Constructing a Tied Quilt Blanket

I became a grandmother in July.  I made that beautiful grandbaby a 45" x 45" tied quilt. It's a little bigger than she may really need at this point because I was looking ahead.  Maybe when she's older, she'll use it to keep her lap warm when the weather gets chilly.  Maybe it will become a treasured keepsake that she shares with her own grandbaby some day.

A friend of my daughter's saw the baby blanket and wanted a blanket of her own.  Hers would be bigger, measuring 62" x 72".  In addition to the size, the only other directive was, "Make it PINK!"  Does she care about patterns?  Just Pink.  Go it.  Pink it is!

QUILTING

Quilting involves using a method, typically stitching, to join several fabric layers: a back, a front, and padding. The quilting stitches hold the layers together and keep the padding from slipping. Another method for joining the layers is pulling a piece of yarn through them, tying it in a knot, and placing those throughout the blanket. That is the method I used for this blanket. 

THE FABRIC

I would typically use remnants from previous projects or from no-longer-used clothing to piece a blanket together.  In this case, I had no pink so spent a morning happily digging through fabric at my local JoAnn's fabric store.  They also have remnants to select from and I usually start there.  You get to search through piles of bolts with all kinds of interesting patterns on them.  For this project, I used cotton fabric.

I created an 11" x 11" template from gridded plastic to mark my fabric, which I then cut into squares. Before using the fabric, I ran it through the washing machine and dryer.

ASSEMBLY

When all of the pieces are cut, I develop a design by laying out the pieces on the floor until I see something I like.  How do I know it's what I like?  There is no science here.  It is whatever configuration makes me say, "That's it!"

Before I pick up the pieces, I take a picture of the design and stack them in order by rows.  I write the row number on a piece of paper and insert that at the beginning of each row in the stack.

Now, I'm ready to begin sewing the pieces together. I use a half-inch seam allowance when sewing the squares and rows together. I first sew the pieces of each row together, then sew each row to the next. It's important to iron flat seams as you go. Ironing helps create a nice crisp seam on the right side (the side you see) and makes the whole blanket flat when finished.

THE BACKING

When the front of the blanket is complete, I measure the dimensions to prepare to cut my fabric for the backing piece. Even with careful measuring and sewing, I can end up with actual dimensions that are a little over or under what I designed. A quarter-inch difference has an impact.  

I don't have ample space to measure and cut large swaths of fabric, so I use my floor.  I use a straight edge (a yardstick) and a right-angle rule to measure and mark my fabric.  I measure and remeasure before I begin to cut.  The saying "measure twice, cut once" always applies.  I have no doubt a better method exists, but this is working for me until I discover that or develop a new one.

THE BATTING

When the back is assembled, the batting (or padding) is layered. For a large blanket, I will most likely need to use multiple pieces of batting. That's okay because the quilting will hold it all in place. When the layers are assembled, I use large safety pins to hold the pieces together while I tie the pieces of yarn.  

The final step is sewing on the binding.  That process will be saved for future posts.  

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