The twelfth and final homemade gift is my husband’s pic – A quilt. Last year I assembled and quilted my husband’s quilt right in the living room while he slept on the couch. (He was working 12 hour nights and was impossible to wake up otherwise.)
Okay, I know some of you are screaming “there is no way I can make a quilt in time for Christmas.” Sure you can!
The type of quilt I’m talking about is a stripy-quilt common during the first half of the century. These quilts are simple strips of fabric sewn side by side. You can use plain strips or pieces strips. You can even alternate. A quilt size good for a bedroll can be 45″ by 7 or 8 feet. Convienantly, you can cut a fat quarter (22″x22″) into four strips when sewn end to end gives you a 5.5″ wide strip 7 feet long. This strip will become 5″ wide if you use a 1/4″ seam allowance on each side when attaching the strips. So… this means you can use as little as 9 fat quarters of period correct fabric to make a simple stripy-quilt. To make piece stripes you will need more of course. I like to alternate pieced stripes with a solid color stripe. For the back, 3 yards of muslin will work. Choose a cotton or wool batting for the inside. You will also need a fabric to bind the sides with. A half yard cut into 2.5″ strips should work nicely. Now how to get your quilt together.
Day 1 – Cut each of your fat quarters into their 5.5″ wide pieces. Sew each long strip together. Cut you binding strips. Sew them together in one long strip and set aside.
Day 2 – Lay your strips out next to each other and arrange how you want them to go together. Label them if you like. Stack them nicely. Take them to the machine and sew the strips in order. (You can do this by hand of course.)
Day 3 – Double check the length of your quilt front. Cut the muslin and batting to size. On a large flat surface, lay the muslin, batting and quilt top. (if there isn’t enough floor space, the bed works nicely.) Pin your layers together from the center out. When it is all pinned together, roll from the left in to center and the right into center, clipping with the large plastic hair clips.
Day 4 till? – Starting in the center and working out, quilt in the seams of the strips. This is called “stitching in the ditch”. Stitch the very center ditch. Then unroll one side just enough to see the next seam. Continue quilting in the seams and unrolling until the quilt is quilted. This is quite relaxing while watching your end of day tv, a favorite movie or even the kids doing their homework.
Day x – Pin the binding to the front of the quilt all the way around. (You may want to look up mitering corners.) Sew around the whole quilt. Fold the binding over to the back. Fold the raw edge under and whip to the muslin.
Ta-da…. You are done.
Need a recap?
- 9 fat quarters
- 1/2 yard binding fabric
- 3 yards muslin
- 45″x90″ cotton or wool batting (to be trimmed down)
- Pins
- Hair Clips (The kind that look like claws)
- Some of your favorite videos or audio books. Possibly an activity for the kids as well.
- Thread and needles
If I Had My Own Blue Box: 
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