The ABC Baby Quilt – Free Sewing Pattern

The ABC Baby Quilt, free sewing pattern. This is a free baby quilt written tutorial with lots of pictures. This simple baby quilt pattern makes up the most adorable and the most beautiful baby quilt! Finished quilt measures 40″ x 54.5″. Perfect for a crib quilt, playtime baby blanket or for decorating the baby’s room. Handmade items make great gifts!

Baby Quilt Sewing Pattern – Selecting Baby Quilt Patterns

Are you a quilter and want to make a handmade gift for an upcoming baby shower? Having trouble finding a baby quilt?

There was a baby shower I attended and was struggling to get inspiration on Pinterest and Etsy for modern baby quilt patterns. Looked at a variety of baby quilt patterns but continued my search. And of course I googled free quilt patterns and just wasn’t inspired.

Wasn’t looking for detailed instructions, I was just trying to find a simple patchwork quilt to show off some of my quilting skills. One skill that I’ve acquired is being able to dissect the construction of quilts or crocheted items just by looking at them.

Saw a lot of patterns made for a baby girl but not a lot for a baby boy. It may have just been the fabric used but everything was for a baby girl. Checked out patterns with charm packs, half square triangles, log cabin blocks, square blocks and pinwheel blocks. Most of these were too busy and I was running out of time as the baby shower was only a week away! 

Really wanted to make a crib quilt or baby blanket for a friend who’s expecting her first grandchild. It’s a “Welcome to the Grandparents Club” gift. Everyone knows that grandparents needs some baby supplies at their home too for when baby comes over!

Baby Quilt Sewing Pattern – Patterns

Look for easy patterns with free tutorial when making your first quilt. Pay special attention to charm square or block patterns. Now in my pattern below, for the sashing to connect the rows, I used cornerstones.  It may seem like an extra step, but the seams from the cornerstones helps to keep the quilt blocks aligned.  If you just use sashing then you need to be an experienced quilter and I didn’t want to take any chances of my blocks not being uniform.

Use whatever fabric you like, cozy flannels are used a ton in baby quilts. If you can’t find the fabric that I used, just chose your color scheme and get as much fabric to make you happy.  Choose different colors or go with a few.  Now you could use novelty prints or print fabrics but I’m going for a modern quilt so wanted solid colors. You could also use a fabric panel for the backing. It’s completely adjustable for your own preference.  That’s the fun way and great way to make the pattern your own. 

Thinking is actually hard for my brain to do, not sure why but it was.  Baby blankets or crib blankets are not very large. The sizes range but most are 3 feet by 4 feet.  I decided to use simple squares and put sashing around everything. I chose 11 fat quarters from my Prim by Lori Holt stash but only used two  of each because it’s a small baby quilt.  You use less and I’m used to making king size quilts.  It was hard to downsize, I thought it would be easier to make something smaller.  This project was defiantly a challenge!  Here’s more about my baby quilt sewing pattern journey below.

Baby Quilt Sewing Pattern – Choosing Quilt Top Fabric

Since I wasn’t having much luck with the pattern, I decided to focus on getting fabric for this project.  So I headed to my fabric stash and just bought a fat quarter bundle of Prim by Lori Holt for Riley Blake. But you could use fabric from a layer cake or any cotton fabric you have. All the fat quarters were primary colors mostly and I was really thinking it should be fabric in different shades of blue.  

Got in my car and went back to the fabric store and that’s where I fell in love with this quirky Magic by Joann Fabrics (this was printed on the edge of the fabric) novelty print. I didn’t buy it the first time.  I had to see this fabric on three different occasions before I actually decided to go for it.  Once I got home, I got out my new Prim fat quarter bundle by Lori Holt and wouldn’t you know it, the shades matched the novelty colors perfectly.  Must be a God thing!  

