Make a Whole Cloth Quilt with 4 Layer Gauze

Learn to make a quilt with 4 layer gauze.  This is one of the easiest quilts you could ever make, and you will love it.  Here are the 2 quilts I made using 4 layer gauze.

What is 4 Layer Gauze

Gauze is a light, thin, loosely woven fabric.   4 layer gauze is simply, that: 4 layers of gauze attached together.  The 4 layers are basted together every ½” or so with almost undetectable basting stitches.  That’s why the fabric looks flat at first, but when washed it gets that crinkly look.

 

What is a Whole Cloth Quilt

A whole cloth quilt is a quilt that is made of just one (or two) single layers of cloth.  There is no cutting or piecing.  It truly is the easiest quilt to make.  In fact, a single layer would almost not qualify to be called a quilt, except I did a little hand quilting, so we will call it a quilt.  The only thing I did beyond hand quilting for both versions, was a binding.  But besides that, it is so simple!

How To Make A Whole Cloth Quilt With 4 Layer Gauze

To make a whole cloth quilt with 4 layer gauze:

1.  Choose what fabrics you want to use.
   1. If you pick want different fabrics for front and back, pick which fabric you want to use.
      1. I have seen people buy bed sheets they like and use the two sheets as the front and back of a whole quilt cloth.  It’s an easy way to avoid piecing fabrics together to make it large enough.
   2. You CAN use just one layer of cloth, like my 4 layer gauze.
   3. You can use batting if you want, it’s personal preference.
2. Decide how you want to quilt your whole cloth quilt.
   1. This can be any way you like!  If you have 4 layer gauze, you actually don’t need to do any quilting at all.
   2. You can do hand quilting, machine quilting, decorative, straight line.  Anything you want!
3. Pick out fabric for the binding. 
   1. Your whole cloth quilt WILL need a binding.
   2. Download my binding cheat sheet here to see how many strips of binding you need based on what size quilt you make.
      
   3. My favorite binding tutorial is HERE, from Alison of Cluck Cluck Sew.
4. Quilt your Whole Cloth Quilt
   1. If you are putting two fabrics together, you NEED to quilt so as the fabrics stay together.
      1. Check out my blog post on 3 WAYS TO FINISH A QUILT BY HAND.
   2. If you are using (1) 4 layer gauze fabric as a whole cloth quilt, you actually don’t even need to quilt it.  Can it still be called a quilt at that point?  I’m not sure . . .  However, I loved adding hand quilting to mine just for the look.
      
5. Wash your Whole Cloth Quilt
   1. This is the fun part!  If you use 4 layer gauze for your quilt, after you wash it, the texture becomes amazing!  It gets crinkly and soft and oh, so wonderful!

 

Fabrics I Used and Where to Find Them

For my Whole Cloth Quilts, I mentioned I got my gauze from Field and Cloth.  That is a small shop, however, and they only had a small supply of the 4 layer gauze.  Here are a few other places to find some:

• Etsy.  Type ‘4 Layer Gauze’ in the search bar and you will find independent shops that carry 4 layer gauze.
• Birch Fabrics.  They just started carrying Organic 4 layer gauze.
• Shannon Fabrics.  In the search magnifying glass, type GAUZE.  Shannon fabrics is THE place to find soft and cuddly fabrics, by the way. Love her stuff!

For the front of my whole cloth quilt, when I used decorative fabric, I decided to use Magical Mushroom by Erin McManness of Paper Raven Co for Cotton and Steel Fabrics.  Her entire line is AMAZING and a current favorite.  But I picked this particular color because it’s soft, goes with my home decor, and I just had to have it.  You know the feeling, am I right?

The Finished Whole Quilt Cloth

Here are my end products.  I hope you get a chance to make a whole quilt cloth.  It’s super fast and easy, and great to have!

