My Ruffled Crib Quilt (quilts)

Yeah, yeah, I KNOW--  this posting has 
NOTHING to do with FOOD!!!!! 

HOW I make CRIB QUILTS...

I originally posted this information 
(some of it quite OLD, some newer) 
on my 'other blog' back in February of 2012, 
but,... since Megan/Cheryl were  
making one of these quilts this week 
(pictures at the bottom), and 
since I made one for granddaughter 
Heather and Kyle in October, I'm 
including the 'recipe' (LOL!!) 
here on my recipe blog, also!

X O X O X O X O

Lately, I had been 'missing' my old hobby of making 
generously-sized crib quilts-- not the kind of quilts 
where I'd have to buy fabric, cut it into little 
pieces and sew them back together, again!  
My kind of crib quilts are basically 
three pieces: Top, bottom, ruffle, 
and then batting/yarn.   The instructions 
for how I make them are at the bottom of this blog posting.

The John Deere quilt below was made for Grandson Samuel.

Ever since way back in the mid-70's, 
when I started making pleated-edged 
crib quilts like these, I have made over 
60 of them and gave almost all of 
them away. Back then, I started out 
buying fabric that was printed with 
juvenile designs and in soft pastels. 
THEN, when I found out how many 
YEARS  they were lasting (even 
with being loved, washed, hugged, washed, carried, 
washed, and "drag'd" around a WHOLE LOT!!!), 
I switched to buying fabric 
that was less 'age specific'.

Example:  The one on the left is MORE 'juvenile'; 

the one on the right, not as much.

Do I wish I had taken pictures of all 

the quilts I made?  Yes, I do!!!  

The one below was more or less a kind 
of 'classic' (timeless).  

It doesn't show up too well 
in the photo, but 

there is a most petite little print 

happening in the dark backing. 

 

This quilt, below, was given to 

Stela (our first great-granddaughter)...

I remember the one below was for Granddaughter 
Jennifer in 1990.  (It is still 'alive and well'!)  
On this one, I did an experiment that 
I never repeated, I put three ruffles 
around this one-- two of coordinating 
fabric and one of store-bought eyelet ruffle.

The quilt below was made in August of 1985 and given 

for the baby of Doug,  one of our farm's DVM's.

This next quilt was made pretty much like the 
pink one for granddaughter Jennifer-- except that
it has a DOUBLE ruffle and I

made it for my first grandson Mike 

in September of 1985...

Because these quilts need 1 and 1/2 yards for their 
top,  1 and 1/2 yard for the back, and 

1 and 1/2 yard for the ruffle, 

the actual cost, even back then, was close to 

$25 when adding the cost of the batting 

and yarn. These days, the 'quality' of 

fabric sold by a lot of stores (including Wal-Mart) 

may look really pretty when it's new but it 

no longer holds up like these did-- 

this means it's now probably BEST to 

shop for fabric where better fabric is sold 

(quilting stores?) because they sell a 

higher grade of fabric-- that would run the 

price up considerably, but, at least they 

would LAST like the oldies did.  Hopefully!

Some say these end up being a rather 'expensive' 

baby gift.  But, if you consider how long they last, 

they are NOT!  

The quilt below stayed here because 
I needed one for the crib that's here.  
This one shows the kind of 'ruffley/ruffle' 
made with the 'ruffler attachment' on my 
sewing machine.  While it's a quicker method, 
and also sort of pretty, the 'favorite' of all 
recipients, I learned, is still the pleated-edged version of 'ruffle'. 

There is quite a bit of 'work' involved in making these-

 but, ...I think it's a fun kind of work! 

Below:  Here is a little quilt in the theme that our first daughter 
really likes--  CUPCAKES!!  Three coordinating fabrics get it done...

HERE ARE THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOW I MAKE THESE:

See the footnotes at the bottom of these directions 
for steps #2 AND for #14-15, below...

Besides the following additional notes for Steps 2 and 14/15,  see 

some illustrations  below these footnotes...

Footnote for #2, above:  Cutting the strips the 

LONG way of the fabric, you will need 11 (ELEVEN) 

long  flat strips in order to make it all around 

the quilt after it's 'pleated'.  This means that 

with the usual 44/45" wide cloth, and taking into 

consideration that you will probably have to trim a

little salvage edging off of each side, you 

will need to cut each long strip in just 3 and 7/8" widths.  

