Easiest Cheater Cloth Baby Quilt
I love making baby quilts! Small and satisfying to sew and give as we welcome precious little ones to earth, they are a gift I always hope will be loved and used up and worn out to the very last frayed thread.
This adorable baby blanket is 100% cheater cloth. Can you believe it? It looks like carefully paper pieced hexagons, but each lovely design has been preprinted onto yardage ready to sew into quilts, pillows, bags, aprons and more.
When I received the Cheater Cloth and coordinating fabrics, I had ideas for a quilt with some kind of simple border treatment. However, as I looked at the Cheater Cloth, I completely fell in love with it and wanted it to be the star of this show.
Here is a digital rendition of the Cheater Cloth. I love all of the tiny pastel plaids and florals. The hexagon shapes are arranged to look like spring flowers on an off white backdrop. LOVE this!
To make this baby blanket, I cut a 42” x 48” rectangle of the Cheater Cloth and proceeded to make my quilt sandwich. Because you typically want the quilt back to be a few inches larger than the quilt top, and the quilt top was already the width of the fabric, I went ahead and added a 10” strip to the 42” wide length of the quilt back so it would extend out a bit further past the quilt top when I layered my quilt sandwich. I usually baste about every 6” or so, but that’s just a rough guess since I just eyeball it.
Next, I installed my free motion foot to my sewing machine, dropped the feed dogs, and started free motion quilting around the edges of the hexagons. Notice I was not super careful or precise at all. That’s just me — I know plenty of amazing quilters who would have a heart attack if they tried to let their quilt be this imperfect. That’s fine! I like to get things done, and for baby blankets, especially, I don’t worry about perfection.
My feelings about baby blankets is that I want the parents who receive them to clearly understand that these can be laundered a thousand times, dragged from crib to car to floor, and even puked on, then laundered again. I don’t want them to see these as a work of art to be kept on a shelf, but a gift to be snuggled and loved until it is totally worn out. This is why I keep my quilts for babies super simple.
Another look at the adorable hexagons. The tiny geometric print and lace stripes are so sweet, and I love the little berry print! You’ll notice that while I outlined the hexagon shapes, I had to just eyeball the lines that ran across the off white background. Easy peasy.
A side view gives you a glimpse of the bit of dimension these hexagons appear to have.
I seriously LOVE this quilt!
I have another project or two planned for the prints I didn’t use so stay tuned for more Adel in Spring cuteness. The Adel in Spring collection was designed by the talented Sandy Gervais of Pieces from My Heart and is coming to quilt shops and online retailers soon! Be sure to follow me on Instagram @bayhillstudio for more photos and fun project ideas!