DIY Baby Quilt – It Turned Out SO Cute!

Our nursery is so close to being finished, but I’m NOT going to give you the full tour just yet…

However, I WILL show you the super cute baby quilt that I made out of mostly scrap fabric {for a total of $8.00}!

So there’s the quilt — and I’m simply ecstatic with how well it turned out! 

I used white fabric from old sheets, curtains, and a shower curtains to get all the different patterns and textures {which you can see better in some of the photos below}.

And even though the quilt looks fantastic, let me reassure you that is was really very easy to make {I did it on a Friday afternoon}

 

DIY Quilt Tutorial:

I didn’t use a pattern and I didn’t really have any instructions to follow, but it’s honestly so straight-forward that I know anyone with basic sewing skills and a sewing machine could do this!

STEP #1: Cut Your Strips of Fabric.

I used 3 different white fabrics and cut a variety of 7″ and 4″ wide strips that were all about 28″ in length {which is the size if our crib mattress}. You could obviously make the quilt as big or as small as you want, but just make sure you know what you want your finished product to look like BEFORE you start cutting!

I alternated different sizes and textures just based on what I thought looked nice, so you can be your own designer and get as creative as you want!

 

STEP #2: Sew Strips Together:

You only need to know how to sew a relatively straight line!

You will also want to make sure that you plan for the “seam allowance” when you cut your strips. I cut mine at 7″ and 4″ wide so that after each side was sewn together it would be about 6″ and 3″.

Once all the strips were sewn together, I ironed the seams flat to make sure the top of the quilt laid nicely.

 

Because all the fabric is white, it was really hard for me to get a good picture of the fabric details; so I made this photo black and white which helps a little. You can see the different lace trim, raised polka dots and the ruffles {that seriously took me forever to make but are SO worth it!!}

 

STEP #3: Sew The Front, Back, and Batting Together.

I call this a baby “quilt”, but it technically involves no “quilting” — just several straight lines {see I told you it was easy!}

Although I got almost all the fabric for free, I did have to buy the batting for the inside of the quilt, but it’s only about $2 per yard and I didn’t even need a full yard! I used part of an old white flannel sheet for the back of the quilt to make it really soft and add a little extra warmth.

Once I had all 3 layers {front, batting, back} sandwiched together, I simply sewed a straight line right next to the seams for each fabric strip — so approximately every 3-6 inches {see dotted lines below}. Then I sewed around the edge of the entire quilt and trimmed off any extra fabric.

You don’t need to worry about finishing the edges or making them look nice because the blanket binding will cover all the rough edges. This is also really nice because it means you don’t need to sew the quilt inside out and then try to flip it and shove the batting in.

 

STEP #4: Sew the Blanket Binding Around the Edge. 

This is the most complicated step… but still not too bad. I purchased one package of white silky “blanket binding” which was about $6 and saved me a ton of time.

Blanket binding is the silk fabric that often goes around the edges of blankets {see photo below}. It comes in a bunch of different colors and it is already pre cut, pre folded, and it won’t fray so you can simply sew it right over the edge of the quilt to hide any imperfections or ugly edges!

The tricky part is figuring out how to get the corners just right, and I’m not exactly positive I did it “right” but I followed this video to “help me out” and I think it turned out OK!

 

The Finished Quilt:

Since I did this project completely without a pattern or any idea of how it would turn out, and I was a bit nervous. However, I figured that with an $8 investment, I wouldn’t be out too much if it didn’t turn out!

The quilt looks stunning in my Jenny Lind crib {which I’ll show you when I take you on the full nursery tour!} and I made it using my Grandma’s sewing machine so it will really be a special addition to our nursery and hopefully I’ll be able to use it for all our children.

What do you think?

Do you {or did you} have a special hand-made item that you or a close relative made specifically for your children?