Monday, June 25, 2018

Three Quilts for Three Musketeers

The assignment was simple - Make a quilt from old baby clothes.
The tricky part - Not one, not two, but three quilts.


Getting the fabric ready for a t-shirt (or onesie) quilt is a slow, labored process.
The painful (for me) part of the whole process is cutting up perfectly nice and cute baby clothes.  It generates a lot of trash - seams, buttons, zippers and oddly shaped fabric slivers.

Aligning fabric pieces on SF101

The tedious part - interfacing each piece of salvaged fabric.  This is slow, because I cannot hurriedly iron over it. Holding the iron down in each section for 8-10 seconds is a must to ensure that the interfacing adheres to the fabric properly. This is followed by squaring each of the above interfaced pieces. And only then can I start to piece.

Design Wall for Layout

SF101 is a must. Design wall is a savior. And most importantly patience is a virtue.

But let's get to the fun part. The finished quilts. These are the three quilts for three siblings (or musketeers).
Quilt #1
Finished about 41" by 44"

Personality Plus

Fly away

Hop to it

Dude with 'tude

All cuteness

Wild one

Bold & Boyish

Polar Bear backing from Hawthorne Threads

Walking Foot Quilting

Quilt #2
Finished about 43" by 46"

Bird & Beautiful

Pink and Pinker

Aw...

Brightest Slippers ever

Rooting for the team

May the best team win

I love you too


Fluffy Plus

Sweetness

Cuteness

Brightness

Loveliness

Labelled

Walking Foot Quilting
Quilt #3
Finished about 41" by 42"

Snappy

So much fun

Puppies and Turtles

Adorable

And I am no wimp

Orange, Coral and Yellow - Love the colors

Monkeys make everything better

A baby elephant adds to the charm

Yay for the team!!!

Navy & Starry Backing

Walking Foot Quilting

Bound and Done


If you choose to make a t-shirt quilt or a quilt from onesies and baby clothes, these are a few important things
1. Use a walking foot even for piecing because the knit fabric + interfacing = bulk.
2. Press ALL seams open.
3. Use a wider binding. Instead of using 2.5" strips, I suggest using 2.75" strips. A little extra width helps capture those bulky seams with ease.

But quilts is not all I made from the baby clothes. I knew I would have fabric left over for three small pencil cases  - one for each musketeer.

Three Pencil cases for Three Musketeers

Ready for Stuff


Also I had plenty of fabric to make three pillow covers.  I chose to use binding to finish, instead of just stitching RST and turning it inside out. Yes, it takes more work but I wanted to do the very best for this mom of three.

Three Pillow covers

Pink Binding
I had a feeling that if the pillow covers did not have a pillow form inside, they may just be sitting in a closet and not get used.  To make sure that items could be used instantly, I bought pillow forms and inserted in each of the covers.  Besides fluffy pillows also look better in photoshoots :-D


Envelope Style

Soft and Ready to Cuddle
Is that all?  Well, almost.
Still some pieces were left and they were too precious to discard, since they already had the interfacing. So, I finished off with a few mug rugs.

Mug Rugs

And a very good morning to you!!!


I was paid handsomely for all my efforts. The best part, however, was the smile on mom's face.
Mission Accomplished.
I will be linking with all my favorite lanky parties.  As always, I'd love to hear from you.
Which one is your favorite quilt?




32 comments:

  1. that would be hard to salvage all the fabric I would think from the clothes but the turn out was great

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  2. What can I say? I am blown away by the fabulous quilts and your use of the leftover scraps as well. Thanks for the quiltmaking tips, too. Now I have some ideas on what I can do with the T-shirt quilt I am making.

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  3. Ummm three?! You are an animal! Like you I would have had a hard time cutting up the clothing! You did a fantastic job of making three unique and different quilts! I've never felt the need to make t-shirt or baby clothes quilts, but I'm glad there are people like you who aren't afraid to!

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  4. Oh my -- three, plus the other goodies! I would have had a difficult time cutting up clothes too! The outcome was amazing, though! So very, very nice!

