Reversible Infant Bubble Skirt Tutorial

I haven't done a tutorial in awhile and as you can see I've been on a sewing kick lately so here is a quick and easy little project.

I have been oogling adorable baby bubble skirts online lately so I thought I would give it a go.  The skirt is intended to fit about a 3 month old but I don't have a tester yet (I made the skirt based on measurements I found online - if someone out there will test the tutorial and leave a comment so I know the sizing is right I would appreciate it!).

The best part is that it is reversible!

Note:  Use a 3/8 inch seam unless otherwise noted.

Step 1:  Cut your fabric

- 13 to 14 inches of 3/8th wide elastic (this can easily be adjusted up or down to accommodate different ages / waist sizes - some things online said as small as 10 inches for a new born and up to 15 or 16 inches for a 6 month old)

- Cut a lining piece of fabric 24 inches wide by 7 inches tall (in the above picture the lining is the solid purple / pink fabric)

- Cut the skirt piece of fabric 41 inches wide (basically the entire width of a standard piece of cotton fabric with the edges cut off) by 9 inches tall (adjusting the 9 inches will make the skirt longer or shorter)

Step 2:  Prepare your lining

- Sew the short side of the lining right sides together to create a tube and press the seam open

- Iron one of raw edges down 1/2 inch

- Fold the same edge down again another 3/4 inch (this will create a casing that will hold the elastic later)

- Turn the tube right side out when you are done

Step 3:  Prepare the "bubble" or skirt fabric

- Sew the short side of the skirt fabric together to create a tube and press the seam open

- Gather the top and bottom of the tube using either a basting stitch or a zig zag stitch gathering method (make sure the stitching is close to the edge so that the gather stitches will be hidden later)

- Pull the gathers on both the top and bottom edges so that the tube is 11.5 inches across at each opening which is the same size as the lining tube (tie the gathering threads to hold the gathers in place at the desired width)

Step 4:  Attach the lining to the skirt

- Tuck the lining inside the skirt (right sides facing each other) and line up the raw edges (make sure the back seams line up)

- Pin (making sure the gathers are evenly distributed) and stitch around the entire tube

- Turn the tube right side out and top stitch around the edge on the lining fabric where the two fabrics meet

 

 Step 5:  Create the elastic casing

- Turn the skirt inside out and fold skirt in half (wrong sides are now together) so that the raw edge meets the iron fold of the lining piece (place the raw edge of the skirt tube right against the iron fold and fold the casing down over the raw edge) - you are basically tucking the raw edge under the elastic casing edge

- Make sure the line up the back seams

 

- Pin in place and repeat around the entire top of the skirt making sure the gathers are evenly distributed

 

 - This is what it will look like when the waist band (elastic casting) is pinned down over the raw gathered edge of the skirt fabric.

- Top stitch near the bottom edge of the waist band around the entire skirt (make sure to leave a 1 inch gap to thread the elastic through)

Step 6:  Thread the elastic

- Use a safety pin to thread the elastic through the waist band casing

- Zig Zag stitch the end of the elastic together to create a loop and pull all the elastic into the casing

- Top stitch closed the 1 inch gap

That's it!  You are now the proud owner of an infant bubble skirt!  Enjoy!

Feel free to leave comments if you have any questions!

Quilt Binding Tutorial

 
Here is the last part of my baby quilt tutorial.

Binding Techniques that I have used:
- A standard binding technique where you machine stitch the binding to the front of the quilt and then hand sew the binding to the back of the quilt using a blind stitch. This is probably my favorite technique as far as "looks" go but it is also the most time consuming and for a quilt that I machine quilted and that is going to be washed a lot it just seams easier to do a full machine binding. If you choose to use this method there are some good tutorials out there.
- A full machine binding technique where you machine stitch the binding to the back of the quilt and then fold it over and machine stitch the binding to the front of the quilt. Here is one link to a tutorial but if you Google it there are a bunch of different tutorials and you can choose the one that works the best for you.

