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Hey it’s Vanessa for Crafty Gemini Creates. And in this video tutorial I’m going to
teach you how to make this really cute Baby Playmat quilt. It finishes about 30 inches
by 40 inches so it’s a good size to lay out for picnics as well because I like to
back my picnic quilts with denim fabric on the back. It’s a lot sturdier. It holds
up better, but you still end up with a lightweight quilt. So let’s get started. And start with
the blocks that we’re making. These are rail fence blocks. And they’re super simple
to make. We’re using a pre-cut fabric. This collection is called Melbourne by Benartex.
And they’re super easy to make so let’s get started with the blocks first. And then
we’ll get into the backing and how I’m finishing the quilt. Because this project,
you’ll be able to complete it yourself from beginning to end. So no longarmer needed.
You don’t have to play around with free motion quilting. We’re actually going to
use a hand tying technique that is really simple and gets the job done.
So let’s get started with the strips. Here I’m using the Melbourne collection in the
colorway called Ocean. It is really pretty. And for each strip set that we’re going
to create, to then cut our blocks from, we’re using five of the strips. These strips measure
2 ½ inches wide. And they come the length of the width of the fabric, the whole measurement.
And so we’re going to pick out five from the collection. Because you’re working with
a collection, you know that everything is going to match. You don’t have to worry
about matching colors, contrasting, anything like that. So we are going to do here is I
like to pick fabrics that kind of have some contrast within the collection themselves.
So this would be my light and then a dark next to it so it pops. Then I have another
light, right? So this fabric is a light next to this one and next to the other one. So
then I come with a dark again and then another light. So if you alternate them like that
I think it adds more visual interest because of the contrast in the colors. But we all
know the strips in the entire strip pack are going to match. So just pick out five. And
then you’re just going to sew them together along the width of the fabric. Ok, right here,
here, here so you end up with all five strips the entire width of the fabric.
After we have that, because I have a sample already made for you all here, you’re going
to end up with a strip set that looks like this. And this is the same collection. This
is Melbourne but the colorway is called Play. So it’s real pretty. And we have our five
strips here. Now if you used your scant quarter inch seam allowance this should measure 10
½ inches in the height with all the five strips here. So let me grab my big ruler.
So the next thing you have to do is cut out your squares. And to cut out the squares we
measure. We’re going to cut it so it’s a square. They’re all equal on all sides.
So if from here to here measures 10 ½ inches for me, I now need to cut from here to here
10 ½ inches so I end up with a perfect square. And I’m going to do that here with my big
12 ½ inch ruler. It makes it real easy. And my rotary cutter. And there you go. Now if
your strip set lines up correctly from one full strip set, the width of the fabric, you
should be able to cut our four blocks. And you’re going to repeat that three times.
So total you’re using 15 strips. Five for the first set. Then five more, and then five
more. And that’s all you need to make this size of a quilt, ok? After you cut out all
your blocks, then you can go back and you’re going to arrange them in whatever order you
want. If you have a design wall, it’s really helpful to kind of rearrange the blocks in
place then take a step back and look to see how the fabric lines like each print is going
with each other. If you need to switch a block, move it around. So a design wall is really
helpful for that. But otherwise again, you’re using the same collection so everything is
going to match. And then what I like to do is to line them up alternating. So we have
our strips going horizontally here. What I do is I have one with the strip set going
horizontal and then the one next to it, I’ll switch it so the strips are now going vertical.
And then I’ll alternate it again so the next one over is going horizontal. And that’s
how you get some more visual interest in the design of the quilt. And then you’re just
going to layer these up, right? Three across in four rows. And that’s how you end up
with your entire quilt top. It’s super simple to make.
Once you do all that, I’m going to show you on a smaller sample that I have created
here for you, just for the purposes of this video. We’ve gone ahead and sewn up four
blocks. And you can see that still alternate them, vertical, horizontal and this side going
horizontal and then vertical. So what I’ve done here is I’ve layered it up to make
my quilt sandwich to get ready for quilting, right? But we’re going to tie this quilt
actually. But the batting that I’m using is Quilter’s Dream 100% cotton in their
request weight. That’s their thinnest weight and if you look at this, it really is thin.
If you live in a hot climate like I do, I live in Florida. It gets really hot. We still
love quilts but we need them to be a lot more lightweight than somewhat traditional quilts.
This batting is amazing. It’s a dream to handstitch through. Machine quilting. I really
like it. Especially since we’re adding a denim fabric for the backing which is going
to be heavier than your regular quilting cottons. So this denim on the back that we’re using
is called Crossroads Denim. And this stuff is amazing. I use it for embroidering through
it. Hand quilting. It just is a dream to work with. And if you’re going to be making a
playmat like this or making it as a picnic quilt, it really works great because it will
hold up on grass, on sand. And it just is a stronger weight, right? So this Crossroads
Denim comes in about 18 different colors. So remember that there’s a link in the video
description box where you can click and you’ll see on the page all the supplies and materials
that I’m using in this tutorial. And that way you know where you can get it, alright?
