The Baby Shower Gift Dilemma - Create a Handmade Quilt

Have you been searching for just the right baby shower gift for your best friend, your sister, or maybe even a colleague from the office?  No matter where you have looked, the idea of finding another outfit that the new baby will outgrow in weeks, or another pile of odds-and –ends from diapers to rattles is just not what you had in mind for a useful and meaningful baby shower gift, then this article is for you.   Create a handmade baby crib quilt that will amaze the new mother-to-be and all of the guests at the baby shower.   

You don’t have to be an expert quilter to make a special handmade baby crib quilt.  First, you need to choose the perfect fabric for the baby crib quilt.  If you’re unsure of what design you might prefer, either take a trip to your local fabric store, or go on line to the one of the many retail dealers for their collections of ideas and baby crib quilt patterns.  If this is your first attempt at the art of quilting, it is best to keep your pattern simple. Choose colors that are appropriate for the baby's gender, unless you do not know that, than yellow or white is a safe choice.  Be sure you wash and lightly iron all fabrics before you start to cut.

                There are many sewing tips that quilting experts would pass on to a novice, who may just be starting out, possibly making their first quilt.  Here are some important quilting tips:  Sew seams carefully, so that you match each corner and every triangle tip is pointy.  You can save time and increase accuracy by chain sewing your pieces together.   Your piecing will improve if you take the time to press your quilt blocks as you make them.  Pressing is an extra step in the quilt making process , but one that will payoff  when your block fit together, nest, just like they should.  Make sure that you are sewing an accurate quarter inch seam allowance for your quilt blocks.   If this allowance is not precise, when it is time to sew the blocks together, they will not align properly.   Set your sewing machine to the standard seam allowance used for quilts, which is an exact quarter inch seam.  One way to improve a block that is either too large or too small is to use the freezer paper method and square up the block before sewing it together.   Gridded freezer paper makes the job easier, but the plain freezer paper will work to help make the block more even.             

At this point you are ready to either hand quilt or machine quilt your baby shower gift.  Place the backing fabric right side down on the floor or large clean area. Put the batting down next. Place the pieced quilt on top of the batting right side up. Pin the fabrics and batting together starting from the center and working out.  I recommend that you stretch all three layers before pinning. Using an old table and some large butterfly clamps, stretch your blanket securely in place to the table before you pin the layers together. Also there are curved quilting pins available at the quilt shops that will make the pinning task easier to complete, due to the shape of the pin. They are rounded at the bottom and perfect for the task.    

You can either hand quilt or machine quilt your baby shower gift. Following the perimeter of the shape or you can choose to use a quilter’s pencil and template and draw a design and quilt the design.    Either way, you will be stitching through all three layers, which not only fasten the layers together, but create a design, as you quilt.

Your baby shower gift will be complete when the edges are finished and the binding is sewn in place. Of the two types of bindings, crosswise grain and bias,  the former is a good choice because there is less risk that a split would damage the entire side of the quilt.  Crosswise strips also stretch well enough to curve when needed along the outer edge of the quilt.

Your search and dilemma is now over.  You have the perfect shower gift, a handmade baby crib quilt, which is the perfect baby shower gift for that new mother-to-be, created by you.

Take time to quilt.