Patchwork quilts......any spare material?

[zephyrcat]

I would love to make 2 patchwork quilts. One for dd and one for ds, mad eup of pink/blue girly/boyish material but on each of them add personal patches - like a patch of their fav tshirt that they've grown out of or a fav blanket. Anyone done this before or have any tips? Any spare bits of material going?

[lavender2]

what a great idea zephyrcat (did that when younger..really enjoyed doing it)..only got old clothes and a few dressing up bits...how much do you need?

[zephyrcat]

anything really! - i've only got odd bits and pieces and would ideally like to make them big enough to go on their beds! (could be being a bit ambitious!)

[SantaFio2]

i am doing a patchwork and quilting course atm. Tip is cut your material out well beforehand and design your pattern first

[lavender2]

nah, you're not...send us your address via CAT if you like and I'll send you some bits.

[zephyrcat]

how do i do it - I'm guessing basically make all the patches the same size and sew them at the edges inside out (does that make sense?!)

[zephyrcat]

thanks loads lavender will cat you now...

[bran]

I make quilts, although I haven't really done a scrap one before, which is what it sounds like you want to do. I can give you some names of web based companies that do quilting fabric at very reasonable prices. Alternatively you could scour the charity shops for shirts and blouses (try to only use cotton as it gives a better finish) in the colours that you like and cut them up as shirt material is only a little lighter-weight than quilting material.

Do you have a pattern that you want to follow, or are you going to do squares or hexagons or something?

[zephyrcat]

I'm going to do squares. I don't really have a specific pattern - i just like the look of some that I have seen with some plain pink and flowery and pretty materials for girls and the bits with trains/plane/boats/blue for a boys one. I've never done anything like this before but I'm thinking i do the main patchwork panel then sew a bit of material onto the back of it (the cushioned fluffy stuff - sorry not very technical!!) Then a plain coloured panel on the back

[hana]

zephrycat - I did a quilt for dd before she was born - didn't know she was a girl - but it ended up very girlie!
I also did same sized squares and did about 8 rows with about 5 in each row. Sew the 5 together on the sides, then sew the rows together just like you said. I used it in her cot when she got bigger. Always meant to do one for her little bed but have never gotten around to it. Lots of luck!

[zephyrcat]

Thank you! It'll probably end up still being finished when they're 18! In my head it seems quite simple but in reality......!!

[carla]

God you lot are wonderwomen! I barely have time to feed everyone let alone contemplating something like that. Too much time on MN, 'spose!

[Dingle]

Ahhhaa,,,funny enough I started a hexagonal quilt years ago!(I really mean years ago, I was probably still living with my mum & dad.) I found it the other day, all boxed up in the loft.
I agree with bran- try to use a similar material- again pref cotton, it will make washing so much easier.
Are you going to do this by hand or machine?
A great idea about personalising it with bits of their own clothes etc. Thought about making up a sensory blanket in a similar way when dd was first born. That's a joke- I didn't have chance to breathe hardly, let alone make a patchwork blanket!
Let me know what size patches you decide on-if I have anything suitable I will keep it to one side for you. I will be venturing into the deep,dark depths of the loft for our xmas decs soon!

[zephyrcat]

lol thanks dingle. I'm going to start off doing the patches by hand so at least I can tell them I did some of it without lying!! My Auntie is quite handy with a sewing machine so i will get her to finish them off properly for me. I've been thinking of doing it for ages and realised that the amount of time i spend on mumsnet i could have made 3 by now!!!

[Dingle]

Well I can't really comment, should be making Xmas cards, knitting, making up dd's speech & language work, decorating....shall I go on? And what am I doing instead....

[zephyrcat]

anyone got any tips on patch size or anything? they're going to have to be quite big so i can use the fronts of tshirts that they've grown out of but loved - unless i do one row of small/normal size squares then a row of big ones or is that just asking for trouble?!

[lavender2]

imho I would go for the same size squares all round...my mum made one this way and it looked so nice...when you say to keep things on from the t-shirts are you talking 20cm+...as smallish squares do look really good...

[SoupDragon]

If you make the "special" squares 2x the size of the ordinary ones, you could put them in framed by smaller squares. Like a 6 on a dice where the dots are the special squares and the background is made up of the smaller ones.

[zephyrcat]

ooh good idea .... 20x20cms would be a perfect size for the bigger squares - i just measured the fronts of the t-shirts i would like to use

[zephyrcat]

anyone else got any foolproof tips so i dont mess it up??!!

[SantaFio2]

just do your best

[Frieda]

I'd suggest keeping them small. (The quilts, that is. I started making a quilt for my mum's 70th birthday, which was two years ago last october. I'm still making it.

I'd also suggest making all the squares out of similar type of fabric, otherwise, they'll all shrink differently when you wash it, which may look a bit strange. And if you're just going to be doing plain squares (rather than fancy blocks) I think you'll find it quicker doing it by machine ? but make sure you measure them all carefully first.

HTH

[motherpeculiar]

hey zephrcat

just found this thread and wondered how you were getting on? I am a big patchwork fan but have yet to finish off the one I am doing for DD (seem to have lost the foot pedal thing that powers my sewing machine - you'd wonder, wouldn't you!) so not the best to ask for advice . One thing I have heard is that if you buy any new material to use in the quilt make sure you wash it beforehand to avoid it shrinking when actually sewn in.

must go and source a new foot pedal thing - you've inspired me to get cracking again...