Introduction to Cheater Quilts
Cheater is such an ugly word for such a beautiful thing. Cheater quilts are a perfect project for new sewists or folks with little time for craftiness. Featuring fabric designed and printed to look like patchwork or applique, a cheater quilt allows you to skip the huge task of doing piecework on a quilt. All you have to do is quilt and bind. I quilted this lovely baby quilt in about 30 minutes. All that's left to do is bind it, which can be done quickly on the machine or heirloom quality by hand. Stay tuned for upcoming posts on the different ways to bind a quilt.
But I know the big question, right? What is that gorgeous fabric? It's Jay-Cyn Designs Storyboek for Birch Fabrics - Field Stroll Cheater and the back (which I think would be so cute for Christmas) is Field Friends Coral. Both are on sale right now at Fabricworm.
And the baby... is Gordon, who is totally man enough to pose with a pink quilt. Thanks buddy, I owe you the boy version.
Read on to learn more about how to make a cheater quilt.
First pick up a cheater quilt fabric, a yard and a quarter for a 44" square baby quilt.
Wash and iron your fabric.
Sandwich high-loft batting between the wrong-side-facing fabrics.
Pin in place in a few spots to hold the layers together.
Pop on your walking foot and select threads to match your front and back. This is a good time to take the time to adjust your machine tension so the thread doesn't peek through. This thread from the Brother Country Yarn Thread Pack was a beautiful match for the coral.
And then just stitch along the lines to creat your "quilt."
Isn't this such a rewarding and quick project? The perfect baby shower gift for someone you like a lot but not enough to pull all-nighters doing piecework for 6 months. HA! I hope my neighbor and her new baby don't read Prudent Baby.
So mamas, get your cheater quilts ready and I'll be back with the scoop on binding your quilt. Like I said, there are methods anywhere from less-than-an-hour to heirloom-by-hand.
What do you think? want to try a cheater quilt?
Labels: DIY, Quilting, Sewing, Tips, Under an Hour
posted by Jacinda @ 11:47 AM
29 Comments:
Oh heck yeah! I would LOVE to try one!!! I'm gonna go look for the fabric!
HECK YES!!! that is adorable and now I totally need that fabric!!!
did you use white thread on the front and coral on the back? Have you worked with the transparent thread?
Love, love, love! Reminds me of my own baby quilt (which I still have!)
I am in love. I can't even sew yet and I want to make one!
Hi dMarie- If you want to try transparent thread, this is a perfect project for it! It would look great with the fabric. I left it off this project because it can be a little tricky to work with for beginners but thanks for mentioning it!
You just had to mention that there' a boy version.... :)
Love it! I'm inspired!
Thank you! I bought a fun panel of fabric with the 12 days of Christmas from moda, and I wanted to do exactly this but I haven't quilted before and wasn't quite sure how! I will keep a look out for your binding lesson. BTW, is a quilting foot a necessity for this project?
Hi Kimberly-
The quilting foot is very helpful but not necessary. You might want to use a lower loft batting just to be sure.
How is a quilting foot different from a walking foot? Can you just use a walking foot?
Absolutely. Walking foot.
Love this!! Do you have any other lines of fabric you recommend? or a good way to search for them? These would make great gifts!
what tension should my thread be set at? i didn't quite understand what you meant about it not showing through. thanks!
Is $8.50/half yard the sale price?
25 Cheater Quilts
EAbbate- here are 25 that I found.
Mollie-If it's not a problem, dont touch it. : )
Casey - The sale ended on saturday but check back because Fabricworm is always running specials!
Ok! Thanks.
Looking forward to the binding tutorial :)
I love this! I ordered the fabric, now hopefully you will have a tutorial on how to bind a quilt. I'm so happy I have found this blog! I have made the key fobs, the 10 minute onesie dress and the homemade pretzels!
Awesome Trishavan!
It's all done and will be posted early next week at the very latest. Maybe sooner! I'm so excited you are making one!
Could you please give a link to your binding tutorial?
Hey LisaBC-It's not up yet but will be by next week!
Ya gotta get with the times....no more calling them 'cheater' panels. It's not cheating because the fabric is printed with a design! Call them 'shortcut' panels, or 'quickies' or anything else but that awful word..... :-)
Why "boy version"? In 2011 are we still using terms like that when referring to something like a quilt? Like fabric? So disappointed.
Hey Lyndsay-It's referred to as "boy version" because one has all pictures of girls and the other has all pictures of boys so I think it's appropriate in this case but it still felt weird to write. I was waiting for someone to comment!
Hi Jacinda, so I got my Jay-Cyn fabric and I'm ready to roll but I have one more quick question. On my fabric some of the corners don't quite match up. Did you just follow the exact lines of the quilt, or did you go straight upp and down. Does this even make sense?? Thanks!!
So exciting! Do you mean that the printed squares are not perfectly lined up?I didn't notice that on mine but I would just sew straight, adjusting slightly as you go? If I'm not understanding your question, feel free to shoot me an email with a picture! xo Jacinda
Yep, that's what I meant. It's odd. it's not so much vertically, but the horizontal lines. Thanks for your help, I'm off to sew before I have to pick up my twins from kindergarten!!
I am a beginner so this may be a stupid question: do you do the front and back separately? I don't get how one side has white thread and the other has color--how did you put them together? Help!
mamaschlick, I'm a beginner too, but I think she means she used white as her thread color and coral as her bobbin color. I may be wrong, but that's how I understood it.
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