by Sherilyn, Cherished Needle Creations in Project, quilting, Serger, sewing, Uncategorized Tags: baby blanket, baby quilts, family, free project, free serger project, quilt, serger, serger project, serger tip, sewing, sewing project, sewing tip

Last week we started a baby quilt by serger. I hope some of you are sewing this along with me and will send me pictures of your completed project.

Part 1 ended here:

Fabric Preparation for Borders

Cut the following from Border 1 fabric AND from batting:

2 – 2 ½” x 30”*

2 – 2 ½” x 38”*

*Cut borders 2” longer than length needed.

Let’s put these borders on, shall we?

The reason I suggested you cut your borders 2″ longer than the length needed is to give you a little wiggle room at each end. As we practice quilt-as-you-go by serger, I find that sometimes my fabric shifts at the beginning of my seam. I have gotten to where this rarely happens any more, but this extra length will help alleviate that, if you find it happens to you.

CUT BACKING STRIPS:

I just realized I forgot to tell you to cut your backing strips as well, so now go ahead and cut 4 backing strips to match your border 1 and batting strips. These backing strips might match the backing for the central square, but that is not necessary. This is a perfect opportunity to have a pretty pieced backing.

The order of the borders, based on the measurements I gave above, is to serge the top and bottom borders first, followed by the side borders.

For serger quilt-as-you-go, you will layer your fabric from the table up as follows, with top raw edges matching:

Backing strip: RIGHT side UP (green in picture)

Quilt sandwich: RIGHT side UP (pieced in picture)

Border fabric: WRONG side UP (orange in picture)

Batting: on top.

The raw edges are not aligned in this picture, but you want to align them.

Start your border strips about 1″ before the central square. Pin all layers together carefully.

*Pinning Recommendation: I use LONG quilting pins when I serge. I will often pin parallel to the edge, which keeps my pins out of my knife, but if I pin perpendicular to the edge I place my pins so they hang off the edge of the fabric about an inch. That way they are both easy to see and easy to remove. NEVER serge over a pin. I have only had to replace my knife once in 12 years, and that was after serging over 1 pin. That is all it takes.

**If you find your fabric edges slip and slide around despite pinning, use glue in the seam allowances to hold them together. I use glue stick or Elmer’s blue gel a lot, especially when serging. If the glue does not dry fast enough, iron the two fabric layers together as you glue and it will dry quickly.

Serger Setting for SERGING SEAMS:

4 Thread Overlock

Stitch Width: Widest Setting

Stitch Length: 3 mm

Serge the long seam trimming off an even amount.

Flip the border pieces out from the center and press on both sides. Press to flatten seam as much as possible, pulling on the fabric against the seam to be sure it was caught in the stitching everywhere.

Change serger stitch or cutting width to narrowest width and serge baste the long edge, without trimming, to hold the 3 layers (backing, batting, and border) together. * As you serge, continue to smooth the fabric out from the seam to be sure the raw edges meet and all layers are caught in the basting.

Return stitch or cutting width back to widest setting.

Repeat for opposite border.

You can cut off the 1″ of border that hangs off each end with a rotary cutter to square up the center, or cut it off when serging the side borders.

Arrange the fabrics the same way as explained above for the side borders, serge, press, and baste outer edge.

BORDER 2

Cut border 2 fabric, batting, and backing strips as follows:

2 – 4″ x 32″

2 – 4″ x 42″

Repeat the same procedure with the first borders. When you are finished your outer edge should be completely squared up, basted and ready for binding. If your quilt needs additional squaring up, it is fine to trim away some of the serger basting. If you trim away all of the stitching in an area, rebaste that section without trimming on the serger to hold the layers together.

BINDING Prep:

Coming up in the last installment of this series will be adding a straight grain binding with a faux serger piping.

1/2 yard binding fabric.

Cut 5 strips 2 1/2″ x WOF (Width of fabric).

Thread: at least 2 spools of 40 wt. polyester or rayon embroidery thread, or 1 spool of a 12 weight decorative thread like Sulky Blendables, Jean Stitch, or Pearl Crown Rayon.

Part 3 Binding here.

Until next time,

Sherilyn