Baby Quilt Sewing Pattern – Choosing Sashing Fabric

Now to decide on the sashing fabric.  I usually use a white background fabric for the sashing but wanted a beige color which I didn’t have.  All I had was bone and neutral Kona Cotton, so I went to one other fabric store near my house to look.  

That’s when I found the ABC XYZ AB Bundle by Stacy Iest HSU which has little alphabet letters that tied into my novelty print from Joann Fabrics!  It was THE PERFECT fabric for my baby quilt. Such a unique design on these fabrics but they went together perfectly. Walked back in the house and started ironing my fabrics and cutting them.  

I matched my fat quarter fabrics to the backing fabric and selected which fat quarters to use. Colorful quilts with lots of variety in fabric is my preference. Thought it would look cool to use the Kona Cotton Black for the middle square and corners squares to tie the black from the backing fabric with the quilt top. I also used Kona Cotton Black cotton fabric for the binding.  

MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THIS OUT!

After you read this post, make sure you also check out How To Learn How To Quilt: Beginner Quilting Guide. It’s jam packed with even more information, links and resources that are so helpful when you’re first learning. It also has a section with free quilt patterns that are great for beginners. So make sure you check this out, seriously don’t forget!

Grab a copy of my Quilt Planning Journal, filled with graph paper and some note pages to help you design at least 4 quilts or sewing projects! I have been using mine for a little while and already I am jotting down ideas as I see them and reminders about websites where I have seen some ‘must have’ fabric, so I think this can be so much more than just a design book. Pin in fabric swatches, photos of your finished quilts and enjoy your creative process! Click the bar below.

Baby Quilt Sewing Pattern – Materials Needed

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Baby Quilt Sewing Pattern – ABC Quilt Instructions

Let me show you how I went about making this fun quilt, detailed instructions listed below. Here’s a colorful pattern made with simple squares for the new arrival. Simple patchwork quilt using 6″ simple squares cut from a fat quarter. Remember to only use cotton fabric for all your handmade quilts. Use your rotary cutter, cutting matt and quilting ruler to cut fabric. See measurements below.

Fabric Measurement and Cutting Instructions

Trim fat quarters into 3 – 6″ x WOF strips. Sub-cut the strips into 6″ blocks. Make 30 – 6″ blocks.

Make 5 – 6″ charm squares with the Kona Cotton Black fabric.

Take your sashing fabric and cut into 2.5″ x WOF strips. Sub-cut the strips into 82 – 6″ x 2.5 pieces.

Then cut that same sashing fabric into 48 – 2.5″ charm squares.

Cut your binding fabric into 4 – 2.5″ x WOF strips.  Sew strips together to form one long binding strip.

Construct Rows with Blocks and Sashing

This sweet baby quilt has 5 horizontal rows with 7 blocks.  The first row starts and ends with a black square. The third row has a black square for the 4th block or middle block. The fifth row starts and ends with a black square.

Arrange your variety of colored blocks and distribute your colors evenly.  Refer to my quilt picture below for suggestions.

Sew one row at a time and attach sashing to blocks.  Attach sashing to both sides of the first block, then only attach sashing to the right sides of the remaining blocks.  Then attach all those blocks together keeping the blocks in order. Repeat the process for the remaining rows. Now let’s move onto the sashing strips.

Create Sashing Strips to Connect the Rows

Take the remaining sashing pieces to your sewing machine and add cornerstones.  Then use these strips to connect the rows together.

Each sashing strip will begin and end with a cornerstone 2.5″ charm square. You will need 8 – 2.5″ charm squares and 7 – 2.5″ x 6″ sashing pieces per strip.

When you complete the sashing strips, lay them out next to the rows to make sure you did it correctly. If everything looks good, start with the top sashing strip and connect to the top of the row 1.  

Place a pin where ever a seam connects. The will be two pins per cornerstone. Repeat this process until all sashing strips are connected.  Now the quilt top is done! Now let’s move onto making the binding

Make Binding

Create your binding with the black fabric cut into 2 1/2″ by WOF (width of fabric) strips. Sew strips together using a 1/4″ seam until the binding is long enough to attach to all sides of the quilt. Now let’s baste the quilt layers.

