like a quilt
September 2nd, 2011
This may look like a quilt, but it’s really only like a quilt. It’s two vintage sheets stitched together and bound it quilt-like. Most of the summer my kids were using their winter duvet covers as light blankets and it was bothering me to no end. So the quilt-like idea came about.
After too many trips to the thrift store, I finally found two quilts that would work. I cut them to fit the weird ikea bed we have and pinned them together. I knew I wanted to quilt it in long slightly uneven lines–actually just like this beautiful quilt. So I contacted the maker and grilled on her quilting techniques and thread choices.
Then I picked up two different spools of variegated thread (wow, that stuff is expensive): a blue, magenta, and purple one for the flowery side and a more rainbowy one for the purple side. After what seemed like 400 hours of sewing straight lines, I moved onto the binding. I found this awesome Japanese polka dot bias tape in Frances’ beautiful shop, miss matatabi.
I sewed the binding on at the beach (and got many weird looks) and ta! da! Quilt-like thing! Now to start the next like-a-quilt for my son…
Brilliant! Not only did it turn out gorgeous it solves the age old summer blanket dilemma. I want one.
brilliant meg! love it.
It bugs me when my kids use the duvet cover alone too!
I love your quilt-like things :)
I’m glad my kids are not the only ones…and me too
I love it! Just thought I would share what my grandma told me years ago…. “Its the quilting that makes it a quilt, not the piecing…” (imagine a sweet, plump curvy italian lady in her mid to late 70’s… shaking her finger while saying this!) So you do have a quilt!! And a very lovely one at that! I know exactly what I am making for Christmas presents for my niece and nephew this year!! I had forgot all about making “quilts” this way… isn’t it great how something like this can bring back memories!
because damn! the quilting takes a long time. Not to mention the binding. Your grandma sounds awesome–I love her already.
BRILLIANT! SO INSPIRED!!!!!!
Great idea! I’ve had the same dilemna because if I want my kids to use their quilts they can’t be too heavy. So I’ve made some with a quilt top and backed with flannel with no batting and they are great. I didn’t know what to call them either. Battingless quilts? Fat free quilts?lol Anyway, I’m going to agree with the poster above that the quilting makes it a quilt.
lovely! so rich looking. i think i need one for my summer bed!
Haha we went off to the beach this afternoon and I considered taking along the quilt that I’m hand sewing the binding on to. I didn’t, not because I was concerned about the looks more about fish and chips for dinner and wrecking the quilt before it was finished!
What a great idea! I love it!
We call them sheet blankets…because we don’t quilt and bind ours. :) My kids all have one (two sewn wrong sides together and then flipped and sewn shut) and there is nothing I like more than the feel of a vintage cannon sheet. ahhhhhhh. Love yours.
So smart, ESP down south where it’s so stinkin hot all summer and you feel bad running the AC 24/7, so you set it to 80 at night and try not tonsweat too much. Yeah, perfect for that.
It’s beautiful!! I agree with other posters (especially the Italian grandmother!) – you went through all the steps of making a quilt, it’s a quilt! Much easier to do the quilting without the weight of batting, though I bet it felt like you were quilting forever!
Love it. What a simple but cool idea. I’ve been making non quilted patchwork duvet covers for the fam. We all sleep with too hot duvets during the summer, too. It’s kind of silly. We end up just pushing them off. Love your solution.
Love your quilt! Like, crazy. I love, also, that you said ” after too many trips to the thrift store”… that is so my life. My daughter used her duvet cover as her blanket this summer…actually my idea… it is sooo soft and I thought, “why not?”. But, now I’m thinking about your awesome, brilliant idea… Thanks for sharing!
<3 your light weight quilt. I am such a fan of quilts, but my sewing machine is not :( so I make quilt tops and bottoms, then sew them into duvet covers. I use a top sheet from a sheet sheet and then make the quilt top to match. Each set of sheets in my house is now a bottom fitted sheet, a duvet cover and matching pillow cases. I have also taken out all the stuffing from our "summer duvets" because they were too warm. Thanks for showing me another alternative. Maybe if I didn't put batting in my quilts my machine would quilt it.
Really good idea. Once you’re used to a duvet, its tough to go back to tucked in sheets. Mainly, because I hate making the kid’s beds.
This is sucha great idea!! I am making one for myself!
I love it!!
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I made my son something like that last summer (only not nearly as gorgeous!) and it is our favorite summer go-to. When it’s too hot for a blanket, one side is an old sheet from my bed (that was so wonderfully soft yet crisp at the same time!). I bet you will see much use from this :)
beautiful ! i love the dotty bias against the deep pink & all these lines. i may handstitch some on my next little quilt which will be for a friend …
What you have there my friend is a kantha quilt. Two layers of fabric, no batting, long lines of simple running stitch. Smart to yours by machine! I thought, heck, running stitch, how long can that take. It can take forever.
I like this a lot. Teaching full time leaves no time for “real” quilting, but my younger son needs something handmade on his bed like the rest of us. Thanks!