Part 1 DIY Baby Blanket Sewing Adventure: Green Turtle Blanket

I’m starting a three-part series on making a baby blanket, where I’ll show you my process, including machine setup and sewing the first set of parallel lines. I demonstrate how I use a walking foot, mark guidelines, and share tips I’ve learned through trial and error to help you achieve even stitching. If you’re interested in quilting, I hope this video provides helpful insights for your own projects!

Final Photos are in Part 3 and the Gallery. You can also check out Part 2 if you have not already.

Transcript

Hi everyone! My name is Teria with Peace and Make, and today we’re kicking off part one of a three-part series on making a baby blanket. In this video, I’ll walk you through my process, starting with machine setup and sewing the first set of parallel lines for the blanket. I hope you enjoy this tutorial!

To begin, I want to show you my process on paper, so you can see the plan for when I work with the fabric. Here’s the blanket without the binding—this is your top and bottom. When I sew the blanket, the goal is to create diagonal lines across it, spaced three inches apart. Today, I’ll show you how I sew these lines, set up my machine, and discuss the process in more detail.

I prefer diagonal lines because they make it easier to catch crooked lines or mistakes. Plus, I just like the look of diagonal patterns better! So, today’s video will cover how I create these lines and how my machine setup helps me with that.

Now, I’m going to change out my thread and bobbin. The thread looks white, but it’s actually an ivory or slightly off-white color. I prefer this color because most of my projects end up with fabrics in off-white tones. Here’s my walking foot. I quilt with this foot, and I also use a bar attachment to help me sew the parallel lines across the blanket. This makes it easier because I don’t need to create all the lines manually—I start with a middle line and then sew outwards.

Let me cut to a video showing you how I sew the blanket. I start with two middle lines and then sew outwards from there.

Going back to this picture, I want to point out something I didn’t mention earlier. To make sure my lines are aligned properly, I use a friction pen, which I can erase with heat. After marking the center of the blanket, I start with one diagonal line and then add the others, keeping them spaced three inches apart.

Now, I’m attaching the bar to the walking foot so that I can use it as a guide for each parallel line. Before the first stitch, let me show you the stitch length I use. On some blankets, I set it at 4.5, others I set it to 5. But with the thickness of this fabric, I ended up using a stitch length of about 3.5 to 4. It’s always good to do a test run to see what works best for your fabric, but a longer stitch is usually best for quilting.

You can see the guideline I drew earlier on the fabric—that’s the line I just sewed. I also used pins throughout the blanket to keep the layers together.

I should mention that this was my first baby blanket, so a lot of the process involved trial and error. After this, I improved my process significantly. I had two hours of footage for this project, and it took me a while to edit it down, but I’m glad I did! As you can see, I rolled up the edge of the fabric to make it easier to fit it through the machine.

At this point, I’ve flipped the blanket over and am sewing the cross line. I only did this step in the first blanket. On the second one, I only sewed one line of parallel rows, which made it easier and reduced the bunching of fabric. On the first blanket, sewing both sides led to some bunching, but it wasn’t noticeable unless you’re the one who made it.

To avoid that bunching, I now recommend sewing just one set of parallel lines and flipping the blanket after each set. It’s less stressful, and the result is cleaner.

In this clip, you can see how I set the bar on the left side of the foot for the best results. It helps guide the stitch as I sew. I quickly realized that having the bar on the left worked best for me because when it was on the right, it would get caught up in the fabric.

Now, I’m finishing the last lines for this set of parallel rows. As you can see, I’m following the guidelines created by the bar, which helps keep the stitching straight and evenly spaced.

The process is so relaxing—quilting really is a great break from garment sewing, which involves a lot more thinking and planning. Quilting lets you just sew straight lines and watch your project come together. I highly recommend it if you need a mental reset or want to gift a cozy blanket to someone.

To stop the bunching, I started sewing in the middle and worked outward from there. That method worked much better than doing both sides at once.

I’ve cut out a lot of footage here, but I just wanted to say I truly appreciate all of you who have followed along. I may do a live video someday to chat more in real-time about these projects!

That wraps up part one of this baby blanket series. In part two, I’ll be talking about flipping the blanket around and sewing the perpendicular lines. I’ll also share more random tips and insights about the process.

Thanks so much for watching! If you enjoyed this video, be sure to subscribe to my channel—we’re almost at 200 subscribers! Also, you can follow me on Instagram @peaceandmake, just like here on YouTube. Feel free to leave a comment or follow me on Instagram; I love seeing your support!

Thanks again for watching, and I’ll see you in part two of the baby blanket tutorial. Bye for now!