Covered in Stripes Doll Quilt TUTORIAL

Remember these beauties from a few days ago? Well, I put together a little tutorial in case you'd like to whip one up for the little gal (or doll-loving boy) in your life. Introducing the Covered in Stripes Doll Quilt!

This little quilt finishes at about 19" x 18".

First up, let's get our supplies together:
*(1) 5 strips measuring 2.25" x 8.75" from both fabrics A and B
*(2) 5 strips measuring 2.25" x 6" from both fabrics A and B
(3) 2 strips measuring 20" x 1.5" of white fabric (or whatever solid color you choose)
(4) One strip measuring 20" x 4.5" of fabric C
**(5) Backing fabric: one piece measuring 22" x 22" (I used more of fabric C, but you could use another fabric or more of fabric A or B.)
**(6) Batting: 22" x 22"
(7) Coordinating thread
(8) Basic sewing and quilting supplies

Some notes on measurements:
*The measurements for fabrics A and B listed above make use of fat eighths and other small pieces of fabric, but if you're working with pieces of fabric that are at least 15" wide, you can save yourself some time. Instead of items 1 and 2 above, just cut 5 strips measuring 2.25" x 14.75" of both fabrics A and B. We'll call this "Option 2" in the instructions below. The other supplies will remain the same.

**As I mentioned in my previous post, I used Rae's cheater binding tutorial for this quilt, and the measurements for the backing and binding above account for this. If you would prefer to bind your quilt more like a normal quilt, cut your backing and batting to 20" wide and 19" long (this will give you roughly 1/2" of wiggle room on each side to allow for shifting during quilting, which should be plenty in a quilt of this size). You will also need to add fabric to make the binding. There are a gazillion tutorials in blogland to help you with binding a normal quilt, so I won't go into that here.

So, without further ado, let's get started!

Start by matching up your like-sized strips of fabrics A and B. You'll have five sets of each size (or if you're using Option 2, you'll have five sets of the one size).

Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew each of the sets together, right sides facing. I don't use pins with pieces this small, but go for it if that's your thing. Chain piecing is your friend here.

Now, take your sets and match them together, ensuring that fabrics A and B are always touching. Sew the sets together to form two pieced sections of 10 strips. (If you're doing Option 2, you'll just have one pieced section of 10 strips.)

Press all seams open.

Square up your pieced sections. If you're doing Option 2, you now need to split your big piece into two smaller sections. After you square up your big piece, cut it in lengthwise so that you have two pieces, one that is 6" wide and one that is 8.75" wide.

Set aside your pieced sections and grab fabric C and your white strips. Using a 1/4" seam allowance, attach one white strip to each side of the long, skinny piece of fabric C.

Press your seam allowances to the side, toward fabric C, so that you don't see the fabric through the white pieces. (If you're using a darker solid, feel free to press your seams open.)

Connect your pieced sections to the white/fabric C section, one on each side. Again, press your seam allowances to the side, this time toward the pieced sections. Square up your quilt top so it measures 19" wide and 18" tall.

Make a quilt sandwich by laying the backing piece down wrong side up, followed by your batting, and then your quilt top right side up. In this tutorial, I've made the backing and batting several inches larger than the top to allow for some movement during quilting, but because this is such a small quilt, I didn't get all crazy about making a perfectly aligned quilt sandwich. Center your quilt top on top of the batting. Eyeballing it is okay, but make sure you have roughly 1.5" of batting/backing on each side of the top. Baste the quilt sandwich using spray or pins.

Quilt the sandwich however you like. I chose to do diagonal lines about 1.5" apart. Just start in the middle and work your way out, removing pins as you go.

After you're done quilting, it's time to bind. First, carefully trim your batting so it's even with the quilt top. Be careful not to cut the backing fabric!

Using your rotary cutter and ruler, trim the backing fabric so it extends one inch beyond the batting and top all the way around. From this point, I used Rae's cheater binding method, so I'm not going to show you all of the steps. Just click on over to her tutorial to finish up your quilt.

Once your binding's done, the back of your quilt will look something like this:

Now go find a doll and enjoy your precious little quilt!