Baby Clothes Quilt for Jack

What is it with me and memory quilts? I love saying "yes" when friends ask me to make them, but I can't seem to get my act together to actually finish them for years. Yes, years. Shame on me!

 

 

Shannon sent me a box full of her son's baby clothes well over 2 years ago (probably closer to 3). I put them into my craft closet and you know what they say --- out of sight, out of mind. This quilt only took 8 or 10 hours to complete (once I finally got started).... it's getting started I can't seem to get very good at!

 

The clothes she sent ranged in size from newborn to about 24 months, so the sizes varied greatly.  She also included a few burp clothes (which were great for filling in "blank" spaces) and one itty bitty little bib.  There were t-shirts, sweatshirts, terrycloth, fleece and nylon items.  They all got a layer of fusible interfacing on the back (Pellon lightweight) before I cut them to size.  The size and layout of the quilt was dictated completely by the clothes!

 

Here are a few of my favorites:

 

This happy little crab was on the side of some nylon swim trunks.

 

 

I saved the Harley Davidson tag from the inside of a little fleece jacket and sewed it in the upper left corner of the gray block.  A cute little 3-D effect, I think.

 

 

The center part of this block was a tiny little bib, round at the bottom.  I had to improvise (with pieces from a matching onesie) to bring it up to a block size.

 

 

I really wanted to use the Calvin Klein logo from this shirt, but it was in an odd spot to cut out, so I just used the shirt with the buttons, pockets and all.  I sewed the main opening closed (down the middle), but it still looks functional.

 

 

Here's another little shirt I left in tact (right).  I was short by one block so I added a "J" (made from the Calvin Klein shirt, above) to a gray square cut from the back of another onesie.

 

 

This was from a tiny little swim shirt that went with the itty bitty swim trunks.  So adorable!

 

 

I was so excited to have this completed and (finally) in the mail that I didn't take any pictures of the back.  You're not missing much, though... I just used plain black fleece.  I stitched in the ditch on every seam between all the blocks.  I used cotton batting in the middle, because I don't think I could have gotten it through my machine (fleece + thicker batting + sweatshirts in some of the top blocks + interfacing) otherwise.  I sewed the entire thing (piecing and quilting) with my walking foot.  What a difference that made in the assembly!  On all the previous t-shirt quilts I've made, I just used a regular foot for piecing.  Never again --- the walking foot makes a night and day difference!

 

This little guy measures 54"x32" after washing.

~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs ~*~

 

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kat ~