 

Be sure to check out my other tutorials

• How to Make a Rag Quilt
• Making Perfect Turned Edge Applique Circles
• Free Gingham Quilt Pattern and Tutorial

 

Learn How To Make A Rag Quilt – The EASIEST Beginner Quilt

The Easiest Beginner Quilt

Do you want to learn how to make a rag quilt?  It is one of the EASIEST quilts you can make, plus everyone will love it.  You can make a quick baby quilt, or make a larger size for yourself.  I was lucky to use Day Dream, Patty Basemi’s first line of fabric for Art Gallery Fabrics. 

WHAT YOU NEED to make a Rag Quilt

To make a rag quilt, you will need fabric, batting, a sewing machine, thread, and scissors.  I will give you fabric requirements for 2 sizes of Rag Quilts: a baby size and a lap size.

FABRIC FOR BABY SIZE RAG QUILT (30″ x 40″)

1 ⅜ yards of decorative fabric OR you can use fabric from your stash.  You only need (48) 6″ squares total for your front fabric.  This is a great way to use your stash!

1 ⅜ yards for backing fabric.

30″ x 40″ piece of batting, or (48) 5″ squares of batting.

FABRIC FOR LAP SIZE RAG QUILT (50″ x 60″)

3 3/8 yards of decorative fabric OR you can use fabric from your stash.

3 3/8 yards for backing fabric.

50″ x 60″ piece of batting, or (120) 5″ squares of batting.

Cutting Fabric for Rag Quilt

BABY (6 blocks x 8 blocks) – 30″ x 40″

1. Cut (48) 6″ squares from backing fabric
2. Cut (48) 6″ squares from decorative front fabric
3. Cut (48) 5″ squares from batting

LAP (10 blocks x 12 blocks) – 50″ x 60″

1. Cut (120) 6″ squares from backing fabric
2. Cut (120) 6″ squares from decorative front fabric
3. Cut (120) 5″ squares from batting

Sewing Fabrics for Rag Quilt

1. 1. Layer (1) backing square, wrong side up, (1) batting square, and (1) decorative front square, right side up.  Place the fabrics wrong side together so that the decorative parts of the fabric face out.  Take care to center the batting.

      

      

2. Repeat this for all of your fabric sandwich squares.  (48) Total for baby size.  (120) Total for lap size. 

Making Rows for Rag Quilt

1. Place (2) fabric sandwich squares together with the backing fabric touching.  This is different from most other quilts, as you will have your finished seams on the front of the quilt.  I made the mistake of sewing my squares with the decorative fabrics touching.  See my photo below of how that turned out.
   This shows the backing fabrics touching.

Here you can see where I have the seams going to the BACK of the quilt. I had to unpick this and redo them so the seams came to the front of the quilt.

1. Sew one side of the squares together with a ½” seam allowance.  Open.  Your seam is facing the front of your quilt, which is exactly what you want.

   

2. Keep adding additional squares, one at a time, with backing fabrics touching, to make (1) long row.  All seams should be on the front of the quilt, sticking out.
3. Baby: sew 8 rows of 6 blocks.
4. Lap: Sew 12 rows of 10 blocks.

Making Quilt Top for Rag Quilt

1. Pin (2) rows with backing fabric touching.  Place pins at each corner to make sure the corners match.  Seams should go in opposite directions, but you don’t need to worry too much about this.  This quilt is very forgiving when it comes to which direction your seams go.
2. Sew row together with ½” seam allowance.  Open. Your seams should be facing the front of your quilt.
3. Keep sewing rows together with backing fabric touching to make the quilt.
4. Sew all around the outside edge of your quilt using a ½” seam allowance.
5. Take scissors and cut your seams on the front of your quilt.  Make sure to stop at the seam and do not cut onto the quilt top.
   I spaced my snips about ½” apart, but you do not need to measure.  Just use your eye and whatever distance apart you prefer.
   
6. When all seams have been cut, wash and dry your rag quilt.
7. Enjoy your fluffy fraying rag quilt!
   

   

   

   

If you liked this free quilt tutorial, be sure to see my other free tutorials and patterns:

• Free Gingham Quilt Pattern
• Free Playtime Pattern
• 3 Ways To Finish A Quilt by Hand
• How To Hang Your Quilt As Decoration

How to Make Turned Edge Appliqué Circles

While the concept of Turned Edge Applique has been around for ages, it has more recently gotten much easier than it was in the past! In this post, you’ll learn how to easily make perfect appliqué circles to add an extra flare to your next quilting project.

