How to Make Sheet Quilts

Recycle old sheets and a blanket into a vintage quilt.

Quilts provide warm and comfortable addition to any bed. They also make a nice item to carry in your car for napping on long trips, cushioning fragile items or providing portable seating or table cover for an impromptu picnic. Using old sheets and a recycled blanket for the interior layer makes your quilt simple and inexpensive to make. Check your local secondhand shops for materials if you don’t have them lying around in your linen closet.

Things You'll Need

• Sheets
• Blanket
• Ruler
• Paper square pattern
• Pins
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Iron
• Quilt binding
• Tapestry needle
• Worsted thread

Instructions

1. Start your quilt by finding a blanket the correct size for the bed. You won’t see the blanket when the quilt is finished, so it may have a few stains or imperfections you can’t remove. Do not use an old electric blanket as the interior layer because you will sew over the blanket and this could damage your sewing machine.

2. Cut squares from old sheets, discarding areas that are stained or faded. Make enough squares to cover your blanket without a lot of overlap. For example, with a blanket that is 90 inches by 50 inches, use 7-inch squares -- six inches showing plus one inch that allows for a 1/2-inch seam allowance all the way around -- to create eight rows 15 blocks tall.

3. Machine stitch the squares together in rows, mixing and matching colors and patterns as you wish. Press open the seams when you finish each row and lay it on top of your blanket. When you have enough rows to cover your blanket, sew the rows together, maintaining your half-inch seam allowance. Press the seams open and lay finished quilt top face up on the blanket. Trim the blanket one inch shorter than the sheet, if necessary.

4. Lay a whole sheet face down on the quilt top and trim to the correct size. Pin the three layers together along three sides, leaving the side with the shorter blanket side unpinned. Pin the quilt layers together in rows about five to six inches apart so they don’t shift as you sew the edges together. Sew the three layers together with half-inch seams, leaving the unpinned side open.

5. Trim the blanket short in the seam and remove your pins. Turn the quilt right side out so the sheets are on the outside and the blanket is in between. Press smooth. Turn the edges of the sheets inside 1/2 inch and pin the three layers together so the opening is closed. Machine sew a zigzag stitch along the outside edge of the turned layers, catching all three of the layers with the threads. Replace the pins in six inch intervals on the outside of the quilt to keep your layers stable.

6. Use commercial quilt binding to frame around the quilt on all four sides. Machine stitch the binding on the quilt edges.

7. Quilt your layers together, machine or hand stitching in patterns. Or use worsted yarn and a large, sharp tapestry needle to sew one stitch through all three layers, leaving two inches of thread free on both sides of the stitch on the bottom side of the quilt. Tie the thread off in a tight, double square knot and trim the ends, leaving 1/4-inch of thread above the knot. Space your knots four inches apart throughout the quilt.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a cotton or wool blanket; fleece may melt when pressed.

• Use large safety pins to secure your layers so they don't come out or jab you.

References

• Craft Stylish: How to Make a Super-Simple Recycled Quilt; Diane Gilleland; Jan. 2009
• Cluck Cluck Sew: Vintage Sheet Quilt; July 2009