Tips for Beginners (here are a few of my tips when using this method):
- There are a ton of tutorials out there for how to create binding. For a quilt this small you would need less than 1/2 a yard of fabric.
- I like to use 2.75 inch strips of fabric when I create my binding instead of 2.5 inch strips. The reason being that when you stitch the front of the binding down you can see the stitching on the back of the quilt and I prefer for all my stitching to be below the binding itself on the body of the quilt where the rest of the stitching is. I just think it looks nicer but that is personal preference.
- I always pin my binding to my quilt before I stitch it on because you don't want the seams of your binding to be at a corner or you will have a really hard time getting a nice mitered corner.
- I find the technique used for ending your binding (attaching the beginning and end raw edges together) very confusing. So I cheat when I do my binding by unfolding the end of the binding and cutting it at a 45 degree angle. I then iron under the raw edge across the 45 degree angle and fold the binding in half again. You can then fold this around the beginning edge of your binding to hide the raw edge (making sure it overlaps an inch or two) and you have a nice finished edge. Basically the beginning of your binding will end up sandwiched inside of the two sides of the end of your binding which you have cut at an angle to match the rest of the seams and decrease bulk.

- The third technique is the method that I used for this quilt where you wrap the quilt backing around the raw edges of your quilt to create the binding. The reason that I chose this technique is because it is faster and easier then the other two methods and I think it looks just as nice. It saves a lot of time because you don't have to cut / sewing the binding and you only have to stitch around the quilt once.

Supplies
- Rotary cutter / Cutting Mat / Clear Ruler / Scissors
- Iron / Ironing Board
- Disappearing Ink Pen / Chalk / Some way to mark your fabric
- Quick Easy Mitred Binding Tool (Optional) - I personally think a clear ruler can be used instead

Binding the Quilt

1) Trim the batting so that it is the same size as your quilt top making sure NOT to cut the backing fabric.

2) Trim the backing fabric so that it is twice as wide as you want your finished binding to be. For this quilt I trimmed the backing to be 1.5 inches wider than my quilt top which gave me a 0.75 inch finished binding. A standard quilt binding is about 1/2 inch thick but it is totally up to you what you want to do.



3) Fold the edge of the backing fabric to the edge of the quilt top (in half) and iron it. Repeat for all four sides.



4) Using the Quick Easy Mitred Binding Tool (or just a regular clear ruler) square up the corner of your quilt top and draw a diagonal line. Then draw two small lines where the diagonal line crosses your iron creases. Repeat for all corners.





5) Fold the corner so that the right sides of the fabric are together and place a pin through the intersecting points that you marked in step 4.



6) Stitch on your marked line from the folded edge of the fabric to the intersection marks (only half of the line should be stitched).





7) Cut off the corner of the triangle.



8) Turn the corner inside out using a tool if necessary. Fold under the raw edges of the fabric at the press lines. You should now have a perfectly mitred corner. Repeat steps 5 - 8 for all corners. Note: Don't worry about the marker lines they will wash out when you wash your quilt if you used disappearing marker.





9) Stitch around the edge of the quilt as close to the binding edge as possible without "falling off" the edge of the binding fabric (be sure to back stitch at the beginning and end of your stitches). For this step it would probably be wise to pin the binding down before you stitch but I hate pinning so I just went for it and it turned out fine.







10) Toss your quilt in the washer / dryer for the proper crinkling effect and you're done!


 

Machine Quilting Tutorial

 
Here it is, a very basic tutorial on how to free motion quilt the baby quilt we pieced in part 1 of this tutorial. This quilt could easily be quilted using straight lines / stitch in the ditch but because the top is so basic I think it lends itself well to a simple meander.

Supplies
- Backing Fabric: It depends on the size of your quilt and your binding technique. If you are using a traditional binding technique your backing just needs to be large enough to cover the entire back of your quilt after it has been quilted (I would say that an inch or so larger then the top on each side should cover that). If you are using the binding technique I used in this tutorial (wrapping the backing around the edges of the quilt) you will want the backing to be large enough that there is a 2+ inch border of backing fabric around your quilt top after it is quilted. If you are unsure and want to play it safe larger is always safer. For the baby quilt we made in part 1, about 1.5 yards of fabric should work.
- Batting: The batting should be approximately 1+ inches larger than your quilt top on all side (I use warm and natural cotton batting because I like my quilt to crinkle but feel free to use whatever you are comfortable with)
- Safety pins or Adhesive Quilt Spray
- Cotton Machine Quilting Thread
- A free motion foot for your sewing machine (here is what mine looks like)


Tip for Beginners: If your quilt is small enough you can use a single piece of fabric for the backing but for larger quilts you will have to piece a backing together.

