Help where do I find......

[LoveBeingAMummyAgain]

The cheapest best materials for sewing a patchwork blanket.

Also some sort of pattern/guidance for a blanket when I don't know the sex.

Thanks folks

Patchwork quilting is supposed to be 100% cotton which is great for babies.

Ebay has charm packs and jelly rolls which make nice blankets but they do cost££

If you don't know the sex I would stick to basic patterns such as square and fun colors.

for my first blanket I when a brought 10 x 10cm strips of cotton for john Lewis and another fabric store. some batik/ tie-die looking fabric and some plain bright matching colors all cotton.
I then cut them into 10cm squares, mixed them up then put them random piles of 10 (you will get over 100 because the fabrics are normally over 1m long and I wanted a rectangle blanket)
After sewing all 10 in each pile together I then laid all the strips out see what order to sew them together the other way.

Its is very important that you keep your seams straight and equal. when you have got the front finished you can then sandwich it with wadding and backing etc. (you tube full of videos on how to do this)

The other thing to try is a fleece patchwork same thing just 20cm square of bright rainbow colors and sew them all together. no need to back it because if the seams are neat it will look great ether way.

if you want it look prefect pre (hand) wash all the fabric, but for a vintage look leave them and wash after.

Hope this helps a bit

I did a beginners course to get me started and learnt how to rotary cut and "strip piece". (except I made 16 patch block, not 9 as in that tutorial) and chain piece.
I was recommended this book, which despite the title, Is a really great beginners guide. It is full of lots of short cut methods and some very simple but effective quilts!

But then I bought this book A jelly roll is made of of around 40 2.5 strips, the width of the fabric. I have made 3 quilts from that book and most I would say are suitable for beginners. There are also lots of lovely free patterns on the Moda website The pattern I have linked to is very similar to one in the Lintott book and is great for beginners, because it is very forgiving if your sewing is not straight and you havent got to grips with your seam allowance yet. (and looks far more complicated than it actually is!)

I would also say getting the seam allowance right is the most important thing. I use my needle in the right side position and then follow the edge of my foot, but some machines you can but a 1/4 inch foot to make things easier. I also always start sewing with a "thread saver" bascially a very small scrap of fabric that i place through the machine at the beginning & end of each lot of sewing.

I have bought from here before (although the packs are yards mot metres) good service & probably the cheapest I have found.

otherwise loads of stores now do "fat quarter bundles" and their own jelly rolls. I also like to browse these stores - Fabric Rehab, seamstar sewmehappy If you can get to a fabricland, they do fat quarter bundles containinf 4 fat quarters for £3.33

btw a fat quarter is a quarter metre of fabric, but 1 metre of fabric is cut into 4 equal squares and not in a 25cm strip.

There are also lots of blogs with free tutorials and patterns. crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2008/10/binding-tutorial.htmlcrazymom is one of my favs!

Good luck - it gets very addictive!

crazymom

GetOutMyPub thanks for that, think that covers everything I need to know

Do you think a blanket like this is the best place to start? My sil is due to have her baby in the next couple of weeks and ice been meaning to start something for ages.

Doughtys is one online shop that is good value.

sew me happy

phew, think all the other links work!

I found the piecing much quicker than the quilting, but then the quilting wasn't as much fun! Some of the quilt tops I managed to do in a few evenings, but then took me ages to finish!

There are lots of free tutorials on the crazymom blog I would start there...

and just looking at the link I gave you, fabric rehab have some great bundles that would do girl or boy. (but twice the price of crafts and quilts!)

and I nearly always use bedsheets for the backing, try Ikea (ikea also do cheap fabric) or TK max. Just dont use anything too thin ( will wear out in no time) or too high a thread count as it will be too difficult to quilt. (so no to the really expensive percale) Fabricland do cotton flannel for around £3m which makes a lovely cozy quilt back.

You've had some great advice for the pattern, but if it's a baby blanket you should really try and get to a craft place for advice about the wadding/filling stuff. My mum has made some for people and you need a certain weight/warmth/something-or-other to make sure it's safe.

Sorry if any of the links had that, I haven't followed them.