When you make your own quilt whether you sew the quilt pieces together by hand or by sewing machine, you are creating a work of art with the used of material and thread. There are various styles of quilts that can be made.
While you may see various color schemes or varied patterns of quilts, each quilt is unique. The quilts are unique because they are made by unique individuals with unique personalities.
Now you are asking why would I want to make a quilt when I can purchase a quilt that is already made? You want to make your own quilt because it will fit your own personality and home decor. You will also be creating a family heirloom.
Log Cabin Quilt
Strip quilts are the easiest to make. For instance, log cabin quilts are the easiest to make. The strips are varied in length and sewn together to form a block. The blocks for a log cabin quilt will consist of one 2 ½ inch square and several 1 ½ inch wide strips that are 7 inches long. The strips will be cut down to match the square as you sew the strips onto each other to form a square that is approximately 6 inch square.
Some quilt makers once they have all their log cabin blocks made will sew the blocks onto strips that are two to four inches wide. They will cut their length border strips in full strips and their width strips 6 ½ in length . The width strips are a ½ longer than the blocks due to the 1/4 inch seam allowance. You will want to also add a ½ inch to the length border strips for a seam allowance as well.
Once you have your blocks and border strips sewn together, you will want to cut out the outer border strips for your log cabin quilt. The outer border strips are normally four inches wide. The border for the length of your quilt will need to a half inch longer for the seam allowance. The outer border for the width of your quilt will need to be half an inch wider than the width of the quilt for the seam allowance. You will sew the outer borders onto your quilt top.
You will want fabric for the back of your quilt to be a half inch smaller all the way around than your quilt top. You will use part of the outer top border as the trim for the quilt. You will want to place batting, an old blanket or a sheet as the filler for your quilt.
You will lay the back of your quilt out on a large flat surface. You will then place the filler for the quilt on top of the backing material. Then place your finish quilt top on top of the filler and backing.
You will now want to use safety pins to pin the three layers together so that you are able to sew the top outer border to the back of your quilt. You will now want to turn the quilt over so that you can pin the outer edge to the back of the quilt. Once you have this done, the three layers should be all the same size. If they are close, approximately a quarter inch, you will be fine upon sewing the outer edges together.
Do not remove the safety pins once you have the trim sewn all the way around the quilt. You will now begin to quilt the three layers together.
There are two ways that you can do this.
The first way is to sew the three layers together with your sewing machine or by hand. You can do this by sewing around each of the log cabin quilt blocks. You can sew geometrically throughout the quilt. Basically, this part of the quilting process is up to you .
The second way is to use crochet thread that coordinates with the colors of the quilt. You will need a large needle that you can thread the crochet thread through. You will run the crochet thread through the quilt as if you were basting. The stitches will need to be at least three inches apart all the way across the quilt. There will need to be at least three to four inches in between the basting rows. Once you have the basting rows in your quilt, you will cut half way in between each of the stitches and tie them in a knot. Do not trim.
Remove the safety pins from the quilt. You are now finished with your log cabin quilt.
