Toot, Toot…

…as in toot-orial!! 

I promised a quick tutorial on how to make this fast and simple baby quilt!  Here she is…all ready to be quilted!!  It turned out dang cute too..if I do say so myself!!

 

You need:

*One  40”X 52” piece of white or cream coloured plain fabric for the background.

*a baby/kid’s print charm pack for the hexagons (or random scraps). I used a ‘Wee Play’ Charm Pack (love this fabric!!).

*remnants of coordinating fabric for the scrappy binding.

* cardboard hexagon templates (I used a 2 3/4” size)  You can use any size…the bigger the better! (This is the middle size hexagon on the GO! cutter…yes, it cuts cardboard!!).

* letters (which you can get by googling ‘fonts’…then download the letters that you like) or if you have another pattern with letters use that!

    

*Heat n Bond Lite or Steam a Seam lite.

Here are the DIRECTIONS~

1.  Hand stitch the hexagons…try not to stitch through the paper template.  Make enough to form a zigzag ribbon of hexagons plus extras to splash all around.  Spray with starch and iron so that they are flat and nicely creased.

Here’s the back…I just fold over and stitch, fold over and stitch..working my way around the hexagon.  Sue Daley has a great video on how to make hexagons!

2.  Make the zigzag of hexagons by hand stitching them together…see example.

Just do a wee whip stitch.  Don’t worry about doing too many stitches because this will get machine stitched down.  You want just enough to hold it together nicely!

This is what the back looks like finished.

3. Make a crease about 10” from the left side of the quilt.  This is where your zigzag ribbon of hexagons will go. 

Carefully remove the first hexagon paper template and  line it up on the crease line.  Remove the second hexagon paper template and pin in place…work down the rest of the hexagon zigzag, pinning in placing as you go.

Clip and slip it out…then pin into place.  Put a pin in each side of the hexagon.

4. Straight machine stitch around each hexagon.  (If your machine has the option of moving the needle to the left, then move it.  This will make it possible to sew really close to the edge of your hexagons…this was a tip passed onto me by Poppyprint a few years back and it WORKS!!

5.  Make a creased line about 10” up from the bottom of the quilt.  This is where the letters for the name will go. Please excuse the awful picture…this tooting is hard work!

6.  Reverse trace the letters onto the back of Steam a Seam Lite or Heat n Bond lite and iron onto the back of the fabric.  Cut out the letters. 

(Oops!  Forgot to take a picture!!  I could NEVER make it as a designer! :o)

7.  Line up the letters on the creased line making sure that they are straight and evenly spaced before ironing down.

But first take off the Heat n Bond Lite backing…:o))

Now iron into place…

 

Zigzag in place.

8.  Scatter the rest of the hexagons here and there…and stitch into place just like you did with the zigzag ribbon of hexagons.

And done!!

9.  Quilt as desired (don’t you HATE when designers say this!!)  I thought I would meander or loop-ti-loop all around. 

10.  Cut out the binding using scraps of coordinating fabric.  Sew on the Binding and you are done!!

So while I continue with steps 9 and 10, you can get cracking with step 1!!  Have fun…it’s an easy quilt to make! 

If you don’t know the baby’s name you can always print “It’s a Boy!/Girl!” or BABY.  Or you can get this far and then put the top away until after the baby is born and you learn the name. Then you can quickly sew it on and have the quilt finished in a couple of hours.  Everyone will be amazed!  :o))  Me?  I would probably forget where I put the unfinished quilt…!

I hope I get to meet little Arthur one day!  Funny how the name ARTHUR grew on me!!  I now love the name!!

Happy stitching!!~P