IF YOU DON'T do this, you will have the 

'last strip' end up being too narrow.

Footnote for #14-15 above:  Since writing the above 

directions, my most FAVORITE way to add the batting is   

like this:  With pleated ruffle completely 

fastened around edge of the top piece, 

I lay both top and bottom together (perfectly matched), 

rights sides together.  SEW around all.  

Remember to LEAVE OPEN about 8" as 

a 'birthing hole'-- as a reminder, I usually put a 

pin in where I want to start and stop for that.

With the ruffled top piece and bottom piece now 

sewn together (except for the 8" I left open), and still 

inside out, lay on a table with the 'bottom 

side up'.  Get batting and spread it out evenly 

and straight over this piece (I almost always 

use TWO thicknesses of the 'bonded kind of 

polyester batting').  After I have the two thicknesses 

on the material laid out, I trim them to fit UP 

TO the edges where I sewed everything together.  

Taking strips of the narrow stitch witchery, lay them 

under the very outside edges of the batting-- 

one under the bottom layer, another strip 

between the two layers of batting.  Now, with 

a steam iron and press cloth, gently press 

just a very narrow strip around the edge of 

the blanket-- the batting will now be glued 

into place.  You don't want to steam more 

of the edge than absolutely necessary 

because it takes the FLUFF out of any batting 

you use the steam iron on!!!!   Once this step 

is done, the batting will stay in place and 

you will be able to carefully/slowly 

pull/turn everything 'back through what 

some quilters call the BIRTHING HOLE'!

Below:  ILLUSTRATIVE PHOTOS FOR SOME OF THE STEPS....

Step No. 1

Step No. 2 (The long way, cut into 3 and 7/8"wide strips)

 Steps No. 3 AND 4...

Step No. 5...

Step No. 7...

Step No. 9... 

Step No. 10...

Also part of Step No. 10...

Step No. 11...

More pictures below...

Below:  The three identically coordinated prints 

for the next two quilts were chosen by 

granddaughters Heather and Jennifer with 

their mother Paula in October of 2012.  

During Paula's visit here, I started making 

Heather's quilt.  Photo taken October 25, 2012...

Granddaughter Heather and her husband Kyle 

are expecting a SON in April of 2013!  His name
is................. KAVEN!!!!

P.S.  Below:  This quilt might look EXACTLY like the one above, and it is...

ALMOST!!   This quilt is tied with a pale yellow yarn on each 

monkey's tail-- that, instead of light brown colored yarn as above.  

This would make it look just a little bit....more "girly"?  Jenn and Isaac's 

little girl will be arriving before the end of this month (February 2015)

.........................

Below:  Two generations after me, this kind of crib 

quilt is still being made around here!  

These pictures taken on Jan. 5, 2013 are of Granddaughter

Megan making her crib quilt which, itself, from start to finish, 

'involved' THREE generations!--daughter, mother, grandmother (me).  

(Other than the different colors/print, it is 

like the other quilts shown in this post.)

After Megan and Steve chose/bought the fabric, 

Megan first cut the ELEVEN strips of fabric for the ruffle.  

Thanks, Cheryl, for doing so much of the 'assembling/sewing' 

(you did an expert job!) which allowed Megan to 

closely watch/learn how to do each step.   

'Attaching the batting' and the actual tying of 

the quilt was done here in our living room today.  

Below:  For this afternoon's almost-final step, we were able to 

use the four newly built support stands to hold 

the quilting 'sticks' in place.  (These 4 new support 

stands were made by my sister Nadine and her 

hubby Elden-- and, this is how they look.)

Above:  The vehicle parked outside the window belongs to 

Mr. Keith, a chimney cleaner.  He did a FANTASTIC 

'cleaning job' for us today!! 

OH!, and...much like granddaughter Megan, 

today's finished quilt is BEAUTIFUL! 

▼ 

P.S.  Two days after this quilt was finished and 

these pictures were taken, both Megan and Steve 

stopped in here after an appointment 

with the doctor--  she asked me to close my 

eyes and hold out my hand.  I did.  Opening 

my eyes, I saw a very beautiful little 

PINK rubber  ducky. THE BABY IS A GIRL!!!!!

(Her name is... Lucy!!!!)   

After the pink rubber ducky 'landed' in my 

hand, Megan dumped a few PINK M&M's 

into my hand.   Cute, cute, cute!!!!