Modern Log Cabin Baby Quilt: Tutorial

Need a starter project to jump into quilting? This is it. What I’m dubbing the “continous log cabin” quilt pattern couldn’t be a better place to start.  It’s great for showcasing your favorite fabric, using up scraps, and creating a bright, modern blanket that any little one (and their parents!) will love. Mine is for sale in my Etsy shop (if you are loving it as much as I am and simply have to have it) but if you’d like to venture out into making your own, read below, like WAY down below all these photos 😉

Here’s my (not so methodical) method:

1. Gather scraps.  Iron them all so they are nice and flat then trim the up into rectangles. You will want to give yourself a variety of widths. The lengths are not all that important as we’ll be trimming as we go. I’ve been using lots of cut 2″ strips lately so that’s where many of my smaller scraps came from.

2. Choose a center square fabric as your starting point. It can really be any size but mine was 4″ and seemed a nice anchor.

3. Follow this diagram to complete your strip-connecting in rounds. Once this pattern clicks, you’ll be on a roll.

I used 1/4″ seam allowances to keep things simple and pinned here and there once the strips started getting longer.

4. After sewing each log onto the previous one, make sure you carefully iron the seam away from the center.  Do this gently, without pulling or distorting your fabric, or things will start to get wonky.

5. Continue piecing logs around and around until you have the desired size blanket.

6. Baste, quilt, and bind in any method you wish.  I spaced my quilting lines pretty far apart to maintain a squishier quilt.  More quilting lines = a firmer feel so I kept it sparse.  I used “warm and natural” batting and a bold black and white stripe binding (handmade) from Michael Miller. Your quilt, your rules.

Easy, right? Start sewing!