Hi , I am 48 yrs old living in Tn, I love family and traditional values.
I have 2 children , a son 28, & a daughter in college 23.
When they were school aged , I saw or heard somewhere of a lady that had saved her childs baby clothes , cut them into squares and made quilt out of them. Right then , I decided thats what I wanted to do !
I did keep baby clothes from both of my children, and 2 wks ago my son called to say that I was going to be a grandmother in April!
I have the clothes , Im ready to begin. I just want a random , all squares of all different patterns with maybe a small border? Just to fit a crib ( maybe a little larger but not much) Anyone want to give me beginners advice?

What kind of help/information did you need? Just let us know.

Welcome and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

The warning has been posted somewhere else about how addicting quilting is.

So, how serious do you want to be? Assuming you don't have any of the supplies is that something you want to invest in or is this a one time project? If you just want to make this one quilt and move on to something else I would recommend finding a friend who is a quilter and would let you use her cutter, mat and rulers. Quilters are the dearest most giving people so I'm sure there is someone who would love to help you who lives close to you.

If you want to make the dive we are here to help. You will learn so much here and the help is tremendous. Did I mention the addiction?

However you do it we are here to help and encourage and want to see pictures.

Welcome from Southern California, and Congratulations on your impending "Grandmotherhood" This is a great place to gets lots of help and tips. And I also caution you, it is a very addicting hobby, I cannot control my fabric buying!!! In fact, I'm off here in a few minutes to hit a couple of fabric shops!!(gotta get my fix)

Carry paper towels to wipe the drool off your face when you go to fabric stores, e-bay and shop online :D

best advice i've ever heard!

Welcome from MN! ask anything and we will answer - what specificallly do you have questions about??

Welcome to the boards, I am somewhat new so feel like many others would have much better advice that I would on the quilt, but Good Luck...

CONGRATULATIONS on becoming a Grandmother, or what ever they may call you...Mine call me Oma, I have 4 granddaughters 9, 7 and
4 year old twins that belong to my son, 2 year old grandson that belongs to my daughter...They all are my world.

Will be watching for updates on the quilt

OH my Goodness! You are all so sweet! I posted my message and left to do a little shopping . ( I must confess, not only did I look ALL through the baby dept. , but also the fabric dept. I have all my fabric for the top of the quilt, ( all the baby clothes squares) but I looked at everything else, all I bought today was a good pair of sewing scissors to finish cutting. I just want a basic easy quilt a good size to put in the crib that I also saved from my children. What size should my squares be? I noticed that most baby quilts are 20 x 50 . Any first steps to start with will be appreciated. I have untill April.!
Thanks for everyones nice comments and congratulations! I like all of you already!! I couldnt believe I had all these comments in such a short amt of time!

Welcome and congrats!

Here are some patterns you can take a look at:
http://quilting.about.com/od/babyqui...ybabyquilt.htm
http://www.freeapplique.com/babyquilt.html
http://www.craftown.com/quilt/quilt1.htm
http://www.craftandfabriclinks.com/b...babyquilt.html
http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/Qu...ltPatterns.htm
http://home.howstuffworks.com/baby-quilt-patterns.htm

Hope these help,
Sondra

Newnana welcome from sunny Spain, have you tried doing a google search for free easy baby quilt patterns - you will find lots to choose from :D

Welcome from Newfoundland, Canada!! You will receive lots of great help and ideas here!!! and yes have paper towels on hand when viewing fabrics online and in stores.... You will find yourself wanting to bring them all home!

It is sounding like you have the bug. I warned you.

Starting supplies I would recommend are a cutting mat, rotary cutter and ruler.

Decide on your pattern. There are plenty out there.

Let us know what you decide and we'll help you from there or come back with a couple choices and we will help you decide.

Heres my question, To use a design will I have to only use a few of the baby clothes I have saved? In my mind I was thinking of using all different squares of my sons baby clothes in just squares, not in real design because wouldnt that limit me to use justa few pieces of clothing with minimum patterns and colors? What about just all different squares in no particular pattern?? no??

Thanks for your input! It is to be more sentimental and cozy that a design to admire.

Hi and welcome from Mass. Congrats.

