Bridesmaid Dress To Baby Quilt Round 2

Once I had finished the quilt I made for my sister in-law I was inspired to make another for my sister. It just so happened that she was also pregnant and I had been in her wedding. In my mind I was a professional quilter so this project would take no time at all. In reality I am a dreamer and again it was a lot of work but I did get it finished faster than the first one.

Unfortunately my sister did not find out the sex of her baby so we had to choose a neutral theme. The good news is that the dress I wore for her wedding was a tan and Tiffany blue.

That is me in the dress! (bummer I had no photos of my sister and I)

Since my sister did not know the sex of the baby and she had a neutral nursery from here previous babies, I had no direction to go. So I decided to purchase a sheet from Pottery Barn but of course it was not the right color so I ended up with 3 different sheets from Pottery Barn.  Once I had the sheet I hit the fabric store and purchased 4 coordinating fabrics.

Then the hard work started I cut 20 4x4 squares out of each fabric and the dress (since the dress had two colors I used both in the quilt). Once I finished cutting them out I placed the out in the pattern I wanted and pinned them all together. This time instead of sewing the squares in groups of 4 I actually sewed them in rows. I think this went much faster. Once I had a row complete I sewed the rows together until the quilt was finished.

The next step is the put the quilt together, adding the sheet and the batting. Once that was completed I did some machine quilting, this time I quilted down every other row. I started on one side and worked to the other, I wish I had started in the center and worked out. Finally I added a bow to finish the piece and give it a girly feel because I knew the sex.

Unfortunately I was in a hurry to finish the project and I did not have time to take pictures of each step. I am hoping the next time I make a quilt I will not be in a rush and will be able to photograph the process. 

Hope you like it.

When I presented my sister withe the quilt. I gave her this letter with a copy of the photo of myself in the dress from her wedding.

  

Jackie,

It was not that many years ago that you gave me the privilege to stand next to you as you married Chris.  It was such a beautiful day, now as we meet Meredith, I wanted her to have a piece of that day to treasure.  So, if you look closely at this photo and this gift you will see that they have something in common.

Congratulations!

Love Michele

Bridesmaid Dress to Baby Quilt

This was my first big sewing project since I was in middle school and I think it turned out great. Although, I will warn you it took a lot longer than I thought it would to complete this quilt.

I had seen this idea on Pinterest and when my sister in-law announced that she was having a baby girl, I thought turning the pink dress I wore to her wedding would be a great way to try out my sewing skills. I will admit I had to call in the help of my mother in order to make sure the quilt would actually stay together.

I started by purchasing a sheet that matched her bedding set for the back of the quilt. Then I took the sheet and the dress to the fabric store. I purchased 4 other fabrics that I thought went with the dress and the sheet. I also purchased batting. Since this was my first sewing project I  purchased a rotary cutter and mat.

Then I began cutting the fabric into squares. Once I had all the squares cut, I began to pin them together in a pattern. I wish I  had taken photos of the process but once I got started cutting and pinning I forgot to photograph the progress.

Once the pattern was developed I began to sew the squares together in groups of 4 and continued to add on until I had completely sewn the top of the quilt. After that I put the sheet, batting, and quilt top together. Then I machined quilted some squares onto the quilt and added the bow from the dress to the middle of the quilt.

The Bridesmaid dress after!

Below is the note that I put in the box when I gave my sister in-law the quilt. I had also included a photo of the two of us from her wedding day.

It was not that many years ago that you gave me the privilege to stand next to you as you got married.  It was such a beautiful day, now as we wait for you daughter to arrive, I wanted her to have a piece of that day to treasure.  So, if you look closely at this photo and this gift you will see that they have something in common.