Sewing for the Modern Teen

My 14 year old stepson asked if “we” could make his new (and first) niece a baby blanket. I said, “Sure, you can do that!” I showed him my stash of pink flannel and other girly fabrics. He was not inspired. We went to the local fabric store and he picked out University of Alabama fleece for the backing then a black/red/white flannel plaid, and a solid red flannel for the quilt top. This tiny little girl will have her first and very own ‘Bama Blanket – Roll Tide! (Apparently, his mom and her entire family are rabid ‘Bama fans.)

As you may know, determining how many squares and of what size requires – wait for it – MATH! Gasp! The horror! Now, Skippy is not a huge fan of the math. I feel his pain since it wasn’t my best subject, either. But we sat down and drew some pictures and used some graph paper and a calculator to come up with the correct numbers. He decided on a 24″ x 24″ quilt so he needed 9 squares that were 8″ x 8″. Of course, we had to discuss seam allowance, so he ended up cutting out 9 squares that were 9″ x 9″. I thought a generous seam allowance would be a safe decision for this first project.

We pinned the squares together and he sewed the first 3 strips. Then we pinned the strips together and he sewed those together to get the quilt top.

Although he had a general idea of how the top would look, the concept of how it would actually come together wasn’t there until he finished the last stitch and held up the finished top. I must say that he was pretty danged impressed with himself and for good reason! Take a look at this –

He put the fleece on the back and we talked about placement of fabric with a design so it doesn’t look wonky. After pinning the front to the back, he learned how to “stitch in the ditch” and sewed two seams across his rows to add stability to the blanket when it is washed and used. I am going to finish the binding for him with a pretty black satin blanket binding ‘cuz I’m a nice Evil Stepmom like that.

The embroidery you see is the little girl’s name with her first inital “A” in a style that is similar to the University of Alabama “A”.

I think Skippy did a great job and his niece is a lucky little girl!