How to Make a Quilt

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

I Did This Rate: (20 Ratings)

Making a quilt can be very fun. You can make a quilt at your leisure or speed up the process by using a sewing machine as opposed to quilting by hand. To make a quilt, you can use scraps of material from other sewing projects or purchase fabric in bulk. A block-style quilt using just two colors is the most basic quilt pattern.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

Quilting pattern
Sewing machine or needle and thread
Fabric
Batting material

Step1

Choose a quilting pattern. Search the Internet or fabric stores for a quilting pattern. While at the fabric store, select the fabric you will use for the quilt. Pick fabrics that will not shrink or fade.

Step2

Purchase your batting. Batting is the filler of the quilt. The thicker and loftier the batting, the warmer the quilt. You will also need to buy backing material for the underside of your quilt. Depending on the pattern, it is possible to use a sheet for the backing. Make sure the backing material is 3 to 4 inches bigger than your quilt size.

Step3

Cut out the blocks. Follow the instructions in the pattern to cut out the blocks for your quilt. Make sure to cut out the proper number of blocks in each color or type of fabric.

Step4

Sew blocks together to form strips. Use a 1/4-inch seam allowance. After you have the strips completed, sew the strips together to form the body of your quilt.

Step5

Lay the three layers of the quilt on top of each other. Place the backing material on the bottom. Follow with the top of the quilt (your sewn-together blocks) face down on top of the backing material. Put the batting material on top.

Step6

Sew together the layers. Using a sewing machine, sew around three sides of the quilt completely. On the fourth side, leave a 2-foot opening.

Step7

Flip the quilt and finish the edge by hand. You will need to turn the quilt inside out, which will actually bring the top to the outside and put the batting in the middle where it belongs. After you have flipped it so that the layers are in proper order, baste the opening by hand to close the seam.

Step8

Sew the layers together. This is the actual quilting process. Using a matching or contrasting thread, start from the middle of the quilt and work your way out. You can quilt by hand or just use your sewing machine to sew from one end to the other of the quilt in straight or curved lines. Your quilt is now finished.

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Comments

Diligent77 said

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on 1/5/2009 Good and informative. I am planning to make my first quilt soon (by hand). My grandmother did it, I remember it and plus I have a good idea for a quilt. At any rate, this article helps. 5*

sdrake6307 said

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on 12/20/2008 Thanks for the info...

z3mmn said

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on 3/18/2008 I am making a quilt. My son is 21 years old and still has his orginal Care Bear baby quilt, although you can hardly tell what the quilt is (was). Is is very well worn. I found some of the orginal Care Bear material. I am placing his orginal quilt in between two layers of batting and then using the care Bear material for both sides of the quilt. The material is very light weight and I'm wondering if maybe I should use a Fusible interfacing on the back for a little more stability?