Herringbone Baby Quilt {Tutorial}

If you're not up for making your own quilt, I sell baby quilts in my etsy store. 

Feel free to email me with questions about the tutorial or buying a quilt.

Yay! I am so excited to share this tutorial! Quilt posted here. This definitely takes a lot of time and work, but it's so worth it! This tutorial is for a 45" x 45" baby quilt. Click on the link below to see the full tutorial!

Materials and Supplies: (all fabric, batting and bias tape must be 100% cotton)

1 1/3 yards white cotton fabric

1 1/3 yards gray cotton fabric

1 1/4 yard of backing fabric

1/2 yard coordinating fabric for the binding

       or 2 packages of pre-made double fold bias tape

white thread

1 package of crib size batting- 45"x 45" or bigger

20 safety pins

rotary cutter and mat

walking foot (a special type of sewing machine presser foot)

These last two items are very important for making a quilt. The walking foot is specific to each brand and model of machine so you will need to order one online or go to a specialty sewing store of your sewing machine brand. The walking foot has feed dogs on the bottom so it helps your sewing machine push all the layers of the quilt along.

Making the blocks: 

First use your rotary cutter to cut 50 squares of each color- gray and white- that measure 5¾" x 5¾". To create the blocks, lay a gray square on top of a white square and line up the edges. Use your ruler and a pencil to draw a line from corner to corner.

Sewing a line down each side of the pencil marking, 1/4" seam allowance.

Cut the squares in half on the pencil line. 

When you open up the triangles you will have two squares that look like this. Iron the seam open

Square the block so it is 5"x 5".  Make sure you have a nice point in each corner. Repeat until you have 100 finished blocks.

Piecing the quilt:

Arrange all your blocks on the ground. 

I used a herringbone pattern but there are lots of variations you can make with these triangle quilt blocks. This is how you can arrange the blocks in a chevron pattern. 

When you have the blocks laid out how you like them, start sewing them in groups of two. Then sew each group of two together into a group of four, etc. Try to make sure that the points meet at every corner.

Quilting:

When you have the top all pieced together, you are ready to start quilting! 

Lay your backing fabric right side down on a hard surface, like a hardwood or tile floor. Tape down each corner and the middle of each side with masking tape. Don't stretch the fabric, but make sure it is taut with no wrinkles. 

Next lay your batting  down over the backing fabric. You don't need to tape it down because the texture of the batting sticks to the other fabrics.

Lay your quilt on top of your batting. Your backing fabric and batting should both be bigger than your quilt top. Make sure that the quilt top is centered and does not go over your batting or backing fabric. 

Safety pin all three layers of fabric together every 12" or so. Once you feel like the layers are held together securely, take the tape off the backing fabric. If you have a lot of extra batting you can cut some off but leave at least 3" around the edge of the quilt top.

Next remove your regular presser foot and attach the walking foot. The walking foot should come with directions on how to put it on. 

I chose to quilt along the zig-zags but you can quilt on the straight vertical lines as well. Start on a row in the middle and work your way to the ends. 

There are a couple ways you can quilt. I chose to quilt 1/4" away from each seam on both sides. You can also "stitch in the ditch" which is quilting right in the seam.

Remember to backstitch and sew slowly. When you are working in the middle it's helpful to roll up the end so it can fit through the arm of your machine. 

Several hours later when you are all done quilting, cut off all the extra fabric and batting around the edge of the quilt top. Do not cut any of the quilt top. 

Yay! The hardest part is over!

Binding:

My favorite binding technique is from a tutorial by iCandy Handmade. For this size quilt you need to cut five 3" strips from your 1/2 yard of binding fabric. Sew the strips together and finish the binding with the directions on the tutorial from iCandy Handmade!

After the binding is done, machine wash your quilt on cold and put it in the dryer. It will shrink a little bit and give you a nice puckered texture.

Enjoy your new quilt!