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, and the kids will, too, 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 T-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 to appear as if they are 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 the backside of the pieces of clothing and stitched them down to the background (the crochet appliques are optional).

Click here for the “Baby Clothes Memory Quilt Embellished with Crochet Appliqués” article.

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 T-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 close-up 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.

Click here for the “How to Make Memory Quilts” article.

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

Click here for the “Sew It Yourself – Baby Quilt” tutorial.

Finally, you might consider using parts from baby clothes in a more traditionally pieced quilt design. Look for a quilt pattern with a large central square in each block that can 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 appliqué 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. For ideas, search “baby clothes memory quilts”, “quilts made from baby clothes”, or whatever else comes to mind.