Simple blanket using vintage fabric

 

So far I have no successful 2015 garment makes (My seamwork manila disaster is as yet unblogged - I can't seem to find many makes of this pattern on the blogosphere yet, if anyone has made it please do comment and let me know if you had any issues).  I seem to have contracted some kind of lurgy so for this weekend I decided to make something very easy. Last year I sewed a simple blanket for my newborn niece and my daughter really wanted me to make one for her too.
    My grandma -in-law used to sew all of her own clothes and worked at a tailors in America, when my parents -in-law visit they sometimes bring back some fabric from my grandma-in-laws stash (I assume they ask her first!). Last visit one of the fabric's they brought back was this:

 

  It is such a pretty floral design on quilted fabric. I think it would have probably been bought to make a dressing gown (I remember my own Grandma having a dressing gown made out of similar fabric). For some reason we don't seem to wear dressing gowns much in this house so it seemed silly to use it to make one, but I knew I wanted to use it for something.

  My daughter has a cabin bed so blankets and bed covers that hang down are no good - it struck me that this quilted fabric was the perfect width for her bed. All I needed to do was back it with another fabric and she would have the blanket that she wanted! I had a cute little ditsy floral cotton in my stash that I thought would do just the job!

  One day I would love to make a proper quilt, currently I know nothing about quilting nor do I have any of the necessary equipment - I'm sure if I had some quilting knowledge It would have helped me to join the two fabric's with a professional finish. I knew it would be a bit of a risk just trying to join the two fabric's together especially as the quilted one was slightly stretchy, and I have to admit that after finishing the third side I had a 2 inch excess of the quilted fabric on one side! However amazingly I managed to join everything up with no real issues! I did wonder about bias binding the edges - I think it would look nice and neat with a contrast edging however given my 2015 sewing history I thought I should quit while I was ahead!

 

My daughter loved her bedtime owl peaking out from between the seams!

I was worried that the flowers on the cotton would be too bright, but I think it works well.

 

 

  I really love this fabric not only because it is so pretty but also because of it's history I am so pleased that I have been able to make something useful and beautiful, hopefully my daughter will cherish it for years to come.

  Thanks for dropping by!

             Su xx