Linus Love Quilt - A Tutorial

Linus Love Applique Quilt

I have long been inspired by creative blogs and dreamed of writing my first quilt pattern/tutorial.  I recently decided that now was the time to undertake this and have decided to dedicate it to Project Linus UK.  You may have read in my recent blog post about Project Linus UK after I recently gifted my first quilt to them. 

In 2016 I made two scrappy heart quilts as commissions and thought something similar would be super-cute for a baby/child quilt.  I have done some applique quilts for my little Pickle including a money and some owls.  So here is my tutorial for the Linus Love Quilt – I hope you enjoy making one of these and might even consider donating a quilt to Project Linus (for details of local coordinators in your area click here). 

You will need:

1m plain or low volume background fabric (I love plain white)

1m of quilt wadding and 1m of backing fabric (or just 1m of micro fleece)

Assorted scraps of fabric (see templates for sizes)

1m bondaweb

Skinny quarter of binding fabric or 4m of pre-made binding

Templates

Download and print this template.  Cut each of the pieces out.  I then like to mount them onto card to make them easier to use but this is not necessary.  Tip: any sort of cardboard from your recycling will do for this. 

From your fabric, cut pieces just larger than the rectangle templates.  Cut 15 of template 1, 14 of template 2 and 13 of template 3. 

Use the same templates and cut pieces of bondaweb the same size as the template.  You will need the same quantities as above: 15 x 1, 14 x 2 and 13 x 3.  Note, you need to cut the fabric slightly larger than the bondaweb to avoid it sticking to your ironing board.

Iron all of your fabric scraps to ensure they are smooth and crease-free and then mount bondaweb onto the back of each piece.  Ensure you iron the paper-covered side and don’t overlap the bondaweb, otherwise it will stick to your ironing board. 

Use the heart templates to mark the back of each piece of fabric (I use a pencil or biro) and then cut your hearts.  Again you will need the following quantities: 15 x 1, 14 x 2 and 13 x 3.  Then, cut out each of the hearts. 

Remove the backing paper from the hearts so they are ready to mount onto your fabric.

Take your background fabric and cut a piece 36 x 36 inches.  This is a size that works well for children or laps! 

Having printed the template document at the start, now take the pieces that show the positioning of the hearts and stick them together using the diamonds to match the pieces together. 

Once completed, use the plan to guide you to position your hearts onto the fabric.  You can either do this by sight or place the paper under the fabric and place the hearts on top.  Once you are happy with the positioning you can iron the hearts to secure them.    

Use your sewing machine to applique the hearts and further secure them.  You can either use a traditional straight stitch, slowly moving the fabric around to make a heart shape or you can drop you feed teeth and free-motion them.  I would suggest practising on a separate piece of fabric before jumping onto the main quilt. 

Once all of the hearts are sewn, it is time to start constructing your quilt.  There are two methods for doing this.  Either layer backing fabric (right side facing down), quilt wadding and then your quilt top and secure together using tacking, spray adhesive or quilting pins.  Or you can layer fleece and the quilt top and again secure them using tacking, spray adhesive or quilting pins.  Normally I would use wadding and backing fabric but for this particular one I have gone for the fleece option, being good for use in hospitals etc. as it is easy to wash and quick to dry.  My personal preference is to secure the layers with curved quilting pins but any of the aforementioned will work. 

                             

Next you want to increase your stitch length and start quilting the layers together.  You can do this in any design that you like, but I prefer simple designs.  For this one I quilted two hearts around the outside of the scrap hearts and added a couple of straight lines near the top and bottom of the quilt. 

Finally you will need to bind your quilt.  For this there are two options: use a pre-made binding, or make your own.  I always prefer to make my own binding but pre-made is a much quicker option.  If you fancy making binding please see my binding tutorial.

And now you are done. Congratulations!  If you are a quilter I would urge you to make and donate a quilt to Project Linus (even if it isn’t this design) and help a poorly baby or child in your local area.  If you have used this free tutorial and wish to make a donation to Project Linus UK please click here.