There are many different designs and patterns that use small pieces of many different fabrics. Sometimes they are called "scrap quilts" also "Fat quarter quilts" will use several different fabrics. There are so many options, you could make all the squares one size, say a 4 or 5 or even 6 inch each and use a couple of each fabric or even 1 of each fabric in the quilt. The borders can even be pieced with a lot of different fabrics. Another option would be to do a 4 patch with a 1 patch in between each. Hope fully some of the patterns that the others have posted will give you some ideas. Most of the quilts I make I use many different fabrics in, I like that look.

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Welcome newnana.

I love your idea, and my advice for your first quilt is to keep it simple.
I like your idea of a charm quilt using your cut up baby clothes. How special.. one question, are you piecing by hand or machine?

The size of your squares is going to depend on what you can get efficiently from the clothes.. Im thinking maybe 3 inch squares would be good..but for you to decide.

One way of getting a truly scrappy look with your various blocks is to cut them all and drop into a grocery sack..can you even get those anymore..lol

mix them all up and then just reach in and grab them one at a time and sew them into rows... use what you grab...unless it is the same as the previous one.. It takes some guts but you end up with a truly srappy quilt.

Hope this helps..what every you decide, it will be great

Judy

Hi, Welcome.

Is this quilt to wrap the baby in papoose style - or burrito style? (Hope I'm not offending anyone here) Then square works well. 36 to 45 inches.

Or is it to go in/on a crib - then maybe 45 x 60?

Or in a bassinet? Don't have any idea for sizes there.

I preferred square receiving blankets for my babies - but that was when the dinosaurs still walked the earth and before onesies.

Thanks Judy!

I pulled out all my sons baby clothes and Im able to cut 5" squares, I figure by the time I seam them together they will still be pretty small squares. Thanks for your encouragement on it being a good idea and that it will look good as well. I have a machine , so will using it make the quilt more durable ? I am wondering just how many of the "Quilters tools" I have to purchase , while this will probably not be the Only quilt I make , there will certainly be a stretch of time before I make another.
( I guess) I may be hooked!! Im really excited about this one!
I have found a website ( recommended by someone on here!) that gives beginners instructions , but I do think I like being told each step by an experienced quilter in laymen terms :) All I have done so far is cut out 15 of my 5" squares!

you are welcome nana...

you need to determine how many you will need...

you will be sewing your blocks together with a 1/4 inch seam
so your 5 inch blocks will end up 4 1/2

so, devide the width and length you want by 4 1/2 and round either up or down, your choice so that you have an even number..then multiply the number in the width x the numbr in the lenght.. giving you the needed number of squares... heres and example...
if you want to make it abt 36 x 45..

36 / 4.5 = 8, 45 / 4.5 = 11.7 so you can do 11 or 12...

8 x 11 = 88 thats the number you need.

Get them all cut out and we will talk again.

Hello there, welcome from North Carolina. Hope you stay.

First of all, hi and welcome from Texas. Some things you'll have to maybe be careful of with random size squares is getting them to fit together. And if some of the fabrics are thin, you might want to use a lightweight stabilizer so they will hold their shape. Congratulations on the coming grandbaby. Grandkids rule!

Hi, and welcome from Oklahoma. Congrats! Just a simple charm quilt would be great for a first quilt. If you need any help at all just ask, we are all here to help. You won't find a better group of people then the ones on here.

Greetings from Alaska! :D

Try to cut your squares all the same size. They go together so much better then.

I know that sounds obvious, but an acquaintance of mine had some cute fabrics, but she cut the fabrics any old which way - there was just no way that they would have gone together well.

Welcome!! Great idea in the blanket! It will be cherished and passed on forever!! You could even do a basic 4 or 5" block...and sew them together and then in rows. It will be precious w/whatever you decide. Do post pics for us to see when done:)Skeat

Hi Newnana and welcome to the board. Your quilt project sounds like so much fun and I cannot wait for you to post pics!

bump for nana

I have all my squares cut out , I have 5" squares , 40 of them. So I want this to go in the crib. , and I will buy material for border . So my question is how many sqaures in each row that I am pinning?

