Thursday, February 9, 2012

Vintage Sheet Heart Shaped Baby Quilt Tutorial

In case you missed this over on Tammie's blog, here's a little valentine tutorial for you! She's hosting a week long "Sew Full of Love" week, with great guests and giveaways, including a gc to the Fat Quarter Shop!






Hi All! I'm Heather from quilt.cook.keep. I'm so excited that Tammie invited me to share this baby quilt tutorial with you. Tammie and I met almost two years ago via flickr, when I was hosting the Bee Vintage quilting bee. Since then, we've kept in touch via our blogs and flickr. 
5 things I love:


Holding "my" babies at South East Early Head Start (I volunteer twice a week)  you can read about it here and here

Dark Chocolate

Glee

Thrift store finds

Those final two minutes on the treadmill
Since Tammie and  I share a love of vintage sheets, I decided my "week of love" project should be made from them.


I made up this sweet little heart quilt for you. It's super simple, and can be make in an afternoon. Make one up for a little sweetheart in your life!






What you'll need:


In blue vintage sheet fabric** (5) 6" squares and (6) 5.5" squares (I used 3 different blues)
In yellow vintage sheet fabric** (5) 6" squares and (20) 5.5" squares (I used 7 different yellows)


For borders: (2) 3.5" x 30.5" and (2) 3.5" x 36.5" of blue VS (a different blue than above)


For binding: approximately 160" double fold binding (I cut my binding strips at 2.25") of blue VS (same as border)


Batting and Backing: pieces: 42" x 42"


**Want to play with vintage sheets, but don't have any, or not enough variety? I have kits available in my Etsy store! See below for a special offer for craftytammie followers!











All right, let's get started!


First we'll make half square triangles. We're making them a tad over sized, so we can trim to the correct size. This allows for a little wiggle room (meaning we don't have to be perfect!) Take your 5 blue and 5 yellow 6" squares and make pairs of one yellow, one blue. Put these right sides together. Using a ruler and sharp pencil (I like mechanical pencils for this) draw a line down the diagonal of the wrong side of one of the paired fabrics. This line will be your sewing guide. At your sewing machine, sew a 1/4" seam on both sides of the drawn line. Cut the squares apart, on the drawn line. Press open (press towards the blue, or your darkest fabric) and trim to 5.5". Do this for all 5 pairs. We just make half square triangles!








Next arrange your squares as above, or use the diagram below.
(my weak attempt at drawing in photoshop!)






Now, we sew the blocks together to make the quilt top. I like to sew two columns together, then return those sewn pieces to my layout ~ mainly because I'm easily confused. Take the squares in column B and flip over to the squares in column A. Chain stitch these together, lay them back on your design space (wall, floor, where ever) and clip connecting threads. Then flip row D over to row C and sew. Repeat with F and E. Then sew the AB unit to the CD unit. Then sew ABCD unit to EF unit. You should now have 6 complete rows, numbered 1-6. You'll want to press the seams on your rows. If you like to press your seams open, go for it. Me, not so much. For ease of construction (to reduce bulk and get pretty matching corners) press the odd numbered rows in one direction, and the even numbered rows in the opposite direction. This will create lovely nested seams.


Sew the rows in similar fashion to the columns. Flip row1 over row 2, sew. Etc, etc. Press your seams again (your choice of direction!) and our top is almost finished!






Add the borders. Add the two shorter border to the sides. Press seams towards the outside. Then add the two side borders.


Almost done! Layer your quilt top, batting and backing. Baste. Quilt as desired. I did a simple cross hatch for the quilting. I used my longest ruler and an air dissolving type marker to mark the lines, then quilted on the drawn lines. Trim, bind and you have a precious little quilt, for a precious little "love" in your life. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via my blog.





So, about that special offer! I've wanted to open an Etsy store for ages, offering up Vintage Sheet yardage and quilt kits. Doing this tutorial for you was the incentive I needed. If you'd like to purchase a kit to make this quilt, please visit my Etsy store. As a special Thank You, all of craftytammie readers will receive free shipping on quilt kits. Just enter CraftyTammie for your discount at checkout.

Thanks for reading and hopefully checking out my shop! I'd also love it if you'd stop by my blog and say "hi" ~ you may see some other tutorials you like!

And a huge thanks to Tammie! She's put together a terrific week for us. Be sure to check out her giveaways and her other guest's blogs. Tammie, you're the best!

Here's wishing you lots of love this week and always!





24 comments:

Karen O said...

I have not sewn with vintage sheets yet. I look at some that I think 'fit' the definition at the thrift store, but then I am not sure.

Karen O said...

I am a follower!

Julie H said...

Very nice! I have quite the "collection" going of sheets. I've told myself I can't buy anymore until I use them!

Julie H said...

Following your blog

Julie H said...

Following the other blog :)

qltmom9 said...

Yes, I sew with vintage sheets. I would LOVE to make that quilt~ How ingenious! LOVE IT!

Lucy~

qltmom9 said...

Yes, I sew with vintage sheets. I would LOVE to make that quilt~ How ingenious! LOVE IT!

Lucy~

qltmom9 said...

I follow quilt.cook.keep.

Lee said...

i love vintage sheets and am loving the tutorial! thanks!

Lee said...

I follow craftytammie

Lee said...

I follow quilt.cook.keep thanks again!

Sherryl said...

I've never sewn with vintage sheets before, but I'd sure love to! Thanks for the giveaway opportunity. Fun!
- sunshdws at yahoo dot com

Sherryl said...

I'm a follower!!
- sunshdws at yahoo dot com

Anna said...

It's beautiful! I love that. Thanks for sharing the how-to with us.
Anna
http://lassothemoon.typepad.com

Donna said...

I have a few vintage sheets, but they are hard to find around here where I live. I'm saving what I have so that hopefully I'll have enought to do something like this one day.

Donna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Donna said...

I'm a follower of quilt.cook.keep now.

Steph Jacobson said...

I love vintage sheets. I have a stash but have yet to make anything with them. I'm not brave enough to cut them! Thanks for sharing your tutorial for this adorable quilt.

Steph Jacobson said...

I'm now following quilt.cook.keep.

Steph Jacobson said...

I'm now following craftytammie.

Heidi [Banks of Frog Creek] said...

I just found your blog, and this amazing Baby Quilt was the reason I found it (via Pinterest). I look forward to finally cutting up some vintage sheets to make a few of these... Thanks for the tutorial!

Unknown said...

Can you use sheets that aren't 100%
cotton? I have several kids sheets used when son's were small pretty sure they have some polyester in them. Just curious. Thanks Pam

ChevyMags said...

100% cotton i buy it!

Rose45 said...

This is FABULOUS! I just found you and I also use vintage sheets for sewing . How wonderful this is , can’t wait to make it ! Love that your recycling ♻️ It’s great !👍