I have an alphabet panel, measures aprox 42"x24" that I want to make in to a quilt for a 3yr old little boy, but I am not sure how to go about it! As the letter boxes are not all the same size and they would become smaller as I joined them I don't think that would work. I thought about cutting the strips, each row would then become smaller with the 1/4 seam on all edges. Should I just keep the panel intact? I really do need some help please! And what about the background colour?!
I though I would back the fabric with cream colour fleece - would I also need wadding? and should I then quilt right through?
All advice most welcome - thanks in advance!
Penelope

What a cute panel!

Here I my thoughts on this...I'd cut them apart, arrange them to my pleasing, and add at least an inch of sashing between, making them into a center panel in the size and shape I wanted. Then I'd add some borders, maybe a solid color one first, and some kind of wonky blocks in matching colors... How many and what kind of borders you add depends on how big you want the finished quilt. But, I'd get the middle section arranged first, and go from there.

If you're using fleece for backing, you probably won't need any wadding (batting) in addition to that. And, yes, I would quilt right through both the fleece and the top after they are together.

If it were me I would have to cut it up because my OCD would not allow for the randomness of the letters. I think if you will not lose any of the lettering cut it up and add different color sashing to each block to make them all the same size. I have 1 of these panels and that is what I will be doing with it.

I'd just do borders...a couple of them...stipple quilting and done

In case you couldn't tell, I'm with cjomomma on this! ;)

I couldn't tell at all! LOL!!

I would separate the rows WOF and add a sashing. I don't think I would want that little of a block to work with by taking each and every letter apart.. Add a border and go from there. To little of a piece between the i and j for instance. JMHO

Personally I think the randomness of the letters is a good learning tool, sort of a "where's waldo" kind of thing; I'd leave it as a panel.

You might make one narrow "stopper" border of white or black, then a border of random lengths of strips of fabric similiar to colors in this panel. A piano key border would work well, too.

Jan in VA

It seems that cutting it up by the letter would break the panel up too much, so I would cut it up by blocks and sash between blocks. For example, "zstlg" would be one block. Using different size blocks would create interest across the entire quilt.

I would just add borders using some fabrics with stars or polka dots; something simple like a checkerboard or pinwheels, even friendships stars would be nice in bright colors. I've seen some nice borders on this board of the piano key design.

I agree with Julie!

Agreed! I love the idea of it also being a learning tool.

The more I think about it, the more I like this idea.

I agree with Julie and Jan . Also, the design is not planned with enough space around the letters to allow for 1/4" seams to be taken away. The letters might looked cramped. A little tyke might love his quilt to pieces, literally, so fewer seams could be a plus in this case.

Julie in NM is very practical. I agree.

I agree to just leaving it as a panel and adding borders- You can always do alot of stitch in the ditch at their block "seams" which would give it more of an apprearance that you pieced it. I'm thinking this would make it pretty heavily quilted, maybe do some of them with decorative stitches -

Why not cut it up and find something that begins with that letter.. A- apple B- boat and C- car and so on.. square them up log cabin style or scrappy.. Im not OCD but I really don't like that A isn't first on the top..

My thoughts exactly.

is the horizontal line printed straight. If so then i would quilt horizontally. If not, then look at it and see if you can do a straight quilting line between the blocks but zig zag down. straight down on one block, across the bottom and then straight.....This is a possibility that might make some interesting dimension to the quilt and preserve the printed panel.

so many choices

I'm with 'luvTooQuilt'. I was also thinking of an I Spy quilt because it would make the letters easier to find. You'll come up with something and can't wait to see the final quilt. Have fun. :o)

Hmmm....I'm wondering if you could cut them apart and applique them to random colored blocks. If it were mine, I'd try that...it would be a first time applique for me, but that looks pretty easy. Wouldn't even have to be appliqued "square". I really like this idea...where did you find the panel??

I like this idea. Would make it less"busy" and give the eye a place to rest. Whether you add wadding or not depends on how thick you want it to be. Nice panel BTW.

You could cut apart the letters attach them to steam a seam 2 and apply them to another piece of material(Machine applique) with like A for apple and attatch an apple picture or some thing with the A letter and so on thru the alphabet.
Or go by row of letters and then under that row for learning possibilites add a row of pictured items that would begin with the letters above for a matching game.
Many different ways to make it educational too.

IF you were to separate the letters into individual letters maybe you could put the child's name in the center? Just a random idea!

If this will help , I love the quilt, but if your not happy with it , then maybe you can make an OBW out of it ..just a thought..

Another idea: cut it into "big" blocks that have several letters per block. You could alternate the letter blocks with another fabric, perhaps one with pictures (toys, animals, outdoors ... whatever is of interest to the child)

No way would I go to the trouble of cutting that up. I'd use another design--maybe a row of pinwheels or checkerboards?--to make that panel bigger, border it and call it good. If you put another design with it, you might want to divide it to put the extra row between the letters but the 3 yr. old won't care what you do. He'll just love that you did it for him.

Since you have 24", you could cut that into 12" blocks and use alternating blocks as previously suggested. Any left-overs could be used as cornerstones in the quilt border or the border on a matching pillowcase.

I agree with Jan. Little kids like to "search".

Why waste the fabric between the letters by cutting it up? If it's for a 3 yo, just put an inner border (black, 1" fin.) and outer border (Choose a color, 3" fin.) and call it a day. For the backing I'd use fleece and no batting. Fleece washes well and quilts well, and is practical for a child. Good luck!

For a 3 year old, toddler quilt, the random panel is cool. If you want it larger, cut it into 12" blocks, use sashing and borders. Looks like a good nap quilt to find the letters before nodding off.

I use fleece on a lot of my crib and baby quilts. I think they are thick enough and don't use batting.

I'm with Jan (and Julie!) on this! I would leave the panel intact, do a show-stopper border, and quilt it with variegated thread. If you find a border fabric with stars, for instance, you could quilt stars and loops all over it. It will probably get laundered frequently, so go with something that stands up to a lot of washing. A stipple would be great, too!

I wouldn't cut it up, but leave as a panel. Add batting and backing. It is really cute. Could tie it or machine stitch.

I like Jan's idea of a learning quilt.

I'm with you

I agree with just adding borders-a striped fabric would make it look more complex. All of my cancer quilts are backed with fleece and quilted and they look fine-you don't even have to do a lot of quilting because you don't have any batting to shift!

I like the panel and would leave it whole. I'd add a small bright border and then another wider one of a cute print, meander quilt it, bindit, and be done. I think it will make a very cute quilt. If you use fleece, I don't think I'd add any batting. I like the variety and different sizes of everything, but understand that every one can't handle that! And that's okay, God made everyone different and special for which I am thankful.

Another idea; Use them in a I Spy quit...

I'd leave it as a panel and add fussy cuts of items that start with the letters around it with sashing inbetween. It definitely could be a learning tool.