If you do 5 across and 7 down you will need 35 blocks.

If you do 6 across and 7 down you will need 42 blocks.

It is really your decision.

Thank you ! By the way I love the pattern on the quilt as your avatar!
Im going to buy a sewing machine this afternoon , I had one yrs ago
but Im going to just get a new one, If I understand correctly the only thing
I need to make sure it has is auto drop bobbin and a free arm for quilting, is that it? Any advice on this , Im sure would save me a few headaches
if I get some suggestions before late this afternoon :-) Thank YOU !

Buying a sewing machine is such an individual thing.

Try out whatever you are buying. Go in and sit down at the machine.

Service. Do you have someone who will stand behind the machine when something happens?

How much money do you have to spend? I love my Bernina but I sure didn't start with one. I sewed a lot of miles on my old Sears machine.

If you plan to do your own machine quilting you need to be able to drop the feed dogs. I doubt you can buy a new machine now that doesn't do that though.

Have fun!!!

Thanks for your kind comments about my avatar.

welcome from washington :D

Thank you Beverly for the nice welcome to the message board!! :-)

Welcome from Washington state. Sounds like you are getting great advice already. Keep asking.

Hello from Sunny Spain, I have enjoyed reading thru and sharing your adventure to quilting land :D If you can post pictures so we can all see the baby clothes turning into a beautiful keepsake :D

Ok , You asked for it ! lol :) This are my squares made of my sons little
baby clothes , that I have into 5" they are just pinned as of now.....
I am hoping to find a material for the border and back using all colors in an infant appropriate design using some girlish hues mixed in ( Its a Girl!)
Ovviously I dressed my son in alot of blues and greens..

[b]


Just wanted to make a comment , I checked with the local Joann's
in my town ( looking for a machine) and noticed they gave quilting
classes, so naturally I was interested as I am entering this challenge
with my heart not head :) Quilting is the only class that they can
find NO ONE to be the instructor! You wonderful quilters ( who I definitely
want to become ONE OF) are a rare sought after group of individuals!
Thank Goodness I found this website to help me ! Thank You All!
Pamela ( NewNana)

Hi again Ladies ( & gentlemen?) I purchased my machine ! I decided on a new Singer Simple. It is easy to use but also has 14 different stitches , auto threader and bobbin. I like it :)
I have sewn my 40 squares together , 5x8 in rows. It looks quite good
actually. and so soft. I am now ready to purchase fabric for a border and
then also for the back of the quilt ( & of course batting)
How much fabric do I need to get for each of these steps?
NewNana

Hello Pamela!

Your quilt is looking beautiful, what a nice idea to use your son's baby clothes;

If you've done 5 x 8 squares and they've come up 41/2inches finished then your top should measure 22 1/2 inches by 36 inches - I would measure it to be sure though. So basically you need 4 border strips of whatever width you decide (plus 1/2 inch seam allowance). On border width, i like to chose a size that somehow relates to the block size, I think it always looks better that way but that's just personal preference, so for your block of 4 1/2", you could do the border the same width, or half the width or 1 & 1/2 the width, depending on what size you want to end up with. THEN you have to decide if you want a lapped border, mitred or corner blocks. I'd go for lapped on a first try, it's the easiest! You need two lengths the width you want (don't forget seam allowance!) times the length of your quilt. Sew these on each side. Then two more pieces the width of your quilt PLUS the borders you just added. If your quilt is 36" long, you can certainly cut the borders across the width of the fabric (it's usually 44" wide), if you go for 4 1/2" wide borders, then your quilt should measure 31 1/2" wide (plus those seam allowances!) So you can still cut across the width. Therefore you need to buy 20" of fabric (I'd just get a yard - leftovers are never a problem once you get the bug! :wink:

I hope I've been helpful, I'm not very good at explaining :oops: I'm sure someone else here will do a far better job!

K x

PS You also need to think about binding it when its batted, backed and quilted and if you want to use the same fabric as the border for this, you'll need the circumference of your finished quilt plus a bit extra for joining seams x 2 1/2" if you want to double bind, which I would strongly recommend - it's easier to apply and harder wearing! If you don't know the method - just ask when you're ready to go! :D