How to Sew a Friendship Quilt

Making a friendship quilt is an easy but rewarding way to express your creativity while celebrating your friendships at the same time. You can make a quilt with friends or by yourself and give it to a friend. Stretch the project out by doing just a little bit each day or, if you're an experienced sewer, jump right in and make a quilt in just a few hours.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Fabric
• Scissors
• Needle
• Thread
• Cotton batting
• Safety pins

Instructions

1. Find a pattern you want to copy. If you don't have quilting books, find examples at the Free Quilt Patterns website or in "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Quilting." Choose a single pattern for all the quilt's blocks, since that is what makes a friendship quilt distinct from other quilts (regardless of whether friends share the quilting duties).

2. Decide how big you want the finished quilt to be and draw it on a piece of paper to a smaller scale using a ruler. Divide the picture into as many smaller blocks as you want to make. Then measure how big you need your individual strips of fabric to be inside each block.

3. Find the fabric you want to use. You'll need at least two distinct fabrics, so your pattern shows clearly, and you'll need an extra piece as big as the whole quilt, to serve as the backing.

4. Measure and cut your fabric into the sizes you need.

5. Sew together your strips into individual blocks. You can do this by hand or by machine. If you are making the quilt with friends, distribute the strips for everyone to take part in the sewing.

6. Connect your blocks together to make the quilt top. If you are making the quilt with friends, throw a quilting party for this step.

7. Insert cotton batting and sew the backing fabric underneath. Use safety pins to keep everything together while you are sewing. Clean up any loose threads and then step back to appreciate your artwork.

Tips & Warnings

• Individualize each block by embroidering messages, quotes, additional designs, or just sign your artwork.

Resources

• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Quilting
• Free quilt patterns
• Advanced instructions and patterns
• Tips and tricks for quilting