Help please for a novice patchwork quilter. Hit a few problems!

[VixStarr]

Earlier on the year I decided to start learning to sew / make a quilt for my unborn and I have managed to piece together the main top quilt together barring the frame ( yay!) using old bits of fabric. I now have no old/usable bits of 100% cotton and when I looked online to see how much it was going to cost including the wadding I was a bit .

Anyway, I managed to find an old cotton/poly ( 50:50) bed sheet but was wondering that if using it for the frame would affect the quality of the quilt or if I would encounter any sewing problems at a later date? Could I also get away with using a mix for the backing fabric? Is it okay to use some synthetic materials for bedding when there is a baby involved? Realistically the baby won't use it as an extra blanket until they are over the age of one and when I do use it it will be something clean for them just to lie on in the house.

I really am on a budget and recently had a go at my DP for being a bit blase with our finances so if anyone has suggestions for using a cheaper alternative for wadding I would appreciate it. I am going to hand quilt as the machine I have borrowed is one of those Lidl ones and I honestly don't think it will be able to handle stitching all those layers.

I honestly thought I had chosen a relatively cheapish hobby and didn't think at all how much this quilt was going to cost me!

It isn't a cheap hobby by any means. Not if you buy everything new anyway!

However, you've come this far without spending loads of cash so that is great. I reckon there are things you can use instead of wadding. I think that a fleece blanket would probably work pretty well or even just a bit of brand new fleece - I don't think a meter of that is too expensive although I would have to check. Wool blankets might work but I would be worried about washing the finished quilt if the blanket hadn't be washed much before.

If you don't want it for warmth particularly, more as something to lie on or to decorate a bed, then you could do what the Japanese do with their quilting and just use 3 layers of fabric. Their fabric is traditionally heavy denim like stuff but if you have some cheap thick fabric around then it might work. It would have to be prewashed though and washable if a baby is going to lie on it a lot. It is bound to get dirty.

Using a mixture of fabric isn't usually recommended because of the differences in the way fabric shrinks, but since you are using old fabric, which presumably has been washed many times before, I doubt this would be a problem so if you want to use it, go for it!

I agree with BBB that a fleece blanket would be fine to be both the wadding and the backing. If you use a double layer then it will be nice and soft, although it will be a bit more effort to quilt a double layer. If you're near Ikea they have them at good prices and you could pick a colour to go with the quilt top. I recommend that you cut the fleece (or other backing) bigger than the top until you have finished quilting it, then trim it to size. That way if it moves around a little or gathers a bit it won't be a problem.

How are you planning to quilt it? If you are machine quilting then it would be a very good idea to have a test patch with plain cotton on the top and whatever wadding and backing you will be using for the quilt. Machine quilting needs practice, and I'm not sure how easy it will be to quilt fleece and a cotton top. I would normally use a walking foot to quilt with, but they are expensive to buy and you are on a budget.

Have a look in charity shops for 100% cotton dresses / skirts. That's what patchwork started out as - using old material.

If there's a tkmaxx near you they often have 100% cotton sheets cheap.

If you don't have any blankets, have you had a look at Lady Sew and Sew's website? They do a poly blend wadding for £6.99 at the moment www.ladysewandsew.co.uk/Polyester-Blends which is probably as cheap as the cheapest fleece blanket. The cotton mix ones start from £9 pm in their sale which isn't bad either. I assume that your cot quilt isn't more than a metre though. If it is bigger than that and you have to start hacking about the wadding it gets pricey with a lot of waste.

Fleece works really well, and you don't need any other filling. I've made a couple of baby blankets with just the quilt top and a layer of fleece. They look and feel great. My very ancient hand-cranked Singer managed the quilting just fine, so don't give up on your machine without giving it a try -you might be pleasantly surprised! set it to a fairly long loose stitch and go for it.

If you do give the machine a go for quilting, using a biggish needle might help too - something like jeans 75 or 80. (Needles are about £2.99 a packet)

Thanks for all the advice. I have had a rummage through the charity shops but have had no luck. And no wonder ...I have just discovered that there is a local and very active patchwork group in my area so no doubt good material goes in a flash.

I shall certainly do some test pieces using the machine. Musomathsci - what would you exactly classify as a fairly long loose stitch? I am pretty new to the sewing thing.

Part of my problem is my poor planning - i.e that my quilt is over a metre but i think i am just going to have to make a second quilt at some point in the future!
Right I am off to have a look at that website.

Try looking in charity shops for some suitable material. You can often get 100% cotton in the curtain section. Give it a good wash and it will be fine. I have had some lovely material from charity shops for a very small cost.