Baby Girl Christmas Gifts

First, you need to find two boards, ideally of a hardwood such as oak. It is crucial that they are longer than the width of your quilt. Next, you need to staple or stitch a piece of durable material around the boards, such as heavy cotton or denim. Form the fabric into a slack tube, loose enough to leave a flap of fabric to which the quilt ends can be attached, while ensuring that the material is firmly fixed to the boards.

For piecing and most simple quilt patterns, match the thread fiber to the fabric. Since most quilters use 100% cotton fabric, 100% cotton thread is ideal. If you find your thread breaking, try a new spool; old thread can become brittle and lose elasticity.

Blanket Quilt The best fabric for simple quilt patterns is 100% cotton because it minimizes seam distortion, presses crisply, and is easy to quilt. Good simple quilt patterns specify quantities for 44/45" wide fabric unless otherwise noted. You'll need to allow for a little extra yardage to accommodate minor cutting errors and slight shrinkage.

Machine quilting on the other hand, involves a sewing machine to sew the pieces together. In very much the same way, layers of fabric are stacked together, laid-out, batted and backed on a flat surface. They are pinned and the pieces are then moved through a sewing machine. This can be done in block form as in hand quilting or as a large piece. Again, the details are determined on the style preferred and the quilter's experience. This is a much faster process than the hand quilting and often a good place for a beginner to learn with quick results.

These 4 pieces of quilt frame were then placed on top of a kitchen chair and tied with, you guessed it, old sheet that had been torn from worn out bed sheets. Then a clamp was placed in each corner to keep the right angle of the frame in place and checked often with the square my father used for building the baby cribs, beds and toddler beds.

Be especially careful not to store your quilt in a place where there could be a problem with bugs or unwanted visitors that would like to eat away at it. Some brands of fabric softener sheets have been credited with repelling these unwanted critters. In addition, the fabric softener sheet will keep it smelling fresh. A cedar chest is an ideal storage place for your handmade quilt.

Handmade Baby Blankets A handmade baby blanket gift speaks to the heart of any new mother. Knowing someone spent the time, thought and effort to make a hand made gift in this day and age means a lot. You can crochet, quilt, embroider a baby blanket to make it unique and special. In fact, you can make a baby blanket that requires no sewing at all, and will be just as special because you put yourself into the gift.

Some women used larger scraps, and often the block's strips were a variety of widths. Scrappy strips were asymmetrical and uneven, or pointed, or on the bias. Whatever fabrics were available, they were used as is. There was no time to waste cutting them to size. Women used an old blanket or quilt as the filler and tied the layers together; winter was near -- no time for quilting it.