Layering the Quilt Pieces

Tip for Beginners: When I first started quilting I was a bit intimidated to try adhesive quilt spray but let me just say that I am hooked and I wouldn't go back to using pins. The adhesive is especially nice for beginners because it will help prevent getting puckers in your quilt and it is faster then pinning. You can buy it at Hobby Lobby, Walmart, or Jo Anns and it costs about $10 for a can (which will do multiple quilts). If you prefer though you can use safety pins (there are some tutorials online that will show you how to pin your quilt together but it is essentially pinned the way the finished quilt would look backing right side down, batting, top right side up).

1) I like to lay down a canvas tarp before I spray my quilt to avoid getting the adhesive on my floor. Lay the tarp down and lay your batting on top of the tarp. Spray the batting with a light spray of the adhesive (it will basically feel about as sticky as a post it note). I have found that a light spray will do the trick and that it isn't necessary to use too much of the adhesive.



2) Lay your backing centered over the batting (wrong side down so that the wrong side sticks to the batting). Start smoothing your quilt from the middle out making sure that there are no puckers in the fabric. If you accidentally create a pucker since the adhesive works like a sticky note you can always pull up your backing fabric and shift / move it until it is smooth.

Tip for Beginners: I like to remove the tarp before I start smoothing the backing on so that I don't have to work around the wrinkles in the tarp. Doing that is more realistic for a small baby quilt then a large quilt.

Here is what your piece should look like when you have attached the backing to the batting and flipped the two pieces over for the next step.



3) Spray the other side of the batting with adhesive and center the top of your quilt wrong side down over the backing. Starting in the middle smooth the quilt top to the batting making sure that there aren't any puckers. Your quilt should now be sandwiched together and there should be an even border of batting/backing around your quilt top (it doesn't have to be perfect, just fairly centered). If you are using the binding method that I used for this quilt make sure that you have a 2+ inch border of backing around the top of your quilt. Now you are ready to quilt!



Free Motion Quilting

4) Set up your machine for free motion quilting, refer to your machine's manual. This will most likely mean attaching the correct foot and checking the tension / settings. You may also want to use a quilting needle - when I use warm and natural I use a 90 (I have found that if you use warm and natural batting a standard needle seems to also work just fine). Your tension may have to be adjusted based on the type of needle you use. One thing that I like to do before I start quilting a quilt is preload enough bobbins so that I don't have to stop and load bobbins in the middle of quilting. For a baby quilt it will take about 3 bobbins.

Tip for Beginners: Before you begin quilting your quilt I would make a few practice sandwiches of fabric / batting and practice practice practice. It takes awhile to become comfortable with the motion. One thing that I did was I printed out a simple meander example and I traced it with a pen. Then I took a blank piece of paper and I drew my own meander. This will allow you to get used to the meander pattern before you have to try doing it on your machine. The goal of a meander is to have flowing wavy random lines that don't overlap each other (although if you have a few cases where you make a loop I promise no one will notice it once the quilt is done). Below are two examples I found online.





5) To get started center your quilt or test swatch, top facing up, under the needle so that you will begin quilting in the middle of the quilt. I like to line up with a seam so that it is hard to see where I started. When I first started quilting I used to quilt from side to side before someone told me that it is better to start in the middle so that puckers can be pushed out to the edges. Now you want to "pull up" your bobbin thread to the top of the quilt. This will prevent you from getting messy bunches of bobbin thread on the back of your quilt. To do that put your sewing foot down where you want to start quilting. Lower your needle and raise it once and then lift your sewing foot.



Now give a gentle tug on the end of the top string and you will see a loop of bobbin thread appear.



Pull that loop until the end of the thread appears (you now have both your top thread and bobbin thread on top of your quilt).





Lower your sewing foot where the two threads come out of the fabric so that you can start sewing in that place.



Tip for Beginners: I know it sounds REALLY silly but I highly recommend getting quilting gloves. They are like gardening gloves and have little bumps on the bottom of them. It helps you move the fabric and keeps it from slipping under your fingers. Mine cost about $5.



