The Martha Stewart Show

Simple Baby Quilt

The Martha Stewart Show

Martha shows you how to make an adorable baby quilt, a Handmade Holiday gift perfect for new moms.

Simple Baby Quilt

This charming baby quilt is an easy-to-make Handmade Holiday gift, perfect for new moms.

Tools and Materials
1 1/4 yards printed decorative quilt fabric
Rotary cutter and cutting mat
Quilt batting
1 1/4 yards woven flannel
Bent safety pins (sold with quilting supplies) or needle and thick thread
Masking tape
1 yard solid cotton fabric
Sewing pins
Sewing machine

Baby Quilt How-To
1. Cut a square from the decorative fabric, a little bigger than you intend for the finished quilt. We used the measurement of the width of the fabric and made a 44-by-44-inch square.

2. Place the square of fabric (the "quilt top") on top of a layer of quilt batting. Place fabric and batting on top of a piece of woven flannel. Make sure batting and flannel are a few inches bigger than decorative fabric.

3. Use safety pins to "baste" the quilt (hold layers in place temporarily). You can also baste the quilt by sewing long loose running stitches through the layers, spaced several inches apart.

4. Lay a piece of masking tape diagonally (corner to corner) across the top of the quilt. Line up the tape with the edge of the sewing machine presser foot, and use the tape as a guide to stitch across the quilt. We used stitch No. 52 on the Pfaff, which looks like a hand-quilted stitch.

Tip: To keep stitching secure, start sewing just off the top fabric (in the batting), and end just off the top fabric on the other end.

5. Remove masking tape, line it up against line just stitched, and stitch another line in the same way; repeat, moving from the center out to the corners.

6. When the quilt is completely machine-quilted, trim off extra batting and flannel around edges of top fabric, and trim the quilt to size, if necessary.

7. Cut 3 and 3/4-inch strips of solid fabric for the binding, and sew together end-to-end to make one long strip that is at least 5 yards long. Press the strip in half lengthwise.

8. Pin raw edges of strip to raw edges of quilt, all the way around on the back of the quilt (flannel side). Sew the binding to edge of quilt with a 1/2-inch seam allowance, mitering the corners.

9. Flip the binding over the raw edge of the quilt, and sew the folded edge to the front of the quilt with a decorative stitch. We used stitch No. 55 on the Pfaff, which is a faux blanket stitch.

Resources
Martha used "Entertaining Elephants" fabric by Alexander Henry Fabrics, available from Purl Patchwork; Quilter's Dream Select cotton batting; and a Pfaff Quilt Expression Sewing Machine. For more information on the sewing machine, visit marthastewart.com/sewing. All other materials are available at quilting or sewing supply stores. Special thanks to Daryle Earl for the beautiful quilts in this segment.

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The Martha Stewart Show

Simple Baby Quilt

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