Building a Baby Clothes Quilt

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

15 Sep 2006 06:00 PM

Have you ever made a baby clothes quilt? I've got one in progress that I've been working on for several years. It started with my daughter's baby clothes. I kept out several of the better items that I remember her wearing with love and cut out a 6"x 6" squares from each of them. Over the years, I have taken out 6" x 6" squares from all kinds of her clothes that she's worn. I have about 30 separate squares at the moment.

Those 30 squares are sewn into 5 nine-patch blocks. While those 5 blocks are hardly enough to make a quilt, they are enough to make about half a quilt topper. It's taken about five years to collect that many squares. I imagine it will take another 5 to 6 years to collect enough squares to make another 5 blocks.

I'll need another 5 blocks beyond that to get a total of fifteen. 15 blocks at 15" x 15" will create a quilt topper that's roughly 45" x 75" is going to make a great quilt topper to send her off to college with. The back will be her favorite color at that time, I should imagine, with the border done in black. The border can be as wide as I'd like it to be, which means I could add another 2" to 4" to it.

How Do You Do This?

Simply put, clean the clothes that you are going to remove the 6" x 6" squares from. Take the square section from a flat portion of the clothing - often the back or from a pant leg is best. Keep the squares ironed and tucked away in a clean, dust free place. As you collect three squares, sew them together in a row using ½ inch seams. When you have 3 sets of 3 rows, sew the rows together, again using a ½ inch seam. Iron these blocks out as you complete them and keep them tucked away some where safe, dry and dust free.

This is a project that will take a great deal of time and love. I'm looking forward to finishing the quilt sometime around her 18th birthday and giving it to her for Christmas that year. It's not just a way to remember those early years, but to love every moment of them - and building this quilt is a tribute to that. I think it will be the best quilt I ever make.

Do you enjoy quilting?

Related Articles:

Ten Reasons Why I Love Doing Projects With My Daughter

A Family Craft Night

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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MarieMatthews (82) 15 Sep 2006 06:11 PM

I love this idea! I don't quilt but I've been saving special articles of my children's clothing for this very purpose. Now I just need to find someone who can make it for me.

Megan Bayliss (3586) 15 Sep 2006 07:14 PM

Lovely idea. I also use squares of the kids "now too small" beloved clothing to make mats or page backgrounds for scrapbook pages about them. Renee recently did a blog on personalised gifts and mentioned baby quilts made of baby photos, http://baby.families.com/blog/personalized-gifts-creating-lasting-memories.

alteregoeleanore (36159) 15 Sep 2006 09:39 PM

Aww, what a sweet idea! This is such a great thing to do--when I'm all done having my babies, I will have to do that, cos I HATE parting with such things--and a quilt just SCREAMS cuddles and love! :) Thanks for sharing this, Heather! -Eileen

mkimbal (5) 18 Aug 2007 02:19 PM

Hmmm, a baby clothes quilt eh? That’s a good idea. While my youngest child is still an infant (6 months old) her sister grew out of her designer baby clothes long, long ago! I’m not a seamstress but I may ask my mom for help with this. I’d hate to throw out her old clothes and this would be an excellent way to reuse and keep them!

I generally buy things like baby quilts from the Sandox Couture along with all my infant clothes, baby blankets and diaper bags but this time I think I will have a quilt made before I buy my next one from anyone! Thanks for the idea!