing machine
Patchwork Quilt Ruler
Coordinating Moon Coats thread
Cutting mat/board
Quilting Pins
How to make the child’s quilt
- Lay out the fabric squares in your desired pattern
- Cut out some simple shapes from any spare fabric to applique to the quilt
- Sew the shapes onto the fabric squares
- Sew the squares together in rows on the right side, using a ½ inch seam allowance
- Press the seams flat
- Sew the rows of squares together on the right side, again using a ½ inch seam allowance
- Press all the seams flat again
- Lay out the backing fabric and the wadding on a flat surface
- Lay the quilt squares on top of the backing and wadding
- Pin all three layers together
- Sew the layers together including stitching along the seams where the squares are joined to create the quilted look
- Cut the bias binding long enough to go around all sides of the quilt
- Unfold the bias binding and pin it to the back of the quilt
- Sew the binding onto the back of the quilt as close to edge as possible
- Fold the bias binding over the edge of the quilt and sew to the front, tucking the raw edge under to create the perfect finished product.
Safety
Ensure that you use only fire retardant wadding which comes in a range of weights from 2oz to 14oz. For a child’s quilt, use lightweight wadding at 2oz to create a low tog rating. It is not recommended by the Lullaby Trust to use quilts for children under the age of one.
20 other things you can do with wadding
- Fabric coasters
- Christmas tree decorations
- Quilted hearts for a loved one
- A Quilted purse
- Quilted makeup bag
- Padded photo album cover
- Pin cushion
- Stuffed toys
- Wrapping up delicate items to post
- Padded camera case
- Padded spectacles case
- Quilted mobile phone case
- Padded keyring
- Small padded bags for storing jewellery
- Padded rice bag for easing aches and pains
- Padded table protector for hot pots/teapot etc
- A Padded table runner
- Make a Padded tablet cover
- Quilted cushion cover
- Quilted pillowcase
Get in contact for information about which wadding/batting to use for your project. As ever, if you have any pictures of your projects that have used wadding, we would love to see them.