A friend's baby boy was born Christmas Eve, so I decided to make him a quilt heavy on red and green but not overtly Christmas-y. I had the perfect backing fabric already and drew my colors from that.
As I was packing the quilt up to mail this seemed like a good time to make a photo tutorial of how I fold quilts for gifting. I've shown pictured of these little quilt bundles before but I can't find that I've ever walked through the process of making them. I like to do this because it keeps the quilt folded up neat and makes a nice little pocket for putting in extra goodies.
Step 1, spread out the quilt face down, with the part you want to end up showing on the outside on the bottom. Fold from the top down, but not all the way to the bottom. Depending on how big the quilt is you may have to fold it only a few, or several times. The height of this folded section (ignoring the "tail" sticking out below) will be the height of the finished bundle. The "tail" should be 1/2 to 2/3 the height of the folded part (the taller it is the deeper the pocket will be).
Step 2, fold the edges in, starting with the side you want showing on the outside. I started with the right because I want that label to show.
The width of these folds will be the width of the finished bundle. Folding both edges in first ensures the raw edges will be closed inside.
Step 3, separate the "tail" layers to find the ones you wanted on the outside
Step 4, now the tricky part. Fold the front up, so that it wraps up around the thicker folded part.
Hold the first side in place and work the fold around so that the whole "tail" wraps around the bundle tightly. See the loop of fabric below my hand in the picture above? I am taking that part and forcing it to wrap around to the back side of the bundle so that it is basically inside out from how it is above.
Finished! It can take a little work to get the tail flipped around and snug but it's worth it for a pretty, clean looking quilt package.
Either side can be the front, and you can put another turn on the top of the "tail" to add another ring of contrast if you want.
Hope you find this useful, and your Christmas has been full of family, fun, and fabric!
Thanks for the tutorial. The backing is perfect for your lovely quilt. Can you remember who the designer is?
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for a post, Kat! Thanks for sharing your gifting secrets. : )
ReplyDeleteLove the quilt! Thanks for such a useful post. :)
ReplyDeletevery cute gifting idea. when I make baby quilts, I also make a pillowcase (one that fits a toddler sized pillow) and gift the quilt in the case.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea! I will have to save this post to use the next time I am gifting a quilt. The backing fabric for your baby quilt couldn't be more perfect. I'm sure they loved it.
ReplyDeleteGreat way to fold gift quilts. I like to make a fabric tie the same color as the binding and tie it round the quilt in a ribbon fashion.
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Thanks for sharing that quilt folding technique and I absolutely LOVE the non-traditional baby/Christmas quilt that you made for your friend's baby! I think that he will enjoy it for a good long time.
ReplyDeleteSuch a cool technique Kat! My friend just had a baby on Dec 20th, 3 weeks earlier than expected, and of course I didn't have a quilt in the ready, so now I can make one and fold it like this with the little presents :) Thank you for sharing it! P.S. I just sent my December block out this morning, hope it gets there by Wednesday!
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