December 16, 2011

Make a polka dot baby bunting quilt in an evening!


Today was officially my last day of work before Christmas, and I celebrated with three of the best things in life: cuddling a 6 month old baby with the bluest eyes, eating a curried tuna sandwich from Flour bakery, and spending some quality time with the lovely folks at Gather Here.

Baby cuddlin’ got me to thinking about a project I’ve been meaning to do for ages: making a cute-as baby bunting quilt which I saw somewhere (not sure where) and have been thinking about ever since. Turns out if you google “bunting baby quilt” you can also find a really cool tutorial: thank you, A Pretty Cool Life!. Yes, yes, regular readers, I know what you’re thinking. Don’t I have a ma-hoo-sive adult quilt to be getting on with? Why, yes I do. But we crafters need to alternate slow-burn major projects with instant gratification ones once in a while. And this baby quilt was done but in one evening! Lovely.

Make a baby bunting quilt in an evening!

Here’s how to do it:

1. Find ADORA-BUBBLE fabric. You know where you can get it. Polka dot quilting fabric, and polka dot fleece.


2. Cut lots of lovely little triangles out of the polka dot cotton. I accidentally cut WAY too many, but I wonder if it wasn’t my subconscious tricking me, for now I have extra polka dot bunting to put on other things! Ideas please!

3. Lay’em’out. Sew’em’on. Then make a fleecy sandwich: quilting layer, cotton batting, polka dot fleece.


4. Sew the sandwich together along the lines of the bunting, then attach (handmade!) binding tape and sew on without missing bits. Oh, ok, miss bits, and then do a bit of handsewing that no-one will ever notice. Ahem.

5. And here we are. The one-night-only baby blanket, all ready for an as-yet-unborn infant, due in March!

Highly satisfying, and I love the technique, because now I have any number of ideas for cool quilts I can make all the other babies who will no doubt be appearing over the next few years. Babies *and* sewing?! Swoon.

How to make an easy baby bunting applique quilt

Let me know what you think!