memorial quilt for grandchild

[Rochelle W.]

Our 10 week old grandson recently passed away from SIDS. Our daughter has given me his favorite clothes and asked me to make a quilt out of them. Even though it will be difficult, I want to make something that will honor his memory I have made t-shirt quilts before but this one will not be flat since some of the pieces will have snaps and other odd surfaces. Has anyone ever made a quilt like this? I am open to suggestions.

Thanks for your help

[Marion D.]

I am sorry about your grandson, my granddaughter passed away at 9 weeks of SIDS. Making a memorial quilt helped in some strange way.

Try appliqueing the snaps on top of the finished quilt top.

[Marion D.]

Our 10 week old grandson recently passed away from SIDS. Our daughter has given me his favorite clothes and asked me to make a quilt out of them. Even though it will be difficult, I want to make something that will honor his memory I have made t-shirt quilts before but this one will not be flat since some of the pieces will have snaps and other odd surfaces. Has anyone ever made a quilt like this? I am open to suggestions.

Thanks for your help

My sincere sympathies for your loss. I found lots of quilt inspiration online on Pinterest and when I googled "quilt made from baby clothes/onesies", but remembered recently coming across this tutorial for an adorable stuffed bear made from a onesie here --> http://pacountrycrafts.com/baby-clothes-memory-bear-pattern-and-tutorial/

When working with the baby knits, you could interface the fabric and make most any quilt pattern you like as long as your pieces are large enough. As you know, you can always add other fabric yardage to supplement what you have, if needed.

I hope this helps!

Take care,
NancyinSTL

[Geneva C.]

I am so sorry for your loss. Hugs...

I made a quilt from my husband's old flannel shirts. I used the pockets, cuffs and plackets by cutting them out and working them into the whole quilt. Naturally quilting had to be done around the buttons and etc. But it turned out very nice.

Take care, geneva

[Beverly C.]

I am so very sorry for your loss. I am going to try to attach a picture of a quilt a friend created for a customer that was made of her child's clothing. Maybe some of the blocks will help with ideas. Some were pieced blocks and some were appliques. I think she did both machine applique and hand applique, depending on the type of fabric.

[Linda J.]

I am so sorry for your family's loss.
I have made a lot of memory quilts. Here is how I do it.
I layer the entire outfit onto a backing fabric. Then I stitch around the whole outfit with a small zig-zag using clear or matching thread. Then from the back, I carefully cut away as much bulk as possible, leaving only the outfit front and the rest of the block. You can use the baby's blankets or sheets for backing fabric. Don't use very heavy blankets. The blankets and sheets can be cut into blocks, or you can just scatter the outfits around on a blanket or sheet, if you have one big enough. The snaps you will have to carefully quilt around. I usually remove buttons, then sew them back on after quilting. I leave edges of lace and trims loose, not sewn down.
I have quilt a few pictures on my web-site, if you want to look. love-quilts.com God bless you and yours.
Linda