So we’ve layered this up and the way I’ve done this is I’ve cut a piece of batting
just a little bit bigger than the quilt top. And then the backing a little bit bigger as
well. It doesn’t have to be a lot bigger because we’re going to be hand tying it.
We’re not sending it off to a longarmer so we don’t need more fabric waste on the
edges, ok. To baste this into place I like to use a spray basting product called KK2000.
It’s made by Sulky. And you’re just going to spray the layers. So first thing I do is
layer it out on top of the batting. Once I have it in position I will just pull back
half of it. Spray it with the basting spray. Lay down that half and smooth it out. And
then repeat the other side. It’s a lot easier doing it that way than trying to lift up the
entire thing and stick it down. So that’s a quick quilting tip there for you. Then go
ahead and baste the backing to the back side of the batting as well.
Now for hand tying it this is so easy. Anybody can finish a quilt like this, ok? The first
thing you want to do is grab an embroidery needle and some embroidery floss. You can
also use yarn. You can use pearl cotton, whatever you want. And I’m going to reach in here
to my needle book and grab a needle that I’ve threaded already. And actually this is another
tutorial that we have right here on the Crafty Gemini Creates channel. This is my little
needle book. So if you want to learn how to make this stay tuned until the end of the
video and we’ll link you right to this tutorial. Alright so let’s grab our needle. Here it
is all threaded. And I’m using this really pretty teal color. You can see that it’s
darker than something on the fabric and I think that’s going to help make the little
ties pop a little bit more so that will be fun. Now I’ve threaded an embroidery needle
with the floss but I tie no knots. So you can do a nice long tail on it, really nice
and long with no knots. So to get started, before we can decide how far apart we’re
going to do these ties, you want to make sure that you look at the packaging for the batting
for the manufacturer that you know whatever batting that you’re using. It will tell
you right on the packaging how far apart your quilting can be. And so you want to use that
as your guide. This particular batting says we can quilt up to eight inches apart. So
if you wanted to you can go with your ruler and measure and make some marks in there.
But I like to just decide, ok my blocks are ten inches and so we’re going to do two
along the middle, two at the intersection, two here. And you know that’s going to be
plenty.
Alright so to tie the quilt we’re going to get started with the floss, no knot on
it. I’m going to come in from the top part and go in. And I’m going to take a stitch.
I have about a quarter inch between where my needle went in and where it’s coming
out. And I’m just going to pull it through. And don’t pull it all the way through because
remember you don’t have a knot so it’s not going to hold for you. So pull it until
you have about a 2 ½ , three inches or so of thread there. And I’m using all six strands
of the embroidery floss here just so you know. I like a nice thick tie. And then we’re
going to come in again. Here’s my needle, I’m going to come right back in, right under
here where I initially went in. And then I’m going to come back out right under where I
initially came out. So you’re essentially just doing one round through all three layers.
And you are making sure to catch the batting and the backing of the fabric, ok? And when
you bring it over, you can see when I tighten it, it’s like a little tack in place. But
I have a tail here and a tail here. Now I’ll cut it. And these two tails you’re going
to tie a double knot. So just tie it once, and you can tighten it a little bit because
the fabric is still going to go ahead and relax a little bit. Just try not to cinch
it in too much so you get a little pucker in the quilt top. And you’re going to tie
a double knot like that. And then you can go back and trim this away. I like to leave
it at about an inch high just so you get like a cute little tie like that. So just to show
you one more time, I’m going to come over here in the green. Maybe the color will pop
a little bit more for you. We’re going to come in from the top, come out about a quarter
of an inch over, making sure you that went through all the layers. Leave a little tail.
Come in under where you initially went in. Come out where you initially went out. Pull
that little tack into place. Trim it and then tie your double knot. This is so easy and
a great way to finish this quilt. On a baby size quilt like that with three blocks by
four, it won’t take you more than 30 or 40 minutes to do the entire thing. And then
we trim it down to one inch. And that’s it. So you just continue to do that in a couple
different spots on each block and around your entire quilt. And let me show you how the
back of it looks on the denim. So you can see all the little tacks. It’s really cute.
It’s nice and finished. You don’t have anything that’s sticking out in the back.
And it still has a nice smooth finish.
Now for the binding I just ahead and used the same strips that we had. So out of one
of these rolls of fabrics of the 2 ½ inch strips, you can make two quilts this size
and you’ll still have strips leftover. For the binding, I needed four of the 2 ½ inch
strips. So I just pieced them together like you would your binding strips. And I like
to use to put on a scrappy binding. So you can see right here how this blue print goes
into this green one. It comes around. I have a different one here. So just use four strips.
Put them together and just bind your quilt like you normally would. A real simple project
that I hope you all will enjoy. And that you’ll give it a try. If you do remember to take
some pictures and post them to social media so we can check out what you’re making.
And if you enjoyed this video tutorial, go ahead and hit it with the thumbs up below.
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I’ll see you next time.