6) You need to lock your stitches in place now so that the thread doesn't unravel, I do this by sewing in place for 3 - 4 stitches without moving the fabric. Now start quilting your quilt by moving your fabric under the needle using fluid motions. The speed at which you move your fabric will determine your stitch length. If you move the fabric too fast you will get stitches that are too long. If you move the fabric too slow you will get tiny stitches, try to keep your speed and stitches as consistent as possible. You will be quilting in a circular direction (basically quilting in a giant spiral from the center of your quilt until you reach the very edges of the top of your quilt). Here are a few tips I have while quilting:
- Let the sewing machine do it's job (as in don't tug on your fabric too hard or faster then your machine can sew or you may break needles).
- If you have a machine that requires a horizontal thread position make sure that the thread is not upright or again you may break needles because the thread can't feed through your machine fast enough.
- You want to be looking / thinking / planning where you intend to sew not checking out what you have already done. I find that when I am not focusing on where I am heading I end up with little sharp kinks or loops.
- When I quilt my "spiral" I quilt about 4 - 6 inch sections at a time but that is really personal preference.

Tip for Beginners: Once I have quilted a few inches I usually pause and snip off the tails of the strings so that I don't accidentally sew over them.

7) So the next hurdle you will cross is when you either run out of bobbin, break the thread, or decide that you want to unstitch part of your stitches because you created a loop. How do you get started again? What I do is snip the threads that are attached very close to the fabric. Then reload your bobbin if necessary. I then start about 2 inches back from where I left off quilting and that is where you will start again. Pull up your bobbin thread, lock your stitches in place, and then carefully sew over the last two inches that you already completed and then continue quilting. Sewing over those last few inches will ensure the thread doesn't unravel.

8) When you finally reach the end of your quilt lock your stitches. I used white thread for this quilt so it is really hard to see the stitching in the below picture, sorry about that.

Tip for Beginners: If you are worried that your quilt isn't as "crinkled" as you wanted don't worry, I promise that once you wash and dry it the quilt will be nice an wrinkled.



For those of you who try this tutorial let me know if you find it helpful or not so that I can correct parts that are confusing.

Phew! I didn't realize this portion of the tutorial was going to be so long! I guess I will leave binding for a part 3.
 

Baby Quilt Tutorial / Pattern

 
Tutorial Details
Part 1: Piecing the Quilt Top
Part 2: Free Motion Quilting
Part 3: Binding

I have been making a lot of baby quilts lately and I thought it would be fun to share a tutorial on how to make one. This is a VERY simple and quick quilt and it would be a great project for beginners (the benefit of using the tutorial rather then winging it is that all the math has already been figured out for you). So here we go…

Supplies
- Fabric 1: 1/2 yard (the pink floral in my quilt)
- Fabric 2: 1/2 yard (the blue floral in my quilt)
- Border Fabric: 1 yard (the grey fabric in my quilt)
- Cotton Machine Quilting Thread
- Rotary cutter / Cutting Mat / Clear Ruler
- Iron / Ironing Board

Tip for Beginners: In this case I pre-washed / ironed my fabric but I often make quilts where I don't pre-wash the fabric. Some quilters don't pre-wash the fabric so that when you wash the quilt for the first time it shrinks and you get more "wrinkling". I use Warm and Natural cotton batting for my quilts which wrinkles plenty even if you pre-wash your fabric. So it is really just personal preference.

Making the Top of the Quilt

1) Square / trim the cut edge of fabric 1 and cut two 5.5 inch strips. From one of the strips cut two 8.5 inch pieces off (making 5.5 x 8.5 inch rectangles), these two pieces will be used to create the bottom row of your quilt.

Tip for Beginners: Any time you are cutting fabric for a quilt you want to be sure to cut off the selvage edges (these are the "uncut" woven edges of the fabric that prevent fraying and occasionally have the brand / name of the fabric printed on them). One of the reasons you would cut these off is that they can break quilting needles.

2) Square / trim the cut edge of fabric 2 and cut two 5.5 inch strips. From one of the strips cut one 8.5 inch piece off (making a 5.5 x 8.5 inch rectangle), this piece will be used to create the bottom row of your quilt.

3) Square / trim the cut edge of your border fabric and cut six 3 inch strips and four 3.5 inch strips. The 3 inch strips will be used to create the grid in the quilt and the 3.5 inch strips will be the edge around the quilt.



