Frayed Baby Quilt

One of the things I most look forward to during pregnancy is making a baby quilt for the new little one! Baby quilts are such fun! They are small quick projects that give me an opportunity to use soft cuddly fabrics.

I just completed the quilt for our expected spring baby and am thrilled with the result. I used a pattern from the book Frayed-Edge Fun which I borrowed from my sis-in-law. This pattern has been making it's rounds at our church and I think I'm the fifth lady to use it! I had the advantage of gaining tips from the others' experience. I found the directions in the book hard to follow at some points! Or maybe I'm just slow to figure things out. Since I believe the book is now out of print, I thought I would share how I made this quilt, just in case you have a baby quilt in your future! It is not a difficult quilt, though a few times I did long for some simple squares instead of all those circles!

1. Choosing fabrics
Soft brushed cottons or cotton flannels work best for this quilt as the seams are frayed to result in a cuddly quilt. You can choose two fabrics, one for the top and one for the bottom, or as many as six different fabrics, three for the top and three for the bottom. The bottom fabrics will show on the top of the quilt. I had trouble finding matching flannels and chose to use only four different fabrics. If you want to make assembly easier on yourself, choose fabrics that are NOT directional. Somehow, all my fabrics ended up having a direction to them (plaids, stripes, etc) which certainly complicated matters but neither were they impossible to work with. However many fabrics you choose, if you have a combined total of about eight yards, you should have plenty. Unless you want to extend this quilt to a larger size.

2. Cutting
Make a 7 inch circle to use as a pattern. I layered my top and bottom fabrics together, wrong sides together, marked and cut the two fabrics at the same time. Cut 25 circles for the center, 24 circles for the inner border, and 28 circles for the outer border.

3. Sewing Circles
Holding your front and back circles together, stitch a 3/8 seam completely around the edges.

4. Marking
Make a 4 1/4 inch square to use as a pattern. Trace the pattern in the center of your circles. The points of the square should just touch the stitching in step three. This line will be your stitching line to sew the circles together into strips. I only marked every other circle.
5. Sewing Rows
Sew the circles together along the marked line.
6. Sewing Flaps
Fold the "flaps" of the circles over the circle. Stitch the flaps down following the stitching line you created when sewing the circles together in step 3. It is much easier to sew the first flaps down one row at a time, before sewing the rows together.

7. Sewing Rows
Sew the rows together following the straight line you traced in step 4. I stitched through the seam allowances and folded flaps. It won't be noticed in the finished quilt.

8. Final Flap Stitching
Smooth the flaps down and beginning at one end, stitch the flaps down following a figure eight pattern down the row. Do the same to the opposite side. I left the outer edges open to create a scallop.
9. Clipping
Clip all seam allowances about every 1/4 inch being careful not to clip through the seam itself.
I like how sewing down the flaps results in a nice quilted pattern on the back of the quilt.

10. Washing and Drying
Almost done! Place the quilt in the washer and dryer to fluff up the seams allowances! The result: a super cuddly quilt for a new baby!