Puff / Bubble / Biscuit Quilt Tutorial ~ Free-Tutorial.net

Sewing instructions: a baby bubble blanket (alternatively also as a rug, for the dog,...)
One of the things I got for Christmas was a great patchwork ruler, which I had been longing for. Because I've had a dream for a long time: I wanted to sew a bubble blanket for our little Anna. Some time ago I saw such a blanket for a dog basket on the www and really wanted to try it out

No sooner said than done... On Christmas Eve, I started trying it out straight away and got the hang of how to make these bubbles pretty quickly. I spent almost 17 hours on this project - so it's not just something for a nice sewing evening. It takes a little longer. But the end result makes up for all those hours.

Alternatively, you can of course make a small dog blanket out of it. Or a cushion. Or or or. But today I would like to show you how to use this technique in general.

What do you need?
- Patchwork ruler and / or ruler
- some cardboard
- Pencil, if you are not using a rotary cutter
- Non-stretch fabrics, preferably woven, not too thick
- pins
- Scissors, even better: rotary cutter
- Sewing machine (overlock also works, but you will definitely need the sewing machine at the end)
- Filling cotton
- Seam ripper, alternatively: small scissors
- Needle and thread
- Fleece / teddy fabric / plush for the back

I started by making 2 squares of different sizes. In my case, I cut out one square in 10x10 cm and one in 12x12. I recommend making the 2nd square 2 cm longer on each side than the smaller one. Which size you use is of course up to you.

Of course, a patchwork ruler is ideal for this. I was able to quickly make my cardboard patterns with it, but you can of course also use a square the size of the ruler (here: 15x15 cm), for example, and thus have less work.

Now let's take a look at the fabrics we want to use. Unfortunately, I can't give you any information on fabric consumption at this point, as each blanket is individually sized - and I used fabric remnants.

In my case, I painted and cut out 144 squares each in 12x12 and 10x10 cm. At this point: this was the “worst” work. Cutting it all out with scissors. A rotary cutter would be very useful here, it's already on my “must buy list” =) . The small squares form the underside of the “upper ceiling”, they are later in the middle of the ceiling, so they are completely invisible. So you can use any scraps here that you would otherwise throw away.

288 squares are now waiting to be processed:

We take a large and a small square. The small square is at the bottom, whether the pretty side is facing up or down doesn't matter because you won't see it later. The larger square is on the right, i.e. the pretty side up.

Now place the larger square on top of the smaller square at any corner and pin it in place.

We do the same with the next corner.

There is now excess fabric between the 2 pins, as the square is larger at the top. We fold this upwards approximately in the middle (doesn't have to be exact) as shown in the picture...

and fold it over to either side. Pin in place.

Now pin the next corner again and repeat the previous step with the excess fabric until all 4 corners have been pinned and the excess fabric on each side has been folded over and pinned.

This is how it should look now :

Now do the same with all your other squares =) .
Then think about what pattern you want your blanket to have. It is best to lay them out on the floor the way you want them later, this makes it easier to put them together and prevents mistakes (it has already happened to me that 2 identical squares were under each other in a patchwork quilt - annoying).

Once you have your pattern together, start piecing the individual parts together. To do this, take the first two squares from the first row...

Place them right sides together...

... and pins them together on one side.

Now take the next square and pin it to the 2nd square - and so on until a row has been pinned.

Repeat this with each row individually.

Now it's finally time to sew =) . Sew the squares you have just pinned together with a straight stitch to the width of a foot on the pinned sides. Do this again with all the rows.

Once the rows have been prepared, they are joined together. To do this, simply take rows 1 and 2, place them right sides together again and pin them at the long side - and then sew them together there.

Then pin and sew the 3rd row here, then the 4th row and so on until you have sewn all the rows together.

This is how it should look at first:

Now measure your work. One side is 1.05 m long in my case.

I now cut 4 long strips, each 5 cm thick (you can of course choose a different thickness here!) in the length I have just measured, i.e. 1.05 m in my case. I also cut out 4 squares measuring 5x5 cm for the corners. Alternatively, you can simply extend 2 of your 4 strips by 2x your chosen thickness, then you won't need any additional squares.

I now sew these long strips to each side of my blanket - and at the beginning and end of each strip are my (gray) small squares.

This is how it should look now.

You don't have to, but it is appropriate at this point: ironing. Not the whole blanket, but the strips that have just been sewn on.

Once this is finished, turn the ceiling over....

Take a seam ripper (alternatively: small scissors, e.g. nail scissors) and very carefully (!!!) cut a slit in each square of this fabric. Important: only in the fabric, not in the fabric underneath, otherwise there will be a tear in the blanket later, which we don't want.

Now you can fill each individual square with wadding. How much you stuff is certainly a matter of taste. But to make it nice and soft for my baby, I didn't stuff it to the last corner, otherwise it would be too hard.

Now sew the slits closed again by hand. Rough stitches are sufficient for this, but they don't have to look nice - the important thing is that the wadding doesn't come out. I use slightly thicker thread here.

When everything is sewn up again, choose your fabric for the back. I have chosen a cozy fabric:

Now lay this fabric out in front of you - this works best on the floor - and place your blanket over it, right sides facing. Pin in place and cut off the excess fabric from the fleece.

Now sew the two layers together almost all the way around. Important: we need a turning opening, which must be slightly larger due to the bubbles. I left approx. 28 cm open.