Things You'll Need:
- Cotton fabric
- Batting
- Thread
- Embroidery floss or light yarn
- Seam binding or bias tape
- Sewing machine
- Iron
- T-shirt transfer paper
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Step 1
Visualize your finished piece. Do you want the top (display side) to be one piece of fabric or pieced-together patches? What pictures do you want to include? Download or scan the photos into the computer, then consider size. If you're putting Grandma in the middle, surrounded by her grandchildren, make sure all the "grands" are blown up or shrunk to the same size. If you're making a patchwork quilt for your camper and want to include old vacation photos, do you want them to all be the same size? Or, would varied sizes be more interesting?
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Step 2
Using your favorite photo program, size, edit and print out your photos onto T-shirt transfer paper. Carefully place the print-outs onto a light-colored fabric and iron according to the instructions on your transfer paper.
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Step 3
If you're piecing your blanket top, position contrasting photo patches next to each other and sew them together. If you've transferred your photos to one large piece of fabric, make sure your art is placed where you want it. If, for example, the images are not centered as well as you'd like, trim the fabric to correct the problem. The finished top is your template; trim your fabric backing and batting to the same size and carefully pin it together, with the "right" sides of fabric facing out, and batting in the middle. Pin around the edges and several places across the face of your blanket to hold the layers together.
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Step 4
If you're a quilter, quilt the layers together, by machine or hand, before binding the edges with your choice of trim. If you're not a quilter, pin and sew your binding around the edges. Use embroidery floss or light yarn to tack the layers in place every 12 inches, or so. Working from the top, push a needle carrying floss or yarn through the layers to the bottom, leaving a "tail" of 2 inches. Bring the needle back up through the layers about a 1/4 inch away, then tie a double knot close to the fabric. Snip so that both ends of floss or yarn above the knot are about 1-inch long.