Sandwich Your Quilt

Be sure that you have pressed the quilt top and backing with your iron before you make your quilt sandwich. Lay your quilt top with wrong side facing up, then lay the batting on top and attach using fabric spray.

Make sure your batting covers the quilt top with a little more fabric than the quilt top on all sides. Next, attach your backing to the batting with wrong side facing down. I only bought a yard and a half of the backing fabric so there was not a lot of fabric hanging over the quilt top. It still quilted up just fine, you will have enough but keep an eye on it when basting. Spray with fabric spray to attach. Now it’s time to start quilting, see instructions below. Pro tip: Use your cutting matt under the last layer of fabric to make the surface more flat when you sandwich quilt on bed top.

Machine Quilting With Walking Foot

Lay your quilt on the floor and find the center of the quilt. You do this by counting the squares and finding the middle. Roll up the quilt on both sides and take to your sewing machine. Start in the middle and continue sewing to the right.

Then flip it and continue sewing that way until all four sides are quilted. Just follow the sashing seams and stich along both sides both vertically and horizontally until done. You could also machine quilt with wavy machine stitches, stitch in the ditch or free motion quilt. Next, trimming our quilt for machine binding.

Square Up Quilt

Lay your quilt on the sewing table and trim all sides using your quilt ruler and rotary cutter. Square up the corners by using a square quilt ruler. Press the quilt on ironing board before adding binding, see instructions for binding below.

Machine Binding

Attach the binding you made earlier starting on the back side of the quilt first. Line the binding up to the edge of the quilt and attach with a 1/4″ seam. Take to ironing board and press.

Fold the binding over and sew the binding onto the quilt top keeping your needle as close to the left side of the binding edge as possible. Take to ironing board and press.

Wash Quilt

Set washing machine to delicate cycle, cold or warm water. Pro tip: Use SC Johnson Shout Color Catcher sheets. These are not dryer sheets, these sheets go in the wash. Because the fabric is not washed prior to quilting, you don’t want your fabric to bleed in the wash. Throw in a few fabric sheets into the washing machine. Don’t forget to take the sheets out and throw away before you put quilt in the dryer.

Throw quilt into the dryer on low heat for 30 minutes. Remove from dryer and drape over a door or laundry line to finish drying by air. Your ABC Baby Quilt gift is now ready to give to the new parents and the new arrival! I love free patterns, I hope you enjoy making this one.

Beginner Quilting Supplies

Here are some quilting tools and supplies I recommend. I make a small commission if you purchase through the links, this helps to support this free content. For more info, check out Supplies for Beginners (Best Tools To Start).

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

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ABOUT SEW NIKKI

If this is your first time stopping by, welcome! My name is Nikki. I’m a weekend quilter, have a super small sewing space and taught myself how to sew and quilt by watching YouTube videos! My blog has How-To’s, Free Patterns and Pattern Reviews. Read more about me here.

Everyone knows that handmade gifts are THE best baby shower gift.  It doesn’t take much time to make either, you can complete this in one weekend! it’s a simple square quilt for little boys or a little girl. I’ve used bright colors to cheer up any baby’s room using large blocks with sashing and cornerstones. 

What a great project, I think it’s the perfect pattern because it’s simple and works up fast! Making baby items is fun. I hoped you enjoyed this tutorial on how to make an easy baby quilt sewing pattern. The ABC Baby Quilt can be used as a baby blanket or crib quilt. This is a great first quilt not only for a new quilter to make but a perfect quilt for the new baby. If you are into modern baby quilt patterns then this easy charm baby quilt is perfect.

Follow me on social media (Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter) so you get notifications when I post new patterns and tutorials. 

Want to learn how to crochet? Then check out this post, How to Learn How to Crochet – Guide for Beginners.

Sew, quilt, crochet and repeat!