handprinted baby quilt

This quilt started with my hope of showing off a few wonderful handprinted fabrics I had received from Cloth Fabrics. Then I thought it might be a good opportunity to incorporate a few of my other handprinted fabrics I’d collected along the way.

I made up large improv log cabin/square in square type blocks, showing off a fun handprinted fabric in the center of each (in all but one square – I see now that one of the blocks started out with a quilting weight Lotta Jansdotter print instead!). The blocks are on the larger size at 15″ square, so I didn’t need too many to make up a baby quilt.

On the back, I used up some of the larger leftover solid pieces, along with just a few printed pieces tossed in for fun.

Since one of the handprinted fabrics featured a print that looks like Elizabeth’s dogwood quilting, I decided to go for it again and use that type of quilting here. I love how it gives the quilt great texture, but doesn’t detract from the blocks on the front.

A few of you asked about using handprinted fabrics in your quilts, so I thought I’d tell you my experiences. Many of these handprinted fabrics are printed on a heavier weight base cloth, and wouldn’t typically be what I would choose to quilt with. However, I went for it anyway since they were being mixed in with regular quilting weight cottons. It does make for some bulkier seams, and a bit of a stiffer quilt (though I used mainly softer fabrics on the backing and used a lighter weight batting to try to offset that). Additionally, I did experience a bit of fading on a few of the handprinted fabrics after washing. I tend to expect that from handprinted fabrics, but it’s certainly something to keep in mind if you’re adding them to a quilt you expect to wash frequently.