Baby Blankets - Unique Rag Quilts

According to my mother and many experienced quilters, in order to pass the quilting rule, you must be able to put no less than 10 stitches on your needle before pulling the thread through all the layers and moving to the next needle-full. This, believe me is not to be taken lightly, is not an easy task but for the trained quilter, it is an automatic function.

Have you ever needed to throw together a quick quilt? Many quilting pros laugh at the notion, but sometimes we need a quick gift to give and want to make it personal. Lap quilts and baby quilts are very easy to create on an embroidery machine.

Squaring the quilt: After the pieces have been sewn together take a couple of measurements on the upper half and lower half of your quilt. They should be the same. Also take a couple of measurements the other direction. If they are the same you should have an evenly proportioned quilt.

You can either hand quilt or machine quilt your baby shower gift. Following the perimeter of the shape or you can choose to use a quilter's pencil and template and draw a design and quilt the design. Either way, you will be stitching through all three layers, which not only fasten the layers together, but create a design, as you quilt.

Always use the low setting on your dryer. It is okay to hang your quilt outside for a short period of time, or you can spread it out flat to finish drying. Make sure it is completely dry before folding or storing.

Blanket Quilt At this point you are ready to either hand quilt or machine quilt your baby shower gift. Place the backing fabric right side down on the floor or large clean area. Put the batting down next. Place the pieced quilt on top of the batting right side up. Pin the fabrics and batting together starting from the center and working out. I recommend that you stretch all three layers before pinning. Using an old table and some large butterfly clamps, stretch your blanket securely in place to the table before you pin the layers together. Also there are curved quilting pins available at the quilt shops that will make the pinning task easier to complete, due to the shape of the pin. They are rounded at the bottom and perfect for the task.

Your baby shower gift will be complete when the edges are finished and the binding is sewn in place. Of the two types of bindings, crosswise grain and bias, the former is a good choice because there is less risk that a split would damage the entire side of the quilt. Crosswise strips also stretch well enough to curve when needed along the outer edge of the quilt.

Never store your handmade quilt in a plastic bag. The fabric needs to breathe. Storing it in a plastic bag for a long period of time may result in yellowing and discoloration of the beautiful fabrics.