Baby Clothes Quilt: Part 4...Finished!!

My daughter's baby clothes quilt is finally finished! It was a lot more work than I anticipated...but also SO much fun.

Once I got all my squares sewed together and the seams ironed on the back, it was time finish it up.

I took my backing material (a twin sheet) and laid that face up on the floor, then my squares went on top of that (face down) and then finally the batting on top of it all. I used the lowest loft batting by the yard at Joanns.

I pinned all the way around and stitched all the way around as well..leaving a 12" opening so I could turn it right side out.

Once I turned it right side out, I folded in my opening and top stitched around the entire blanket with about a 1/4" seam. I did it this way because I didn't want to put binding on the ends of the blanket.

Now I had a blanket...but it needed to be secured in certain spots to keep the layers from shifting.

Instead of quilting this in the traditional sense (a lot of stitching over the entire blanket)...I opted for a less noticeable way of securing the blanket in even spots. There are some embellishments (buttons, pockets, and bows) on this blanket so I wasn't sure how quilting it all over would work or look in the end and I didn't want to distract from the clothing.

I measured out equal spots to sew and pinned those areas. Basically I pinned the meeting corners of every other square (in every other row). Then, I sewed a small straight line on that seam where the squares met. It was very simple and is not noticeable from the front.

That completed my first baby clothes quilt!

I tried to cut out as much from each piece of clothing that had the most character such as pockets, bows, or buttons.

Here is the back of the quilt. I found this flat sheet at the thrift store and it had polka dots in all colors so I thought it complemented the front of the blanket nicely without distracting from it.

Here you can see my little stitches to keep the blanket from shifting:

I'm SO happy with the way it turned out! I also can't believe I actually finished it! It was one of those things on my crafting "to do" list that I am so happy to cross off. Cutting the clothes up was by far the hardest part (emotionally)...but seeing it all put together into something that can last years and years is so worth it.

I have to admit the first night I finished it, I sat on the couch and cuddled with it:) I know my daughter is only 3 (going on 30), but as she grows older and older I am finding out that they only stay little for a short amount of time. One day I will get to make one for our little guy too:)

Price:

clothes: already had

2 yds lightweight fusible interfacing (for stabilizing knit materials): $2.50

2 yds of low loft batting: $3.99 (with 50% sale)

polka dot backing material (thrifted twin sheet): $1.50

Total: $7.99

But really...this blanket it priceless:)

I'm linked to:

Tatertots and Jello

Sugar and Dots