3 Ways to Make a Memory Quilt from Baby Clothes
Create a One-Of-A-Kind Quilt to Treasure for Generations!
Baby clothes hold so many precious memories. Capture them in a quilt made from outgrown clothing. Parents and grandparents will love having a memory quilt made from baby clothes, as will the kids as they grow older.
When designing a quilt made from baby clothes consider three ways of putting it together. Also keep in mind that tiny shoes, small stuffed toys, hats and more can often be included.
Quilt found on Pinterest.
In all cases you’ll want to stabilize stretchy fabric. Take a look at our “Tips for Making Tee Shirt Quilts” article for construction tips, especially the second video that discusses stabilizers. While these are specific to tee shirt fabric, they should help with other types of stretchy fabric, too.
Quilt from Bejeweledquilts by Barb.
Wonderful quilts can be made from entire pieces of clothing. Create a free-form collage that’s pleasing to your eye and sew the clothes securely to the background fabric. The background can be pieced or one solid piece of fabric.
Quilt from New York Parenting.
Or place each article of clothing in a separate background square. Sew the squares together, with or without sashing.
Another idea for using the full outfits is to arrange them so they appear to be hanging on a clothesline. You may have some ideas of your own, as well.
Olena from Golden Lucy Crafts explains how she made the quilt shown above in the following tutorial. Notice how she cut out the backs of the clothing to reduce bulk. She then added stabilizer to backside of the pieces of clothing and stitched them down to the background (the crochet appliques are optional).
A second way to make a quilt from baby clothes is to cut squares from the articles of clothing and sew them together. This process is similar to making a tee shirt quilt.
Focus on special sections from each piece of clothing. Embroidered patches, cute necklines, printed messages and more are perfect for showcasing.
The photo above is a closeup from the memory quilt made by The Sassy Quilter (see the full quilt below). In her article (linked to below) she discusses how to deal with necklines, stabilizers, sewing down loose parts and batting.
The following quilt, made by Melissa from A Happy Stitch, includes blocks of blank pieces of clothing. That’s a great idea if the quilt is starting to look too busy.
You’ll find a lot of helpful tips for various clothing situations in Melissa’s tutorial
Finally, you might consider using parts from baby clothes in a more traditionally pieced quilt design. Look for a quilt pattern that has a large central square in each block that can be used to showcase pieces cut from clothes.
Quilt by Moira Ullberg.
Or go a step further and cut parts of the clothing up to use in piecing blocks for a quilt, while showcasing special parts.
Quilt from Katy T-Shirt Quilts.
Regardless of the process you choose for making a baby clothes memory quilt, be sure to sew down sleeves, neck openings and any other loose parts.
You may also want to include the child’s name, and possibly birth date, somewhere in the quilt. Fusible applique is an easy way to do that.
You’ll find a lot of great ideas on both Google and Pinterest for quilts made from baby clothes. Search “baby clothes memory quilts”, “quilts made from baby clothes”, or whatever else comes to mind for ideas.
I want to make a quilt with my baby’s clothes