4) Time to start piecing! Take one of the strips from fabric 1 and one of the 3 inch border strips. Put the pieces right sides together and sew down the long edge of the fabric using a 1/4 inch seam (assume a 1/4 inch seam unless otherwise stated). Repeat with the remaining one strip from fabric 1 and the two strips from fabric 2 (it is okay that the fabric 1 and 2 strips are shorter then the border strips, just sew to the end of the fabric 1 and 2 strips). Press the seams to the border fabric side on all four pieces.

Here is what your sewn strips should look like.



Tip for Beginners: Many sewing machine feet are actually designed for a 3/8 inch seam instead of a 1/4 inch seam which is okay, your quilt will just end up being slightly smaller if you use a 3/8 inch seam. Also when you sew a quilt you don't have to "reverse / back" stitch when you start and stop sewing. As you piece your quilt you will be sewing over all of your seams with another seam which will keep your stitches from unravelling.

5) Take the longer fabric 1 strip and cut it into four 8.5 inch pieces. Cut the shorter fabric 1 strip into two more 8.5 inch pieces. You should now have six fabric 1 rectangles with border pieces sewn to one side. Repeat with fabric 2.



Tip for Beginners: I like to fold my fabric strips in half so that when I cut my blocks I am cutting two at a time. Just be sure to line up your edges when you fold the fabric.

6) Now it is time to piece the three columns. Put a fabric 1 rectangle right sides together with a fabric 2 rectangle (make sure that the border fabric of the fabric 1 block is lined up against fabric 2 and that the border fabric of the fabric 2 block is lined up against fabric 1 so that when the block is finished it will alternate border, fabric 1, border, fabric 2). Stitch down the longer (the 8.5 inch) side of the block of fabric 1. Repeat one more time so you have a total of two blocks. For the remaining pieces (four times) follow the same steps only stitch down the side of the block with fabric 2 (these blocks will alternate border, fabric 2, border, fabric 1). Now you should have a total of six blocks.

The first block shows how the pieces should be stacked, but you would want to line up all the edges like the second block demonstrates.



Here is what the finished blocks should look like.



Tip for Beginners: When you stitch multiple pieces in a row it is much faster to "chain stitch" them rather then start and stop your thread between each block. To do this you start by sewing you first block, sew to about 1/2 inch from the end of the edge. Get your next block and line it up next to the first block as if the two pieces were one continuous piece of fabric.



Stitch off the edge of the first block and onto the second block.



Repeat the process until all of your blocks are sewn. You will now have a long "chain" of blocks. Clip the thread between each of the blocks.



I promise this tip is a real time saver.

7) Take the two blocks that alternate (border, fabric 1, border, fabric 2) and put them right sides together. Stitch down the 8.5 inch side of the block. Take two of the remaining blocks that alternate (border, fabric 2, border, fabric 1) and put them right side together. Stitch down the 8.5 inch side of the block. Repeat with the remaining two blocks. You should now be left with three "columns" of blocks.

8) Take one of the fabric 1 rectangles from step 2 and sew it to the bottom (border fabric) of one of the columns making sure the keep up the alternating fabric pattern. Repeat with the other fabric 1 rectangle and the fabric 2 rectangle from step 3. Press all your seams towards to the border fabric. Congrats your columns are done.



9) Take one of the remaining 3 inch border strips and put it right sides together with one of the end columns (one of the columns that starts with a fabric 1 block). Stitch down the long side of the column. Repeat with the column that starts with a fabric 2 block. Trim the edges of the border fabric off so that they are in line with the edge of the pieced columns.



10) Stitch the three columns together so that they alternate: column (starting with a fabric 1 block), border, column (starting with a fabric 2 block), border, column (starting with a fabric 1 block). Press the seams towards the border fabric.



11) Almost done piecing the top! Take one of the 3.5 strips and put it right side together along one of the longer sides of the quilt (one of the columns) and stitch. Repeat along the other long side of the quilt. Press seams towards the border fabric.

12) Take one of the 3.5 strips and put it right side together along one of the shorter side of the quilt (going across all three columns) and stitch. Repeat along the other short side of the quilt. Press seams towards the border fabric. Viola! The top is done.



Since this tutorial is starting to get really long I am going to stop here. I will do a second tutorial on how to actually quilt this puppy up. Happy sewing!