Patchwork Baby Quilt (Part 1) 小童拼布棉被(上集篇)

Can you guess what am I working on this week?

Yup, I have finally started on the sewing project I had always wanted to set my hands on since I first learnt sewing - patchwork quilt! I am feeling so so excited about it, despite I have only made about 50% progress thus far I would like to share some of the work in progress photo.

Sometimes back, I got this lovely Always Forever charm packs by Deb Strain for Moda with 42 pieces of 5" x 5" hearts theme in 100% premium cotton. It's consists of many square cut fabrics with love in different shades of red and pink, just perfect to make a baby quilt for my baby girl! (yes, to shower her with mama's love.. :)

Warning: I would not be held responsible for any impulsive purchase of fabric if you ever click on any the reference links shared on my post. ;)

They had been sitting on my shelves for months, doing nothing but collecting dust. Until last night, I finally gathered up enough confident and courage to work on it (I expected patch work to be rather time consuming and challenging compare to just toddler dress making; indeed, I was right. However, it was so fun and satisfying to see the beautiful outcome that I will most certainly consider to make the next one!)

Here are the simple steps for putting up this patch work:




Simple Tutorial:
1. I arranged the fabrics on the floor until I finally got a pattern that I thought looked nice - with all the bright reds on the opposite sides and I tried to make it as symmetrical as possible. I used up total of 40 pieces of the charm pack here and took me nearly 20 minutes to finally got the right design.

Next I started sewing.

2. Starting with 1st row of patchwork consists of 5 pieces, with approximate 1/4" seaming. I got a total of 8 rows here. I sew in this sequence which I find most manageable:

(Refer to the numbering on the cut fabrics in the picture)
1 + 2 (let's call this A)
4 + 5 (let's call this B)
3 + B  (let's call this C)
A + C
and the complete row is done!

3. Next, I sew 2 adjourning rows together to form a larger rectangular block. I got 4 sets of these blocks.

3. Then join them into even bigger piece.

5. Finally, with the last joining, they became a complete single piece of patchwork.

6. This is how the reverse side of the fabric looks like. I pressed the seams using warm iron so they are all neatly folded on one side. The patchwork is now looking smooth and fabulous in equal shapes. No hemming required since I am going to attach the batting later.

Part 1 of the tutorial is done, for now.

I'm feeling happy that I managed to complete this patch work within 1.5 hour without any mistakes (I started working on it only after my kiddos were asleep so can better focus without interruption..), although this is the most basic quilt design, it's an a personal achievement for me being a quilting newbie who doesn't know much about sewing. Big Guy asked how I managed to get the blocks into equal sizes, honestly, I can only say it took patience and concentration of sewing the seams with equal width, by using the presser foot as my reference. I sewn on medium speed and paused often to check that the fabrics are correctly aligned. That probably explained why it took me such a long time to complete it.

I shall find time to work on the backing lining, batting and binding the quilt later this week. Hopefully I can get it done by this weekend and my baby girl can enjoy sleeping in the comfort of her brand new quilt.

I am so looking forward to the completion of this piece, so, watch up for part 2 of the tutorial! ;)


UPDATE:
Yay, part 2 of the tutorial is finally done! Refer here to see how to put the quilt together.

Feel free to post your comments and I would attempt my best to reply. If you have made a quilt following this tutorial, do share with me and I will feature them on this blog (with your permission, of course :)




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