Pinspired and Produced #14 {making a baby rag quilt}{50}

It has been a very long week since I last posted here on the blog.  In all honesty, I’ve missed you.  I’m not trying to be cute.  I’m not sure I’ve gone a whole week without posting since I started the blog. . .  and I’m surprised at how not writing has made me feel.  breida with a b. has come to have it’s own life -and being away from that life for a whole week made me feel a little bit like I forgot to feed one of my kids or something.  A little bit guilty.  A little bit. . .bad.  Sorry.

Lest you think that I was just off playing hooky in the time since we last spoke, you should know that I took a trip to visit my Aunt – I’ve talked about her here before.  There are a lot of projects that I see that require sewing -but I lack the skills needed to pull those projects off.  A while back, I told Jill, from Sew a Fine Seam, that I feel in my heart that I should be one who sews. . .  So I’m having a crack at it.  I went to visit my Aunt to get some lessons!   (I also went to visit her – just for her own sake – not just because she sews – and has free time – and is easily convinced to stay up very late with me in the sewing room even though her feet are killing her {because I am sitting in the only chair} and she would rather be in bed.)

So.  I thought long and hard about what projects I wanted to try and accomplish during my short time there.  We had all day Monday (minus time for visiting llamas) and unti 3:00 on Tuesday.  I did not want to be overly ambitious about the projects.  I wanted to set a realistic goal.  Some of you saw me posting to Facebook while I was there.  I let it out that there were three projects on the roster – but not what they were.  I’ll tell you now.

Project #1: Baby Rag Quilt    Project #2: Baby Wash Cloths   Project #3: Envelope Style Pillow Cover

Do you think we got all of them accomplished?  YES WE DID!!  The first two are inspired by projects that I saw on Pinterest.  I had a specific idea in mind and I needed help with the execution.  The third?  Well, making a pillow cover is just something I want to know how to do – a basic skill.  And all of these projects contain basic skills that I needed to learn.  We got all three projects done – but right now I’m going to share the Baby Rag Quilt.  That is this week’s Pinspired and Produced.

The original inspiration piece for my little baby quilt can be seen here.   There you can see the blog post from Do It Yourself Divas.  But if you look here, you can see a very funny and informative exchange that shows how MY quilt came about.  The comment section on this pin is funny (maybe only to me?) because it shows how I was at first excited, and then creatively lazy, and then discouraged, and then excited again.  When I read this post over here from Northern Cottage, I was sure that I could pull this off.  With a little help.

What do you think of my version of the Baby Rag Quilt?

baby rag quilt

i picked out these fabrics weeks ago. . .

baby rag quilt

i love these colors together. . .

The main difference between the other versions and mine is that mine is not flannel.  The “batting” or inner layer is a plain white flannel, but the front and back are woven cotton – like you would use for a quilt – go figure!

baby rag quilt

the fabric sandwich

I picked this project because it seemed very straight forward and I thought there wouldn’t be too much figuring. . . and actually there turned out to be quite a bit of figuring.  But it was nothing I couldn’t handle.  First I had to decide (based on how much material I had) what the overall size of the quilt would be.  I’m not going to give a step by step tutorial in this post but I will tell you that the overall size is 30″ X 36″.  Before I knew what hit me I was doing MATH.  How many different fabrics?  How many stripes of each fabric?  How wide to make each stripe?  How many different widths?  How to divide up the number of differing width stripes by the number of fabrics and come out to a total of 36″. . . plus seam allowances. . . minus the differential of the hypotenuse corresponding to the. . .  I’m only kidding – it wasn’t that hard.  But there was more math than I had expected.

baby rag quilt

some of the facts and figures. . .

I have discussed with you, many times, my love of a simple solution.  Short cuts?  Laziness?  I don’t think so.  My goal here was to learn some basic sewing skills and still come up with a beautiful finished product.  I don’t want to be a quilter.  I don’t have the patience or the. . .exactitude.  The “raggy” seams on this blankie are very forgiving to the novice.  All of the seams are sewn so they stick out – and if they’re a little wiggly?  It’s just not a big deal.  Once the quilt is assembled all of those sticking out seams need to be snipped into bits.  About a quarter to a third of an inch long.  I think my choice to forgo bound edge in favor of a “raggy” egde rankled my Aunt. . .just a little.  I think she really wanted to show me how to do the binding. . . but I wasn’t having it.  Maybe next time.  Maybe. . . .

baby rag quilt

the snipping was a little tedious. . .

After all of the seams are snipped and clipped – it goes into the wash – hot wash – hot dry.

baby rag quilt

baby rag quilt

so lovely and soft once it goes through the wash. . .

So far, I’ve washed and dried the quilt twice – and it’s still a little “sheddy”.  Not a lot.  Just a little.  It really has a nice feel to it.  It’s a great summer weight blanket and it’s a perfect size for putting baby down on the floor.  You remember?  When babies are so small that you can put them down and they can’t go anywhere?  Boy, that was a long time ago. . .  sigh. . .

I’m feeling a great sense of accomplishment on finishing this project.  I know it’s an easy one but it is also both useful and beautiful.  If you’ve been following for very long at all you will know that those two things are what make a project perfect for me.  Oh.  And getting to visit my Aunt made this one especially nice, too.  We had a great time up in the sewing room.

baby rag quilt

I’ll come back and tell you about the baby washcloths soon, as well.  Those are so simple – but I got some great practice at cutting, pinning, and getting the sewing machine to sew in a curve. . .  And washcloths are very useful.  And these washcloths are beautiful, too!

baby rag quilt

the back - all one color

baby rag quilt

the front - with all seams showing - all stripes. . .

One last pretty for you.

baby rag quilt

Well, are you on the fence about this one?  (Ha HA Ha!!)  I’m not.  I love it.  Maybe you think it’s too loud for a baby?  Maybe these are not your favorite colors?  Let me know what you think.  Drop me a line.

(what do you think, Jill?  am i making a good start?)

Do you sew?  Do you want to learn?  What kinds of projects are you working on?  Do you come from a sewing family?  I do.  Did you learn at your mother’s knee?

Tell me about it.

breida

Did you know I read and respond to each and every one of your comments.  I love hearing form you!  It makes my day!

LINKING UP TO:

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REDOUX INTERIORS

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Bella Nest

Freckled Laundry

 

 

 

 

 

 

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By Breida Category: Craft Tutorial, Kids, sewing Tags: , , , , ,