Looking for a fun new way to sew a baby blanket…without quilting? Today Palak from the Sewing Rabbit Team has a gorgeous sewing technique showing how to turn your triangles into a fabulous star blanket! An easy way to showcase your favorite cotton fabrics in a beautiful baby blanket, in a fast no-quilting way.
How to Sew a No Quilt Star Baby Blanket
Hello there Sewing Rabbit readers! I’m Palak from Make It Handmade; and I’m so excited to share this quilt with you all today!
It’s a great way to get your feet wet with quilting without spending hours and hours quilting and binding a large quilt made from small pieces.
The finished quilt is sized 40×40, which is a perfect size for a stroller blanket or playmat for babies and toddlers alike. This tutorial will take you through making the quilt top; and offer a few tips on how to finish the quilt.
Materials:
To make the quilt top you will need:
- 8 10″x10″ squares; 2 of each print. (These can easily be cut from 4 fat quarters)
- 3/4 of yard of a backing fabric
- For the back of quilt you will need:
- 1 1/2 yards of backing fabric
Instructions:
Start by cutting the background fabric and the prints into 10 x 10 inch squares. When you are finished you will have 8 10 inch print squares (2 squares of each fabric) and 8 10 inch background squares.
Rearrange your squares into pairs so that one square from each print is paired with a background fabric, and the other square from that print is paired with another print. (You will have 4 background squares left over).
Iron each square in half across the diagonal as shown.
And then place the square right sides together with it’s pair.
Sew a quarter inch from both sides of the ironed crease as shown (I darkened the stitching lines with pencil in the picture below.)
Slice the block along the ironed crease; right in the middle of the two stitching lines. You should have two identical blocks that look like the one below. Press each block flat with the seam allowance pressed to one side. Do this for each pair of blocks to make a total of 12 half square triangles.
Cut the 4 extra background blocks to 9 1/2 inches. I highly recommend squaring up all pieced blocks to 9 1/2 inches at this point as well. If you don’t have fancy quilting rulers, don’t worry– here’s a tutorial on how to square up blocks with or without a square ruler.
Once the blocks are square; lay them out in the 8 point star pattern as shown below.
Sew the blocks together to form horizontal rows first. Press all the seam allowances in the first row (Row A) in one direction, and then the alternate direction for the second row (Row B).
Then sew the horizontal rows together (Row A to Row B etc… ) Press these seams open for a finished blanket that lies very flat. This is the most tedious part of the quilt– but luckily there are only 3 seams to press open!
And your top is all finished! Now you can back and bind your quilt in any way you choose. I decided to sew my quilt up like a receiving blanket. I put the top and back right sides together and sewed around the edges leaving a small hole for turning. Then I simply turned and topstitched my quilt for a modern finish.
With 3 lines of stitching securing the edges; I think this blanket will just as durable (and fun for babies to chew on) as a traditionally bound quilt. Since there isn’t any quilt batting; there is no need to quilt this blanket (although you could if you liked!)
For another fabulous Blanket Tutorial, be sure to check out Palak’s Crinkle Quilt Sewing Tutorial. You’ll love it.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and until next time…
Happy Sewing!
Quilting made easy- I love it! and the star pattern is really cute. Now if only I had a baby to sew for… maybe it’s time for a third kid!
Thanks Celina! The blanket finishes a little less than 38×38– so you can toss it in the car for a good car blanket. Much easier than having a baby!
This actually seems like something I would dare to try! Great job Palak!!
Ooooo! This is so cute! I think this will be a great way for me to get my feet wet with piecing before attempting a quilt with like a million tiny pieces! Thanks so much for the tutorial!
very nice. I love the fabric choices
Awww… thanks you guys– I like it too!
It’s so pretty Palak! Your tutorial makes me a lot less intimidated by the idea of making a quilt 🙂
This is so great! I have never made a quilt before…but this looks easy and beautiful!
Thanks Elisa! It is an easy quilt.
I LOVE this!!! So cute and clever! I have made half square triangles before, using charm pack squares (for a table runner), but never considered making larger ones, for a blanket. I have no quilting skills, so this seems easy enough for even me!
Thanks Blossom! If you’ve done HST’s, you can put this together in no time.
Just a quick question, I’m confused about how much fabric I’ll need. It says 8 10″x10″ squares, 2 of each print, so 16 total 10″ squares? Looks simple enough but I just want to make sure I have enough fabric!
Also, maybe I’m just over thinking this, but what do I do with the 3/4 yard of backing fabric that is used for the front? If 8 patterned and 8 solid ones make up the star pattern on the front, where does the 3/4 yard come in since there’s 1 1/2 for the backing included?
Hi Veronica! I see the issue– the 3/4 yards should say background fabric. So here is how it goes together:
If you look closely at my quilt, you can see that there are only 4 blue prints used. So the “8 squares, 2 of each print” means that you’ll have 2 of print A, 2 of print B, 2 of Print C, and two of print D. These are for the blue or colored part of the star.
For the white parts on the front of the quilt, you’ll need an additional 8 white squares which you can cut from the 3/4 of a yard.
If you have any other questions just mail me at
palak.makeithandmade@gmail.com and I’ll get you squared away– So excited that you are giving the quilt a shot!