How to Make a Fleece Baby Quilt

A quilt is a wonderful gift for a new baby. Unlike clothes or toys, it will remain a treasured comfort item well past babyhood. Even after the child grows too big to use it as a nighttime covering, he can use it as a lap blanket while reading or watching television. Fleece is a suitable material for baby quilts--the baby will love its soft, warm texture, and Mom will appreciate its water resistance. When leaky diapers happen, they will not soak through the fleece to the bed or lap below.

Things You'll Need

• Assorted print fleece fabric
• Coordinating solid-color fleece fabric
• Self-healing cutting mat
• Quilting ruler
• Rotary cutter
• Camera (optional)
• Sewing machine
• Thread in a coordinating color
• Quilt batting (optional)
• Safety pins
• Straight pins
• Fleece quilt binding

Instructions

Choose Your Fabric

1. Choose a print fleece to be the centerpiece of the quilt.

2. Look closely at your centerpiece print. You will probably find that there are one or two main colors, and a few supporting colors. Choose three to five additional fleece prints or solids that match the supporting colors in the centerpiece.

3. Set fabric choices up together and verify that they all look good together. If one of the supporting fabrics is more dominant than the rest, consider replacing it or making that fabric the centerpiece and choosing new supporting fabrics.

4. Choose a solid-color fleece that coordinates or contrasts with the prints to be the back of the quilt. If you have chosen bright, bold prints, a neutral might be a good choice for the backing.

5. Prewash the fabric according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Lay Out the Quilt

1. Lay a self-healing cutting mat on a flat table. Spread one of your print fabrics over the mat and use a ruler and rotary cutter to cut 13-inch-by-13-inch squares. Repeat this process with the rest of the prints.

2. Lay out the squares on a clean table or floor area. You should have five rows of three squares or six rows of four squares for a crib-sized quilt. Rearrange the squares until you have a composition you like.

3. When you are satisfied with the layout, take a photograph or make a chart documenting the layout. You will need to refer back to this when you are sewing the squares together.

Sew the Quilt

1. Use a sewing machine to sew the squares together. This is the quilt top. First, sew each row of squares together, then sew the rows together. Leave a 1/2-inch seam allowance. Trim the seam allowances to 1/4 inch.

2. Lay out the solid fleece backing, right-side down. If you want to pad the quilt, lay out a layer of quilt batting on top of the backing fabric. Lay the quilt top over the backing and batting, right-side up. Straighten the layers so they line up neatly.

3. Use safety pins in the center of each square to secure the layers together so they do not shift during the quilting process.

4. Sew along the seams between each square, making sure you go through all the layers. As you sew, remove the safety pins.

5. Pin fleece quilt binding around the edges of the quilt, squaring the corners. Sew along the edges of the binding, being careful to catch both the top and bottom edges of the binding in the stitching. Remove the pins.

Tips & Warnings

• This is a very simple quilt design. Feel free to experiment with other quilt patterns.

• Double-check that you have removed all of the pins before giving the quilt to the baby.

References

• Utah State University: Fleece Facts
• "The Joy of Quilting;" Joan Hansen and Mary Hickey; 1995