Memory quilts from old clothes etc - anyone done one or can give any advice?

[Housemum]

I have been having a big clear out of baby clothes, and there are some toddler dresses etc that all my girls have worn - I am a sentimental softie and don't want to get rid of them, they are too big for doll's clothes, so I thought if I used those and the others I am accumulating I could cut patches to make a quilt over time. Has anyone done one, and could you share any hints/tips pictures? Specifically, what size patch would you recommend and what shape - hexagon or squares? Hexagons were my first thought as I could hand stitch them together at odd moments, but then perhaps squares would be easier as I could just cut a huge stash of squares and store to piece together eventually by machine? Or I could do them in blocks of 9 and keep a stash of the 3x3 squares to put together for the final quilt, perhaps with strips separating the blocks?
I'm not an experienced quilter at all - I have done one block-of-the-month appliqué quilt, and one 9 patch quilt.

Any crafters on this morning?

hello housemum, the issue you will face is that you are using different fabrics, many of which will be stretchy.

I would use a stabiliser on squares (so you can use the larger motifs from the baby clothes) and surround with something like a railfence pattern using fabric from dresses....like this with either the cute baby motifs in the placeof the 9 patch or in the place of the white squares.

i also love nine patch and hearts which could allow you to pick up and applique a heart, and then machine your 9 patches.

No idea, but I'm thinking about a quilt so I will watch and learn. It sounds lovely btw!

Ooh, I like the nine patch with hearts! I have not yet made a quilt but have been doing some patchwork recently, using square patches. The only thing about using squares is that it shows up quite badly if your corners don't match up exactly. It's a bit easier to disguise with hexagons. But, I am a perfectionist and get quite obsessive about things like that.

donkey, if you are doing 9 patch, then using jelly rolls is the way to go as the fabric is precut. So you do strip piecing and it all works better. ALso, pin your seams first, not your corners, so you can stretch out the other bits!

Thanks Hatti. So far I've been doing it all by hand, with cardboard templates. English paper piecing, I think it's officially called, but it's how my mum used to make them, except she used hexagons. I haven't done any on the sewing machine yet, but it's coming :)

What size squares or hexagons would you use?

I've been doing 5cm squares (finished size - cut pieces about half a cm bigger on each side for seam allowance). The bigger your patches, the harder it will be to get pieces out of garments, especially if the clothes are small.

When I made my 9 patch one I strip pieced it, I do have a plastic ruler thingy for cutting squares and a quarter inch foot for the seeing machine so if I did go the squares route I should be relatively accurate

Could you make funky cushions out of them?

This looks fairly easy to do and it's a good way of using up scraps of wadding. I am going to have a go and make a dolly's quilt as a sampler and see how I go. I'll post a pic later. easy frayed edge quilt

Hi Housemum,

I make these quilts for a living so hopefully I'll be able to share some useful tips! Memory quilts are just the best - there is nothing like being able to see and touch all those lovely clothes and remember the times your children wore them.

The first and most important thing to remember is that quilting with clothing is not like quilting with purpose bought 100% cotton quilting fabric. If you have cotton, or poly cotton items then they should be fine as they are but anything with stretch will need fusible interfacing added (I use a fairly lightweight Vilene). Iron on the Vilene before you cut out your final pieces - that way you keep everything nice and stable and it will be much easier to sew.

In deciding on your pattern, think about whether you have lots of clothes with motifs/cute embroideries etc that you want to preserve, or whether you are more bothered about the fabric patterns. Try and keep things easy for yourself. I just love the nine patch and hearts posted by hattifattner, and you could do a variation on this with the heart blocks being motif blocks instead. If you Google 'memory quilts' you will find tons of inspiration!

Patterns based on squares tend to be easier to manage, and making patches that you then surround with some 100% cotton quilting fabric in white or a coordinating colour can help stabilise the whole quilt top. For example you could do nine patches with a criss cross border - a bit like this on this one. This might be a good technique if you are hand sewing the blocks because you could do all the clothes blocks bit by bit and then finish off all the bordering by machine.

I always piece my quilts by machine but there's no reason you couldn't do it by hand - I'm afraid I just don't have the patience! If you do them by machine it's good to use a walking foot (your machine may have come with one). This helps immensely with dealing with all the different fabric types although it's not essential. You might find you get some skipped stitches and this is usually solved by using a heavier duty machine needle.

Good luck and enjoy! If you want to ask anything else I'm happy to help!