My mom was an amazing quilter and I have several she made that I cherish and display. I love quilts and can appreciate the tiny details and huge amounts of time that go into them. When I found several unfinished handmade vintage quilt tops at an estate sale for only a few dollars, I snatched them up faster than you can say Nancy Zieman.
You can do this project, too! If you search “unfinished quilt tops” on Ebay or Etsy there are a lot of options available.
The thing about quilts I don’t like is that they are lovely to look at, but not very cozy to use once they have been quilted. They are always too stiff. Plus do you have any idea how much it costs to have a quilt top professionally quilted? It’s about $100 for a twin size quilt! I decided to turn these vintage quilt tops into minky cuddle throws for my kids. They turned out perfect! They wash well, are SO soft, and only cost me around $25.
I didn’t inherit my mom’s extraordinary sewing skills, but I do know some basics. If you can sew in a straight line, you can do this.
I counted. This blanket has 2,379 hand stitched 1-inch fabric squares. Crazy!!! I would love to know how long it took to make.
First, lay the minky fur on the floor right side up, and the quilt top right side down so the rights sides are facing each other. Trim the minky so it is 1-2 inches bigger than the quilt and go crazy pinning it.
Next sew the edges leaving 8-10 inches open on one end for turning the blanket right side out. Cut the corners at a 45º angle so it will turn nicely. Turn it right side out (make sure you remove all the pins first!!!), then do one more once-around sewing about 1/4” from the edges to finish it. Done! I was happy enough with how this looks, but if you want to be fancy you can sew nice corners on it like this.
My not-so-glamorous way of working: whenever I want to sew something I pull my sewing machine out from storage, plop down on the floor near an outlet and hunch over. It does wonders for the back.
I am addicted to these blankets and want more, more, more!