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  5. Very talented lady you are !!! Awesome job

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  6. You did an outstanding job on all. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Hi Preeti,
    Each one is better than the next, and I can imagine the delight of the musketeers' mom. Do I have to pick a favorite??! I think it would be #1 with all those adorable boyish motifs and cute polar bears on the back. Plus all the extra goodies - delight for sure. Great tips for sewing a baby quilt from the leftover clothes. Happy Tuesday! ~smile~ Roseanne

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  8. Wow Preeti, you went above and beyond. These are great quilts and accessories. The family must be so appreciative.

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  9. I love how you used every scrap, right down to the mug rugs. The pencil cases are a brilliant idea. My daughter would like a quilt from her teenage t shirts, mostly black band t shirts. To be frank, I am afraid to take the scissors to them

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  10. Tedious and labor intensive indeed!! Beautifully handled though - good call on the pillow gorms, too.

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  11. Oh. My. Goodness! I am in total awe! You did an amazing job!

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  12. Wow, very impressive both technique and results. Hard to choose one from three, they all look so good. Great job.

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  13. Oh WOW I thought three quilts that are amazing and then pencil cases and pillows and even mug rugs you outdid yourself!!

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  14. These are adorable. And well done for all the extras you were able to make.

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  15. Can I just say those kids had adorable clothing? But, what you accomplished with them is just stunning. Every one of those quilts is so cute. And, all the extras!!!

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  16. These turned out so nice! I'll bet the mom was thrilled, and the extras are just the icing on the cake. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I'll go with #3 since it has such nice colors.

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  17. She obviously chose the right person for the job-you did awesome. I agree these types of quilts take a lot of time and effort, but it paid off for you and her:)

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  18. Truly fabulous! You nailed those quilts and bonus projects too. I love how you organized each quilt to be so special and inclusive of the raw materials. You make it look easy, but certainly it takes a good eye to do what you did!!

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  19. Three T-shirt quilts at once, plus pencil cases, pillows and mug rugs...you are amazing!! Like with kids, I can’t pick a favorite. Each one has its own personality, and together they are a wonderful family. The quilts have me wondering, though. Are these kids triplets? Did they each have their own clothing? Or were there shared outfits or hand-me-downs? I’m wondering because the color schemes are distinctive. Did you mix and match or did each kiddie get a quilt from their own set of clothing? Your tips are really helpful. My daughter has been asking for a T-shirt quilt for years. So far, I’ve managed to put her off. You are a better person than I.

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  20. These quilts are adorable! Yes, a ton of prep work and odd pieces to toss, but it's just like t-shirt quilt, though the shirts are smaller

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  21. Congratulations, all 3 quilts are gorgeous, my favourite is quilt #2. Thanks for sharing!

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  22. Such sweet little quilts. I love how you used everything up.

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  23. Those are adorable!! I love the colors and the schemes you used!!

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  24. Preeti, you outdid yourself with three beautiful quilts, each uniquely different. I am not going to pick a favorite because I love them all. I love how you used up all of the fabrics. I made a t-shirt quilt several years ago and I still have all of the scraps, I hate throwing them away. I may have to make something small like you did.

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  25. Wow Preeti, as my dad would have said, "You sure outdid yourself!" What beautiful makes! I don't have a favourite quilt, but I really like the pillows project. Terrific idea to make the pencil cases, and then well wow, four mug rugs, one for the papa I'd bet?!

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    Replies
    1. Ha! Great minds: JUST as I hit publish, I see Rose above me first four words!

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  26. Wow!!! They're each equally wonderful, as I'm sure the 3 musketeers are. Great job using up the end bits with pencil cases, etc., too!!

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  27. The quilts are as unique as the clothes and personalities of the recipients. There is not way we could pick favorites :)

    I am really impressed with all the work and the extras. And I think it is the first baby quilt that uses "all" the fabric. I have mostly seen baby and t-shirt quilts that use the main panel. Very informative. Congrats xo

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  28. How did you decide on such intricate looking designs? And the extras, wow!! You certainly appear to have been on a mission to use every last scrap. I am in awe of your enthusiasm for the project(s)!

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  29. Everything turned out beautiful! You really got a lot of projects and quilts out of them!

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  30. That's a lot of work! They turned out beautifully! So very, very fun.

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  31. 100+ that’s wonderful. I’m being tempted by food since I’m trying to my eating habits under control, but sewing takes my mind off it

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