Here goes..
You will need..
17 x 82 cm piece of old curtain lining or other fabric
17 x 82 cm piece of blanket (or wadding)
17 x 82 cm piece of cotton fabric or recycled shirt
2 x (17 x 20)cm pieces of blanket
2 x (17 x 20)cm pieces of medium weight fabric for pockets
Scraps of cotton fabric for stitch and flip
Bias binding to coordinate
Small loop of ribbon or fabric loop
Method:
Take a piece of medium weight cotton fabric (I used an old curtain lining), and cut to 17 by 82cm.
Use this as your base and cover the entire surface using stitch and flip.
This is a well used method and there are some pretty good tutorials around if you need one.
Basically it involves stitching strips to a backing fabric and each time you add another strip, you sew it to the last piece right sides together, and then flip it over to show the right side and iron it down before adding the next strip. I think this is the fun bit, picking out scraps of fabric and matching them up together to suit the person you are going to give to. Are they bright and bold, calm and quiet, pretty in pink, or keen on purple!!
Once you have covered the fabric, trim any uneven edges.
Then cut a further two pieces 17 by 82 cm, one from old blanket (or you could use wadding), and one from cotton (I use an old shirt here although you may need to join two pieces of shirt to make it big enough unless you know a very big person!).
Now it's time to put it all together.
Place the main piece of stitch and flip on a flat surface right side down.
On top, place the large piece of blanket.
Then place the smaller blanket rectangles one on each end (these are for extra padding to stop you burning your hands).
Then lay the piece of shirt fabric (or whatever you are using) right side up on the top.
Then you should have what looks like a long fabric sandwich.
It is at this point that I have to admit how lazy I am when sewing. I would like to say that it is because I am pushed for time, but actually I am just keen to get it all finished.
You could pin (with big quilting pins or safety pins) the sandwich together and then tack it all. Sometimes if it's going to someone as a present I 'glue' the layers together using temporary fabric adhesive spray.
But if it's just for me I shove in a couple of pins and wing it!!
So then you need to quilt together the layers. It doesn't really matter how and 5 or 6 short stripes will hold it fine, but you could also do wiggly lines, circles, or any old pattern of quilting that you fancy.
Then cut two rectangles 17 by 20 cm. These will form the pockets on either end. They can be made from any fabric but need to hold their own, so if you use a thinish cotton I would line it ie make it double. Bind the top edge of the pockets either with bias binding or a strip of fabric.
It is at this point that I usually slightly round the corners of the main piece and the pockets as shown above.
Next place the pockets on either end (wrong side of the pocket to the right side of the shirt material) and pin and/or tack in place.
The aim is to sew all the way round the edge, about 1cm in, attaching all the layers together.
Go for it.
Finally use the bias binding to bind round the edge. Tuck in a little loop of ribbon or fabric to hang it up with as you sew on the bias binding.
I sewed the bias binding on to the shirt side first, following the stitching line from previously sewing the sandwich all together, and then hand sewed it down to the front, but you can do it either side first really.
Ta da.
Please let me know if you make one and if there are any bits of the tutorial that don't make sense and I will try and clarify.
Happy sewing.
