last december I had the chance to work on two memory quilts for a wonderful family and I completely forgot to blog about it. so, while it’s not exactly quilting season I thought I would still share. they wanted one quilt for their family and one for their little one’s grandmother, which is so sweet. can you see that peak of the hospital blanket up there? seeing those blankets always gets me choked up!
I had so much fun making these quilts. everything was labelled with exactly when it had been worn and so I felt like I really got an idea of this little persons world, which is always so helpful when I’m making one of these quilts! as if I am an honorary and part-time family member piecing together the story of a childhood.
{hello ducky!}
the best thing about the quilt I was making for grandma is that it was going to be given to her for Christmas along with a book of pictures of the wee one wearing these clothes! wouldn’t that just blow you away as a grandparent! so thoughtful.
I get lots of questions about these quilts and I know that a lot of people are eager to make them for their own. which is so wonderful! if you can quilt, you can make a memory quilt! my favorite tip is that I always put apply fusible lightweight interfacing to the back of each square or rectangle. it helps the pieces hold their shape and make the sewing easier. it adds a lot of time to the quilt making but it’s worth it…especially since once you get sewing you will be working with many different kinds of fabric, you need everything as stable as it can be! I hope that is helpful.
mjb says
I love the 3-d elements here. I made one t-shirt quilt without interfacing and it was fine, although I wonder sometimes how it’s held up (I didn’t quilt it much, either – just machine tacked with a square in the middle of each block), and I’ve heard other people complain about t-shirt quilts being too stiff to really cuddle with because of the interfacing in them. Do you use a knit fusible or just something lightweight enough that it’s still flexible?
ahappystitch says
Thank you meagan gracie! I use a lightweight fusible but most of my memory quilts are mixing knit t-shirts with corduroy and light cottons, etc. so it really runs the gamut and to piece all of that together successfully I need something to keep the knits stiff, you know.
kristin says
Can you show me a picture of this whole quilt. I really love the idea and want to see the whole thing. Thank you.
ahappystitch says
Hi Kristin! Unfortunately, I do not have a good picture of the whole quilt in this case. But, there are other examples if you click on ‘memory quilts’ at the top bar…should give you a better idea!
Jade ruddy says
Hello do you still make these x
Melissa Q. says
I’m sorry to say that I do not. Good luck!