In my group we did Little Dresses for Africa last year. So easy to make. This year we did Weighted Blankets for Autistic Children. So far we have donated nearly 100. They are very similar to a quilt with the front sewn into 12 panels and one solid panel of fabric for the back. The front and back are sewn together by the birthing method at the top and bottom of the blanket, with the sides closed by velcro.

I am not a fan of birthing so all of mine have binding on. I sew the binding on by machine and then my sisters like to hand sew the binding to the back. I do about 12 quilts a year plus 10 to 20 receiving blankets and several fleece. All blankets are child or lap size and for charity. In the last 2 or 3 years, I have also made a bed size quilt for 8 grandchildren and now working on queen or king size quilts for my children. I hope to do as many charity quilts this year because I am trying to reduce my stash which does pretty good as long as I don't go into a fabric store.

I make between 20 and 60 charity quilts most years and give them to people in local shelters. Most of them are adult size, with maybe 10 percent being kid's quilts. I seldom birth a quilt; I have done it in the past but like either fold-over binding or modified traditional binding best. With fold-over binding, I trim the part of the back beyond the quilting to a uniform two inches, fold it barely under the quilt for the first fold, fold once more, and sew it down on the front with a decorative stitch. For the modified traditional quilting, I use three-inch strips on thick quilts, press down the middle after I've joined the strips, sew it on the back with raw edges meeting raw edges, and then sew it down with a decorative stitch. Having a Pfaff with that wonderful built-in walking foot helps a lot with this.

One thing I learned the hard way NOT to do: If I back a quilt with something heavy like wool, which I sometimes do because some shelters have no heat at night, I don't try a fold-over binding. It doesn't work very well and I have to fight with it a lot. From now on, I'll use a modified traditional binding on those, even if it is a cotton binding.

I dont make charity quilts. I DONATE trash bags of scraps and misc. sizes of quilt shop quality fabric. I donate to 4-H, and a local senior quilting group. At least 2 large trash bags worth each year. These groups make charity quilts.

Sandy

I donate several a year. SOme years more than others. I do some for quilts of Valor and donate to several different groups. I just make whatever I feel like and eventually something comes up to donate it to. I make doll quilts for Salvation Army too. I don't have much luck with the birthing method. I am never happy with how the edges line up. I do faux piped binding. YOu can do the whole thing by machine. I do this on a lot of my personal quilts too. I feel like it is sturdier than hand sewing. http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/blog.php/blog_id/5489. Not sure if the link works, but if you google faux piped binding there are tons of videos.

Wow! I finally found someone who does binding ends as I do.
http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/blog.php/blog_id/5489

This is a long tutorial, but worth your time if you want to know how to join the ends of your binding. This works every time. The only thing I do differently than she did, is: I iron a triangle into the beginning of the binding, and when I get to the end, I don't need to trim anything off that end. I lay them down carefully where they will be sewn and cut off the ending strip at the point of the bottom of the ironed triangle. That point is exactly at the width of the binding strip. You can see that because the binding strip if folded down to there.

Then I finish the last seam as she did. No extra fabric to worry about.

Oh! one more thing. I open my seam before I trim the extra fabric. It is so much easier because you have fabric to grab onto to get the seam open.

This is one of the reasons I love putting on a binding.

I made 30 Quilts of Valor in 2013. I usually make 50/year, but had to take time when I got a tick bite and subsequently Lyme Disease.

When I read through all of these charity work we as quilters are doing, I am so proud of what we are all doing for our fellow man. Obviously, most of us will not get to see who receives our handiwork, but God sees and our reward will be in heaven. We also know this is not why we sew/quilt. In blessing others, we are being blessed ourselves by having the time and talent to share. Keep up the great work fellow quilters. Like Martha Stewart always says, "It's a Good Thing".

Regarding the binding: I do regular binding by machine. I add the strip to the back of the quilt, turn and press it to the right side and then use a decorate stitch from the top of the quilt. Since most of these quilts are going into a hospital setting, they must hold up with many washings.

25 comfort quilts, and all have a formal binding.

We make at least 1-12 charity quilts a month for the children's advocacy center near our home.
Sorry but I do not know what you mean by "birthed" ...If it means from scratch..then we birth them all!!!

I gave this answer a few pages back. Hope it helps you to understand what "birthing" means in quilting.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/images/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by justflyingin http://www.quiltingboard.com/images/...post-right.png
I'm not really familiar with the term "birthed" as pertains to a quilt (though I can make some guesses without doing any searching on the web). I bind all charity quilts the same way as I do my own or gift quilts.


I see no one else has answered this, so here goes. Birthing is the name applied to the process of turning a quilt right side out after top and back have been sewn right sides together with the backing on the outside. You need to leave an opening when you sew around the outside so that you can turn the quilt. (Birth it.) After the quilt is "birthed", the opening is sewn together, usually whipstitched by hand, but some use a zig-zag on the edge.

Birthing is a very easy and fast choice for baby, children's, and charity quilts. I've done some full sized quilts like that, but I enjoy binding too much, so I usually bind most of my quilts, no matter what size.
Mavita - Square dancer and One Room School Teacher.