Hi, I’m Emily from Homemade Emily Jane here to show you how I make perfect turned-edge appliqué circles in a fun, modern way. Grab some scraps of fabric and join me in making a few of these circles – you’ll soon be hooked!

Gather Your Supplies:

• Fabric Scraps & coordinating thread
• Applipops
• Liquid Starch (Sta-flo is recommended, but Elmer’s Glue can work too!)
• Hot Iron
• Sewing Machine

I was personally always a bit intimidated by appliqué circles, because I had this idea in my mind that they were hard to make and needed to be hand sewn. Thankfully, neither of those are true! I recently learned how to make perfect turned edge appliqué circles using a small metal device that made all the difference for me and attached them to my project using a sewing machine.

The secret to my success is through using a small device called Applipops. These small round metal circles work as a template as well as an ironing tool to help make perfect circles. Let me show you how they work! You can watch this video or follow along in the images below.

You can use code  EMILYJANE to save 10% on applipops.com. 

How to Make Perfect Appliqué Circles

The first thing to do is decide what size circles you want to make for your project. Applipops come in sets of sizes that make it really easy! You can get them in ½” increment sizes or ⅜” increments. I personally got 2 of each set. The project I’m making to demonstrate this technique is a small quilt block that features 9 circles. To add a fun modern aspect to the design, I decided to make 3 large circles, 4 medium size circles, and 2 small circles.

Once you’ve decided what sizes you want to make, grab the scraps of fabric you plan to use for the circles. Arrange your fabric inside two circles that lock it into place.

Trim about a ¼” around the edge of the smaller circle. (this is the part that gets turned under) The right side of your fabric should be showing on top of the smaller circle.

Flip your circle over so the wrong side is up, and dampen your raw edges with starch. Sta-flo liquid starch is recommended but I’ve found that you can also use glue in a pinch. I tried it with Best Press and it worked a little bit, but I had much more success with glue.

Gently and evenly arrange your raw edges towards the center of your circle. Make sure the puckers are as even as possible and there aren’t any sharp points around the circle. 

Use the hot iron to press it all into place. The heat from the iron will dry the starch. Once the starch is dry, take the iron off and let the circles cool down. Since the applipops are made of metal, and metal conducts heat, they will also get very hot. Be careful not to burn yourself! 

Once cooled, you’ll be able to separate the circles and pop the center circle out of the fabric. 

Press your fabric one more time without the applipops. Repeat this process to make your desired amount of turned edge appliqué circles.

Appliquéing the Circles into Place 

Attaching your circles onto your fabric is actually quite easy! Begin by pinning your circles into place on a piece of background fabric. You could also use fusible web to temporarily adhere them, but I found pins to be just fine. 

Next, get your sewing machine ready. I recommend threading your sewing machine with a thread that matches your circle. You can use a normal straight stitch if you like, but I prefer a blanket stitch. If you can adjust the speed on your machine, make it super slow. 

Carefully and slowly begin stitching around the edges of one of your circles. 

When using a blanket stitch I try to line it up so that the straight stitches are “in the ditch” between the circle and the background and then the sideways stitches come out onto the circle to tack it into place. If you’re using a straight stitch you’ll want them all to be on your circle, an ⅛” or less away from the edge. 

Repeat the stitching process around the edges of all your circles.

Finishing your Appliqué Circles Sewing Project

Consider turning your small appliqué project into something like a mug rug, pot holder, or zipper pouch!

More Quilting Tutorials

If you enjoyed this sewing project tutorial, be sure to follow Emily on Instagram, Pinterest, or YouTube, and check out some of the other free quilting tutorials on HomemadeEmilyJane.com:

• FREE EXPLORE QUILT PATTERN
• COMPLETE QUILT BINDING TUTORIAL (by hand & by machine!)
• HOW TO CHOOSE QUILT BATTING
• 7 SCRAPPY SEWING PROJECTS