Tutorial | Flannel Crib Quilt

Forest Friends Flannel is now being shipped to our customers and will be available any day now. As such, we're in high gear with project ideas and tutorials and low on time. I whipped this quilt up in a day. Just like my other "day quilt", it's fast and easy and the results are very satisfying. I didn't have time to draw out lots of diagrams and did not take pictures along the way (I know I know! I'm a bad tutorializer today!), so I'm sending you over to my other blog for specifics and details on some of the finer points of making this primarily hand tied quilt. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

This cuddly dense quilt measures 36" x 45". As far as piecing it's pretty simple to make, and there's quite a bit of room for creative license. I quilted entirely by hand- and it was not as laborious as it seems... most of the center (the owl fabric) is tied and not stitched. I did not use binding- instead I used the backing fabric wrapped around to the front. You can see all the detail in photos on how I make this quilt through this post on how to make a simple tied quilt.

For more info, our friend Betz White directed me to this great post on self-binding a flannel blanket from Tea Rose Home.

This quilt comprises of

1 yd G'nite Owls in Sky

1/3 yd Crumbs in Grass

1/3 yd Crumbs in Earth

1 2/3 yd Solid Sky

* these measurements are generous- you will probably have enough left over to make a small pillow. Maybe two!

batting at least 36" x 45"

embroidery floss 1 skien matching brown for binding, 1 skien matching green for inner details

I used organic cotton batting, but any lightweight batting will do. All hand stitching was done with DMC embroidery floss and a fine tapestry needle.

Please note that all pieces have 1/2" seam allowance because flannel tends to fray. When pressing seams, it's best to press them OPEN (vs. all to one side). Flannel is fairly thick and it will lay nicer as well as be easier to stitch through.

1. PREWASH fabric! Given its open weave, flannel can shrink a bit- it can also shrink at slightly different percentages... so if you want a quilt that won't pucker unevenly, it's best to do this first step. For best results, wash in cold water with mild detergent and dry in hottest cotton setting on dryer. This will snug up the weave and will soften the printed surface.

2. Cut pieces as shown in diagram below.
3. Starting at one end of the quilt, piece the fabrics together, using that 1/2" seam allowance, in the order shown.*best to use finer spaced stitches. I set my machine to 3. Using wider stitches can create loose seams.

4. Press open all seams.

From here on out, you can refer to my simple tied quilt tutorial for images and how-to tips.

5. Lay your quilt batting out on a large surface and smooth out wrinkles.

6. Lay quilt top face up on top of the batting making sure there is about 1" or so of batting surrounding the top. Brush smooth working from center out to corners. Ensure that it is square.

7. Pin top to batting well and then trim the batting to the exact size of the topper. Roll up when finished.

8. Lay out your backing fabric and smooth out wrinkles. I did not use tape this time as the flannel grabbed quite nicely to the rug keeping it from slipping. Starting at one end, roll out the topper over the backing, ensuring that there is at least 2 1/2" of backing fabric surrounding the quilt top and that it is all squared up.

9. Take out pins and repin in place through all thicknesses.

10. Trim backing fabric to exactly 2" inches all the way around the quilt.

11. Starting in the center of one side, fold the excess backing fabric in half and then fold over the frontside of the quilt. Press and pin well.

12. The flannel is thicker than the linen I used, so my mitered corners were a little trickier. I really just folded and tucked until I got something that looked like image below. Basically, you want it to be neat. If you can't figure out the mitering, I say it's fine to do straight seams to the corners- just keeping in neat is the thing you want to achieve most!

13. Top stitch or hand stitch the binding and the panels as shown in my diagram below and tie the quilt where the X's are.

You're done!