Tuesday, September 10, 2013

TUTORIAL - BED QUILTS - MAKE DO'S MINI STRIP QUILTS #1

Hello everyone.
Hope you all have been well.
I have been battling a very bad sinus
infection. I feel just awful and will
be going back to bed again soon.
But, I wanted to post something that
I had been working on previously.
Making a quilt is not hard. Make them
however you want. Use a pattern or not.
The choice is yours. Try a mini quilt
first then go from there. Nothing wrong
with baby steps. Then if you like quilting,
GO CRAZY!!
I used to love making quilts, still
do, but have somewhat finished
making them. At least 50 quilt
tops sit in my attic waiting for me to
hand quilt them one day. I have swapped
here and there a few quilt tops and have given some
away for free. I have 2 that are pinned that
need quilting but I have procrastinated with
this, as hand quilting is a big job.
But I do love it.
I used to with scissors hand cut each piece
and machine sew it together with the
strength of the sewing machine. And then
they came out with the rotary cutter,
and my love went from scissors to a rotary
cutter and a mat! Oh, I was able to produce
so many quilt tops that it wasn't funny. I made
all of my brothers and sisters 3 or 4 quilts each
throughout many years.
I made so many quilt tops that it only took me
a day after I had cut the pieces to assemble the
quilt top.
I have found that these MINI QUILTS are super
quick and easy - ESPECIALLY THIS ONE.
I LOVE SCRAPPY QUILTS.
SOMETIMES I CALL THEM - "MAKE DO"
Quilts because
I do not care how they are put together. I do not care
if these quilts line up or not as long as they are
pretty. But truly after a quilt is quilted there is no
such thing as ugly! I have seen an ugly quilt
blossom into a beautiful quilt!!
First - what you need is a rotary cutter and a mat.
Many of you know what these supplies are. A
sewing machine, thread, scraps.


This is the first time that I have ever tried quilting
with a sewing machine. I am not sure how well I
like it. 
I do like to zip-zip along on my sewing machine.
However it turned out okay.
I probably would
not give it to anyone because I am not sure if they
like my taste.


MAKE-DO IS USING FABRICS THAT YOU HAVE AVAILABLE.
Do not go out and buy any fabric. Look around. Maybe
you have already some baby clothes
or something else to cut up.

The backing for this quilt was a piece of a
pair of BABY shorts. As you can tell, I ran out of
fabric so I just hemmed it up anyway. Besides not
every quilt should be perfect! The colors turned out
wonderful and I am pleased.
See how it is quilted. 
The baby shorts backing is a cute rose print.
I could not resist cutting them up!
Sorry - BABY!!
I am sure you know how this works. Grab yourself
up some tiny scraps (BABY CLOTHES).
With a rotary cutter
or scissors, cut strips about 6 inches long and 2.5 inches
wide.
REMEMBER - FABRIC MULTIPLIES!!
I can never seem to get rid of it - unless I give it away!
These are the colors I will be using.
Cut them in half lengthwise and this gives you 2 piles.
I will only be using one of these piles, so put the other
pile away and save for segment #2.
Sorry, for the bad photo.
I tried many times to get a
clear shot and this is the best one of them.
Lay the strips out like you would want them. OR DON'T.
Make it random.
All my strips are the same size length and width.
Place the strips side by side lengthways.
Sew together. Cut apart.


Open up each strip.
NOW - sew all the strips together.
Again you are saving on thread.
When finished sewing them all together, then place
the strips on the bed like you want.
Make sure the sewn strips are the length
you want for the bed.
Make sure the width is what you want also.
If needed add more strips or
add wide borders if you want.

For Quilting
Look at the 2cd and 3rd photos of the front
and back of the quilt and sew
with a sewing machine across each strip.

To finish the quilt
Bring the backing fabric to the front.
Be sure to turn in a little
so you do not see any raw edges.
Sew down with a sewing machine.
Hope you like the first segment of Mini Strips #1.
I am going to see how many quilt tops I can make
out of the little fabrics I have.
It is possible that I
will tire of those scraps before they are all used.
However quilters do not like to throw away any scraps!
It is better to swap scraps with someone, so you can get different
fabrics, so all of your quilts will differ.

Thank you for visiting me!
Hopblogger