Swell Goods: Vintage Modern Craft Supplies & DIY tricks

What do you do when two excellent friends end up having babies within 4 days of each other? You figure out a super quick way to make a nice, gender neutral quilt that won’t make you pull your hair out. Picking out the fabric was the hardest part of this, so I doubled up and decided to make two of the same quilt to same time on cutting and piecing. Add a small scale (36 inches square) and store-bought binding, and this was FOR REAL finished within 2 hours.

Materials (for 1 quilt)

1 yard total of print fabrics (I  used three different prints, so 1/3 yard of each)
2 1/2 yards of 36″ wide muslin
36″ x 36″ batting square
4 yards of binding tape

Instructions

1. Prewash and iron your fabric.
2. Using a rotary cutter and mat, cut a 36″ square of muslin for the backing. Cut the remaining muslin into 3″ x 36″ strips.
3. Cut each of your print fabrics into 3″ x 36″ strips.
4. Start piecing the tops together using a 1/4″ seam allowance and alternating between muslin and print. Top and bottom strips should both be muslin.
5. Press your quilt seams on the back to one side with an iron.
6. Press the top of your quilt, and trim to 36″ x 36″.
7. Sandwich your quilt together: pieced top, batting, and muslin. I found it easiest to pin through all layers across the muslin strips, with 3 – 4 pins per strip.
8. Stitch in the ditch on all of the seams, erring on the muslin side with matching thread.
9. Attach the quilt binding using your preferred method. I am a fan of Heather Bailey’s guide.
10. Wash to achieve the vintage, wrinkly look. Press as desired. The above picture shows the quilt fresh out of the wash.