I adapted the quilt from Pink Suede Shoe, which is awesome. Check it out!
To begin, I selected my fabrics. I love using patterns on a solid, but that's just my preference. We had toyed with using a polka dot fabric instead of the white, but then thought it might be too busy.
To make your own ruffle quilt, you will need:
- Ruffles: 5 pieces of 1/4 yard fabric.
- Quilt Top: 36" wide by 54" long, so 1.5 yards of fabric.
- Bias Binding: 1/2 yard, cut into 2.5" strips
- Backing: 1.5 yards
Ruffles:
- cut (2) 2.5" strips the length of the fabric.
- Sew the two strips together along the short seams to create one really long strip of fabric (approximately 80-88" long).
- Before sewing the long strips seam together (to create a long tube) go over to Pink Suede Shoe's tutorial to easily turn the tubes. {GENIUS!} It's about a quarter down the page, but using up very tiny amounts of ribbon, there is a way of turning the tubes so easily, that it's lifechanging! Turn the fabric rightside out.
- Arrange the tubes so the center seam runs down the center of the fabric. Iron.
- Using the center seam as a guide, put the longest stitch setting on your sewing machine (or use a ruffle foot if you have one) and sew down the length of the fabric.
- VERY carefully, create a ruffle pulling the bottom string on the ruffle. I found this was difficult to keep the string from breaking, so for some ruffles I actually sewed the seam where it broke in the opposite direction....and pulled that string. It was a pain, but seriously, the hardest part of this quilt is making the ruffles.
- Create 5 ruffles.
Assembling the Quilt:
- Trim your quilt top fabric to 36" wide by 54" long.
- Mark the center of the short side of the quilt (18") also mark where you would like your ruffles to begin. Using a fabric/invisible ink marker/chalk, mark a straight line where you would like the ruffles to begin. This will help to sew the ruffles on straight.
- Pin the center of the ruffle to the center line of the quilt top. Try to hide the seam on the ruffle. Pin the entire ruffle down. Leave about 1/2" of extra fabric hanging off the sides.
- Using a standard stitch (I think that's the 2.0 or 2.5 length on my machine) and sew the ruffle down.
- Use the same method to carefully line up the edges of your new ruffle with the one you've just sewn down. Sew all of the ruffles on.
- Carefully trim any lose threads from the ruffles. Trim the extra edges off the sides of the ruffles.
Quilt:
- Prepare your quilt for quilting, being sure to iron the backing fabric (gah, I did not do that well and had some extra tucks that I needed to repair after I was finished...)
- Assemble your "quilt sandwich." I usually do this by pinning the various layers to the rug. Lay the backing, good side down. Pin the edges. Layer the batting on top. Smooth out. Pin down the edges. Top with the quilt top. Smooth out. Pin down. Make sure everything is laying very flat, tight, and smooth. Using safety pins, pin every 4-5" throughtout the top of the quilt, making sure to pin all three layers.
- For this pattern, free motion quilt on tear drop shape, and then a second (larger or smaller depending) tear drop shape adjacent to the first. And then keep on going, careful not to sew over your safety pins. Try to have the loops come close to touching without actually overlapping.
Linked at Gingersnap Crafts, the NY Melrose Family, & Someday Crafts
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