copyright 2000, 2008 Beverly. A. Qualheim
Updated April 2008
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An essential part of every family's preparation storage is an ample supply of warm blankets to keep everyone warm if the heat goes out. If you need to get rid of old clothes, old partially worn blankets, or perhaps you have extra material laying around if you are a seamstress, you have the beginnings of a warm blanket.
I have made good
quilts from
yard sale material I bought for almost nothing, or found in the free
box.
When my eldest son was a young teenager he wanted a quilt made from
blue
jeans. That summer we went to numerous yard sales and bought
either
large blue jeans for 25 - 50 cents each, plus we found many pairs in
the
free boxes because they had holes in the knees or some other
flaw.
As long as there was enough material in the jeans for us to cut out 5"
or 6" squares, usually down the back or front thigh of the leg, I
didn't
care if they had another flaw of some kind, we just worked around
that.
For easier sewing, use only material that is not part of the
double-seam
on the side. I'm pretty sure most needles would break sewing over
those!
Also, I used a sturdier needle (number 14 for medium-thicker weights)
to
sew the quilt.
We saved all summer and
then
started cutting out the squares. My son helped with this
too.
His quilt is one he had to take to college and he loves it! It
even
has a few pocket squares on it and one decorated with a heart to remind
him his family loves him.
My eldest daughter
also made a jeans quilt for one of her Personal Progress
projects! Turned out darling.
Let's get started!
Materials
needed for a blanket for home use
For LDS Humanitarian please follow their guidelines
listed here
Several yards of
material, various
colors,
and scraps work fine
(You
can also use 2 large pieces of material or store bought flat sheets
work well.)
Batting, or a gently used
blanket will work for batting
Possibly a sheet for the
back (be sure to wash it first so it's easier to stitch!), or
more material squares stitched together
Sewing machine that straight-stitches
yarn and sewing needle to tie it
together
1) Cut out as many 5" material squares
(or whatever size you decide on) as you can without going
bananas!
:-) This will form the TOP of your quilt. OR, you can use a
flat piece of material the size you need for the top of the quilt and
one for the bottom.
Actually, this activity can be stretched out for months! Involve your older kids. I made a cardboard template to cut around, also put several layers of material together to cut at once. Use a rotary cutter or scissors. I have recently switched to using a rotary cutter and I love it! So much faster than scissors.
2) Line the squares up according to how you want to sew them into a quilt. This does not have to be perfect or gorgeous looking, you are aiming for warmth, not a blue ribbon at the country fair! I often aim for a patterned square, and a plain square, alternating throughout. I also try to include a different pattern for each patterned square! You can make fun 'Where Waldo' type quilts by using 5" squares with animals, flowers, boats, cars, trees, people, etc. Then have the children search for each item!
3) Machine-stitch these together to form rows. Use a consistant 1/4" - 5/8" seam allowance. See diagram below:
(You could do this for
the bottom of the quilt too, but I prefer to use an old bed sheet, or
soft piece of flannel for
the bottom.)
When you have enough strips, the right length, then sew the strips together to form the quilt top. (see diagram left).
4) Now make a 'sandwich' in this
manner:
* Bottom of quilt
*
sheet of polyester batting
*
Top of quilt
Make sure the right
sides of the material, top and bottom, are facing out.
5) Pin the 3 layers together with
safety pins if you are going to sit on the floor to tie it, or place
quilt securing on a quilting frame to be tied.
Now you need to get
your yarn
and a fairly sharp yarn needle to tie the quilt.
6) Put your needle in at the
top, go through
all 3 layers (leaving a 4" tail of yarn sticking out of the top of the
quilt), go back up through the bottom and up to the top again and snip
off the yarn leaving another 4" tail of yarn. OR, you can simply 
7) Tie a
SQUARE KNOT (Right
over left and under, left over right and under) with the yarn you have stitched
through the 3
layers. Any other kind of tied knot will likely come undone in the
wash. With 5" squares, I tie in
EVERY square.
If your kids are
old enough to tie a knot, they
will LOVE doing this! Even older children will feel good
about
doing this. If you don't need these quilts in your home, they are
wonderful to make to help the homeless, or people in abuse shelters as
they can always use extra things like this to *give to people so they
have
something of 'their own' to take with them. Child and baby sized
ones are easy to make for starters.
