Hello! It’s Kristina Brinkerhoff from Center Street Quilts here to share with you a simple, but striking, Modern Gradient Baby Quilt Tutorial. A friend of mine recently adopted sweet twin baby girls and since I’m never one to turn down the opportunity of making a baby quilt, I got to work planning. I wanted a design that would be easy to plan two similar, coordinating quilts, and fairly quick to sew (I had two to make, after all).
I settled on a strip quilt design with a gradient of five colors separated by thin white strips. Since the front of the quilts were going to be super streamlined and simple, I decided to add a fun little surprise to the backing. Read to the end of the blog post to see how great the backs turned out!
For now, though, let’s get going on this super straightforward Modern Gradient Baby Quilt tutorial.
Finished Size: 40″ x 56″
Fabric Requirements:
1/3 yard each of five Confetti Cotton solids in a gradient of colors
1/3 yard Confetti Cotton in Riley White
1/2 yard binding
44″ x 60″ piece of batting
2 yards backing
Cutting Instructions:
From each of the five gradient 1/3 yard cuts:
Trim each of the gradient colors 1/3 yard cuts to 10″ x 40″ pieces.
From the Riley White 1/3 yard:
Cut into (4) 2 1/2″ x 40″ strips.
From the binding fabric:
Cut into (5) 2 1/2″ x WOF strips.
Sewing Instructions:
- Lay out the (5) 10″ x 40″ pieces in a light a light to dark gradient.
- Sew a Riley White 2 1/2″ x 40″ strip in between each 10″ x 40″ piece, right sides together. Press away from the Riley White strips.
- Baste the quilt top, batting, and backing together. Quilt and bind as desired.
That’s it! Super simple, right?!?
For my two matching quilts, I chose to have one coral quilt and one mint quilt, so the quilts would each be very different colors, but look wonderful together. And since I know it can be hard to guess colors from photos, I kept track of the Confetti Cotton colors from my Modern Gradient Baby Quilts in case anyone wants to replicate the gradients:
Coral Quilt (from light to dark): Ballerina, Peaches N Cream, Riley Coral, Lipstick, Tea Rose
Mint Quilt (from light to dark): Hint of Mint, Caribbean, Vivid, Jade, Cape Verde
Let’s take a look at the fun backs now!
I usually make and gift baby quilts before the baby is born (and has a definite name), but since the tiny recipients of these quilts have already made their appearance, I just had to add their names to the backing of the quilts. The names certainly increase the cute factor, plus no wondering which blanket belongs to which twin (that’s a win-win!). The letter blocks are foundation paper pieced and are from the My First Alphabet pattern by From Blank Pages.
Thanks for following along with me on this tutorial. You can find more free patterns and tutorials on my website: Center Street Quilts, or follow along with my quilting adventures on instagram: @centerstreetquilts.
Happy sewing!
Kristina
Website/Blog: Center Street Quilts
Instagram: @centerstreetquilts
Pattern Shop: Center Street Quilts on Etsy