A year ago, my sister gave me a bag of my oldest nieces baby clothes so that I could make a quilt out of them. They sat there for almost a year; not because I was procrastinating. But because, it took that much time for the inspiration to come to me and for the gumption to cut up these precious clothes that are loaded with sweet memories.
A few years ago, I made a quilt for my husband, his mom and sister with old shirts from their dad / husband respectively who had passed away. It was so hard to get started on this quilt as it represented so much more than a piece of fabric or a quilt. I had the same experience here.
I first picked a color theme and went to my favorite quilt shop…Fat Quarter Shop in Vista…to pick my base fabrics. Take a look at these sweet pale pinks and lavenders. I purposely chose very simple fabrics with minimal patterns and prints.
I want to take you through the steps of this quilt so that you can see how it goes together. First, you will want all of the clothes washed and ready for cutting. I sorted through the clothes first and picked out what I thought would work best for the quilt. I had many choices…
I then took a fabric stabilizer cut in squares slightly larger than I knew the fabric would be cut to the back of the fabric. I used a pellon iron on stabilizer.
I then fussy cut each piece of clothes so that the focal point of the clothing was in the center of the block. I used 6 ½” x 6 ½” blocks in general, but some were slightly different.
Once I had a pile of clothes cut out and ready to go, I started bordering them with varying fabrics cut in 2 ½” strips. Some of my strips varied depending upon how I thought they would look best.
I then laid out all the blocks onto my design wall and spent a few hours fussing over the layout. I didn’t want the blocks perfectly lined up so I spent some time adding fabric and cutting until it was just right.
Then, I pieced it all together. After that, I added a 3” border and then a 5” border. I chose really sweet young fabrics for the front so I thought I would do something a little more grown up for the back. I used a Heather Bailey brushed cotton for the back that is just beautiful and timeless with a strip of pale pink shock cotton.
You then create your quilt sandwich (I use the spray basting method you can see here) and got it ready to quilt. I did large meandering quilting over the top so that the focus still remained on the cute fussy cut clothes.
Block Detail
Here’s the finished product…by far one of my favorite quilts ever.
A cute little label.
Label on Back of Quilt
Some cute smocking…
Block Close Up … Cute Smocking
Animal print.
Block Detail
Block Detail
Front & Back
Miss January.
Block Detail
Brooklin…
Block Detail
Big Sister..
Block Detail
I sure hope that this quilt will be treasured for many years as I really enjoyed creating it.
If you are interested in having a memory baby quilt made for you or someone you love, please message me or visit my etsy listing for more details.
Oh, Wendy…this true work of love brought tears to my eyes. The memories in that quilt will last for generations. You are a loving woman, who is willing to share her talent! …it really touched my heart…a little extra bit maybe because my 1st granddaughter’s name is Brooklyn. <3
I’m super partial to it!
I think it means more to me than Brooklin right now but I know over time she will appreciate what she doesn’t understand now. Thank you so much for all of the memories you made tangible. I opened a book of pictures this morning and showed Brooklin pictures of each of those outfits on her as a baby. Love You!
so glad that you like it!
I’m in love over this quilt. I neeeeed to get a copy of this pattern from you. It’s so beautiful.
No pattern…but, I can tell you what I did….fussy cut, 2 1/2″ borders on each, arrange and cut as needed, 3″ border and 5″ border…I can draw it out if you want.
What a beautiful and meaningful gift that will be treasured forever! Bravo!
Thanks for stopping by Karen and your kind comments.
How much of thought and love have gone into this invaluable quilt. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for stopping by Rohini!
Oh, this is lovely! Sure to be treasured and loved. What a sweet gift.
Thanks Susie….thanks for stopping by.
Lovely…I just finished a memory quilt for the wife and daughter of a friend who was killed in an auto accident last year. I, too, found it difficult to get started, wanting to get the pattern, design, etc. just right with such precious fabrics. I hope to do memory quilts for my little girls and boy, so I’m tucking this post in my inspiration file. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your comment…it is a special responsibility to see something that is so precious to someone. I am sure that your quilt was beautiful and so appreciated. Thanks for stopping by.