When I was younger, my mother would try to give me sewing lessons... to no avail. The session would always end (quickly) with me getting frustrated, crying, yelling, walking away, and begging her to finish the project I started. That may have worked when I was young, but now that I've grown up and moved 4 hours away from my mom, if I want anything done I have to do it myself. Just in case you were wondering, sometimes I still throw the temper tantrums when the project just isn't going right. I've found that a glass of wine lessens the sting.
After not touching my sewing machine for YEARS, I finally dusted it off last winter. I've made dozens and dozens of quilt projects since (mostly baby blankets - they are amazing shower gifts by the way)... but the shaggy quilt is by far the easiest project I have taken on. It looks a lot more complicated than it really is, so don't let the awesome-ness fool you into thinking you can't do it.
My mom made one for my fiance and I last Christmas, and I LOVE it, so when I went home to visit last, I got my own tutorial from her. *She is a sewing genius* When I got back home I attempted my first quilt all on my own and this is how it went!
It is my first tutorial, so I hope that all the instructions are clear... GOOD LUCK
P.S. If you'd prefer to buy a ready-to-go baby blanket, visit my online shop at: www.Etsy.com/shop/KEllaKreative
SHAGGY QUILT
Need:
- Flannel fabric of your choice (yardage really depends on the size blanket you want - roughly 3 total yards of fabric for the baby size - up to 10 for a queen size)
- Cotton batting (Warm & Natural, or SewPerfect are my favorite to use)
- Cutting board
- Edge ruler
- Rotary cutter
- Thread (I used one color for consistency throughout, but you can use various colors also)
- Sharp scissors
1. Cut your flannel fabric into squares, I cut 5"x 5" squares using my cutting board, edge ruler, and rotary cutter
*Make sure you save fabric for the binding - you need several 1" strips (for the baby blanket it is 4 strips) - but that comes later
2. Cut cotton batting into squares 1" smaller than your flannel squares. Since mine were 5"x 5", I cut my batting to 4"x 4".
3. When you have all your pieces cut, you can start to build your sandwiches (as I call them).
Take one piece flannel, place it right side down on your work surface. Next, center a square of batting on top of it. Then, add the second piece of flannel right side up.
4. Sew a diagonal line across the square.
*in order to save time and thread, I would sew one diagonal line on one sandwich, and place the next sandwich under the foot - make sure that the sandwich pieces don't overlap. In the end you will have created a banner. Cut all thread ends. Sew the other diagonal line in the same fashion.
5. Cut all the loose threads, and you now have a completed square. Complete all the squares.6. Figure out the design you want by arranging the squares. My design ended up being 36"x 36" (that is 9x 9 completed squares)
7. To sew two squares together, stack the two, sew with a 1/2" seam allowance
*MAKE SURE THAT YOU BACKSTITCH AT THE BEGINNING AND END for about an inch to strengthen the intersections
8. Complete one ROW at a time making sure that all seams are on one side
9. When you have 2 completed rows, add them together by placing one row with rough edges face down, the second row with rough edges face up
10. Line up the points of intersection
*You want the pieces to fit snug together. For instance, in my blanket, I wanted the multi-color square piece to hit against the yellow parrot piece on the opposite row.
*Make sure that the raw edge seams of the rows are facing opposite directions (like the picture)
12. Repeat steps 9-11 until your quilt is assembled.
*I found it easiest to assemble by adding two rows together, setting those aside, assembling the next two, and repeating. It was easier to assemble the smallest sections together first, instead of adding a row at a time, because the project gets pretty heavy
13. Now that you have it all sewn together (Congrats!), you can add the binding. Cut 1" strips from your remaining flannel. I used 4 - 1" x 44" strips, and I did NOT sew the 4 to themselves like you would with normal quilt binding. Also, it's important to understand that the binding is only going to appear on the FRONT (shaggy) side. Since my quilt's finished dimensions are 36" x 36", I found it easiest to add the binding like this:
+Start at one corner. Place a strip even with the one end. Sew the strip to the quilt, allowing a TINY bit less than 1/2" seam allowance.
+You've sewed Strip #1 all the way down the length of one side.
+Rotate the quilt so you are about to start at the next corner.
+Trim the excess (about 8" in this case)
+Fold over a piece of the very end of Strip #1 (both raw edges should touch each other and be at the very edge of the quilt)
+Place Strip #2 on top of the fold and sew that the same way as you did with Strip #1, trim the excess, fold over the end, attach #3 and repeat again to attach the final side.
*at the end of Strip #4 make sure you place it on top of a FOLDED down Strip #1. Trim the excess. ALL IS ATTACHED.
+You've made it back to the beginning. Now you can topstitch.
+The way you attached the strips makes this part really easy. Just fold down all of the strips and sew as close to the fold as possible, but allowing enough space for the top side to be tacked down (about 1/16")
*This picture is a great example of the topstitch, but as you can see it's already cut and you're not quite to that stage yet.
(IF YOU WANT TO DO A BINDING FOR A QUILT LARGER THAN THE LENGTH OF A STRIP, SO 44+", HERE'S HOW. The basic steps are the same as for a baby sized quilt. You should start at one corner, but your strip will run out before you get to the second corner. In that case, sew Strip #1 down, until you get about 3 inches from the end of it. Grab Strip #2. Overlap Strip #1 and #2 by about 3/4". You can put it on top of or below, it doesn't matter. If it helps, pin this in place, then continue to sew. When you get to the end of the first side, cut the excess off. Start the next side with the excess you just cut off. When you approach the end of that strip, overlap the next. Keep trimming at the corners. Like I said before, the instructions are the same, you just need to learn the overlapping technique, and apply that to the previous instructions.)
14. You've topstitched the binding, now you can cut! You want to cut all exposed edges. You want to get very close to the seam, but do NOT cut through them. The cuts should be spaced about 1/4" apart or so. I used a pair of fancy fiskars with short blades.
Make sure the blades are sharp, and be prepared to clean out jams of flannel dust every once in awhile. I loosened the screw on the blades just a little bit to help prevent the amount of times it jammed, also so it would spring open after a cut... made the job so much easier!
I found that it is easiest to cut the intersection points first, like so:
*Note: I left the seam in tact, but cut as close as possible to it
Then, when all of the intersections have been cut, you can continue to cut the segments every 1/4", like this:
Cut all of the quilt, including the binding. If you need help with the corners, just look at the picture for step 13 (topstitch).
15. You're finished cutting! (Just one more step) It should look like this:
15. You're finished cutting! (Just one more step) It should look like this:
Front:
Back:
16. Make sure to wash it (preferably in a washing machine at a laundromat! - it produces a lot of lint)
Washing it causes the cuts to fray, and after it is put in the dryer, it sort of tufts up... giving a whole new effect to it.
Congrats! YOU have made a beautiful quilt. You're welcome :)
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