How to Make a Patchwork Quilt for Zero Dollars

 

Last year, in October, The Girl came to visit and entertained herself doing visible mending and making dishcloths for me. In the comments I noted that she had also been making a quilt and that I would devote a post to it soon. Well, here we are. Soon is now. We started making this quilt, The Girl and I, when Red was four. Red is now fifteen, but who's counting, right? Really, apart from the planning, I am pretty sure that The Girl made just about all of it. Back when Red was four The Girl cut out all the squares and sewed them together in strips. Each of the squares is cut out from pairs of flannelette pyjamas belonging to all the girls and to me over the years. Yes, I save all the non-worn out parts of all our old pyjamas. Everyone does that, right? Our idea was that Red could have a quilt made from all of our pyjamas so it would be like we were always right there with them. 

Last year, when she took up the project again, The Girl had a quilt's worth of long strips of sewn-together squares. She sewed all the strips together, and there was the quilt top. My favourite squares are the ones with the pockets.

For the quilt batting she used an old doona cover that once belonged to The Boy, so that he could be part of the quilt as well. It is a cotton waffle weave which gives the quilt an interesting texture. You can see it here where The Girl made the left-overs into dishcloths (still going strong nearly a year later). The one other thing I have used in a quilt instead of 'proper' quilt batting is an old woollen blanket, but I am sure there are also many other solutions. Let me know!

The quilt edging was more flannelette stashed in my hoard - white with blue stars from Red's baby sheets, and the backing, also from the hoard, was a piece of pink flannelette that I believe was one of the children's single bed sheets back in the day. The Girl sewed all of this together with a couple of rows of stitches both on the edging, then about a hands-width in from the edge. She didn't even quilt across it, which raises the question - can it technically be called a quilt? It has held together perfectly and washes well, which is what matters. It is beautiful and warm, and it is a great comfort to Red who sleeps with it and is often seen draped in it. What it says is "I love you" from a beloved sister, with cosy reminders of all the siblings, a gift that was a long time in the making, and which shows that you don't have to spend money to keep warm or to give a gift of love.