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Baby quilt quick and easy free pattern
I know we usually have plenty of notice of a baby arriving and needing a baby quilt, but sometimes they come a little early and of course we don't know if a pink baby quilt or a blue one will be needed.
Recently I needed a blue baby quilt relatively quickly and I made this one. It really can be made in a day.
The finished size is about 33" square and I used 5 different fabrics from my stash. Fortunately I have plenty of blue fabric in my stash, as some of you have commented.
You will need about 1/2 yard of each of 4 fabrics and a yard of the one that you use for the backing.
From the butterfly fabric I cut nine squares 6.1/2" by 6.1/2". The easiest way to do this is to cut 2 strips 6.1/2" wide across the width of the fabric and then cut these strips into 6.1/2" squares.
From the flowered fabric cut 2 strips 4.1/2" wide across the width of the fabric.
I used 2 different blues to edge these squares, so I also cut 3 strips 1.1/2" wide of each of the two blues.
In the yellow fabric cut six 6.7/8" squares and cut down the diagonal to make 2 triangles from each square. These will form the edging to the baby quilt top.
Cut one 7.1/4" square and cut along both diagonals to make 4 triangles. These will form the corners.
With right sides together and using a 1/4" seam, sew a dark blue 1.1/2" strip to a flower strip along the length and sew a light blue strip to the other side of the strip.
Cut this strip into 4.1/2" lengths. You will need 12 of these. I prefer to fold the blue strips in and cut before pressing, but some people prefer to press the strip open first and then cut. Personal preference.
Your patchwork pieces should now measure 4.1/2" by 6.1/2". Sew a 6.1/2" blue strip to each side so that you have 6.1/2" squares. Press the seams flat.
Sew one of the smaller triangles to the top of a flower square and a larger triangle to each side. Check the photo carefully to make sure that you have the triangles the right way round. The longest edge of the triangle faces out but that still gives you a choice of 2 edges to sew!
This will be the top left corner of your patchwork baby quilt.
The next row consists of a butterfly square with a flower square each side and a triangle at each end. When sewing the rows together, it is best to pin at each seam so that you can ease the fabric to make sure that the patchwork squares line up with each other and that the seam allowances face in different directions to reduce bulk.
The 3rd row is made up of 5 squares (3 flower and 2 butterfly alternating) and a triangle at each end.
The 4th row is the halfway row. It is made up of 7 squares (4 flower and 3 butterfly) but the triangles at both ends are the small corner ones.
The 5th row is where you start reducing in size to go down the right hand side of the quilt top. It is made of 5 squares (3 flower and 2 butterfly) but the triangles are now facing in the other direction. Check the photo carefully to make sure that you have the triangle positioned correctly.
The 6th row is 3 squares and 2 triangles and the 7th row is 1 square and 2 triangles with a corner triangle sewn across the remaining edge of the square.
That's the patchwork quilt top complete for your baby quilt.
Layer the backing fabric, wadding (natural not synthetic as this is for a baby quilt) and the patchwork quilt top, quilt and bind. For full details of this click on baby quilt.
In the interests of speed, I just quilted around the squares (known as stitch in the ditch) to hold the layers together.
Naturally this quilt could be made in a variety of pinks for a baby quilt or in totally different colours to make a lap quilt.
