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Sailboat Quilt made using Baby Clothes & Flannel
6 Attachment(s)
My cousin’s son “R” recently proposed to a sweet young lady “A” who has a little boy. He asked if he could pay me to make a quilt out of her little boy’s baby clothes as a Christmas surprise. He knows I’m a newbie, but was quite enthusiastic anyway. There was no way I would charge him for the quilt though: I used to take care of R when he was little, and on top of that, he is a U.S. Marine.
<O:p</O:pR wasn’t able to pinch the clothes and mail them to me until Thanksgiving. When I opened the box my heart went in my throat. I had forgotten that most baby clothes were knit fabrics … one of my sewing downfalls. <O:p</O:pWe laid all the clothes out on the bed and brainstormed how to make them into a quilt. Everyone in the family got in on the process. We realized that it had to be all about A’s memories and, accordingly, that each motif needed to be highlighted. Some of the ideas we came up with were kites, hot air balloons, and sailboats. We then learned that A works at a marina, which won the vote for the sailboat quilt. <O:p</O:pThe knit fabrics were sown onto a paper foundation pattern I made of a sailboat and paired with polka dot flannels. This solved the stretching problem all the way up until the paper had to come off for the quilting stage. I used a walking foot and quilted with SID, but still ran into troubles with stretching at this stage. Oh how I wish the Quilting Newsletter about the secrets of making T-shirt Quilts had come out before I made this quilt. But then again, if I had backed the knits with interfacing, the quilt wouldn’t have turned out as drapey and incredibly soft. The quilt is backed with a super cuddly Minky. It is far from perfect and I made mistakes, which there was no time to undo because the delivery date got moved forward a week and I barely finished it in time. I was beside myself over having to send out a quilt that I could have done better. <O:p</O:pThe response I got from R & A over this quilt was unbelievably terrific. They both wrote beautiful and heartfelt thank you letters. R thanked me repeatedly and told me it was exactly what their Christmas needed and A wrote to ask me if she can give me a big hug when we meet. Neither one of them seems to notice all the mistakes. <O:p</O:pR had something special he wanted to say on the labels. In English, it means “My Hope” & “My Love”. After much thought, I made his words into candy hearts. I found a website that will let you make virtual candy hearts and download the images for free! I printed them out on an EQ fabric sheet. Here is the website in case you’d like to have fun with it too:http://www.cryptogram.com/hearts/ I'll probably need to add the pictures gradually. The first is our little Pip, helping us inspect the baby clothes. The rest speak for themselves. |
What a great idea! That is so cute and I love that used a satin binding! That looks like it will be well loved.
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This is one of the best designs for baby clothes that I have seen!
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Oh, how perfect! Love the quilt ... and the story makes it even more special! I can see why R and A were so pleased with it. Your inspector did a good job!
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What an amazingly beautiful quilt!!
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What a great idea. That turned out lovely, and I know they will treasure it.
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This is an absolutely beautiful quilt!! I am going to save this for when I have grand-babies, as it is
the best use of baby clothing on a quilt I have ever seen. I love the way you thought it out, and decided on the sailboats. I can see why R and A were so impressed! What a beautiful way to welcome someone into the family!! |
This is such a creative use of old baby clothes!! I love it and I'll bet she did too!!!!
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Just beautiful, great job
Have a Blessed day Ellen |
Love it! Thanks so much for sharing the background story as well, it really makes it more special.
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adorable!!
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What a wonderful thing you did for them. The quilt is beautiful.
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That is absolutely the best example of why people make quilts.... I'm am wiping a tear as I type... Hugs to you.
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Such a fantastic idea and quilt. The quilt is adorable. I am sure it will be Loved to death.
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Originally Posted by thimblebug6000
(Post 4851215)
Love it! Thanks so much for sharing the background story as well, it really makes it more special.
Thimblebug, I could not write the full depth of the story, since it is not mine to share. R's thank you note really showed me how a quilt can be so much more than what it appears to be. One excerpt will show you what I mean: "Thank you a thousand times for your hard work, support and love that you put into making this Christmas a truly blessed and special one. The quilt is truly incredible and holds so much significance to all of us, as it symbolizes not only the love of a mother, but hope, faith and second chances." Beautifully written and so Heartwarming! |
That is such a beautiful quilt with so much love in it. It will be cherished for a long long time. I have always especially loved things with a story to them. I always love when I have something in my home that has a special story to it. Thank you for sharing some of the story and the beautiful quilt.:)
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I have to say you outdone yourself on this lovely memory quilt. I bet Moma wrapped herself in it the night she got it.
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You did a fantastic job, be proud of yourself. The quilt looks perfect to me. Congrats on a job well-done.
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This is absolutely darling...I think you did a fabulous job here. Way to go!!! she is going to LOVE it.
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Wonderful quilt. What a neat way to work in the baby's clothes.
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you did a fantastic!!! job on this quilt. i love the idea of using the clothes for the sails.
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Wonderful quilt. I had saved some of my son's clothes and blankies so that one doy Icould make a quilt out of them but have not done it yet but now it's on my list for 2012. Love it!!
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I like your boats, and the silky boarder, my kids always love that silky border.
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My kids all loved silky blanket binding too Sherian, which is why i made a try at using it on this quilt.
It was quite difficult for me to put it on right though. I learned a lot from my errors: Like I should have cut the batting and backing no more than 1 ½ inches past the edge of the quilt top. Once you add on the ¼ inch seam allowance along the edge of the top, it totals 1 ¾ inches, which just barely fits inside the 2” wide binding. That way the back and front of the binding lined up better, which was one of my major problems. I just used satin binding on another quilt the other day. Since pinning didn’t work so well on the sail boat quilt’s binding, this time I used a fabric glue stick to hold the binding in place while I sewed it on. Goodness that made such a difference in how well the front line of stitching caught the back of the binding! Thanks for all your enthusiasm everybody, it's making me feel better about the quilt! |
You should be proud of yourself, you did an amazing job on this quilt :thumbup:
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That is just so special, you have done very well and as you now know they love it. Congratulations.
No quilt should be judged ( by it's maker) from any closer than 6 ft. away. If mistakes can be see from this far away then they do need fixing. |
That is so sweet. I have a closet full of baby clothes and you have inspired me!
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I have to say..that is simply the most adorable and fantastic use of baby clothes I have ever seen..wow....I hope you make a story book to give the child about how is quilt was made..that is great!
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Beautiful job, idea and work !!!
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What a great story. Thank you so much for sharing it and the beautiful quilt photo. It is absolutely adorable.
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Thank you for sharing, love the quilt :)
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its really cute
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Love the quilt. Is there a source for the pattern?
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I love your quilt. What a great idea for a quilt. You are very creative to think this out and execute it. Great work.
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What a wonderful, creative, sweet quilt! And all of these words apply to you too. How wonderful, creative and sweet of you to make it. I'll have to tuck this away in my "inspiration" file.
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Very cute.
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It is a lovely quilt no wonder they were so happy!
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That is adoreable.
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Just lovely, the quilt and the story.
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That's fabulous!! I love the sailboats! They will cherish it forever!
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