I was fortunate enough to be presenting my trunk show to a quilt guild. And one of the
big things they do at that guild for philanthropy are fidget quilts. And I thought what is a
fidget quilt? Well I’ll show you. Let’s get started.
Fidget quilts are a great way to bless those folks in your life that may have something
like Alzheimer’s, dementia, ADHD, ADD. Something where they need to keep their minds and their
hands busy at all times. Kind of like me I guess, right? I love to fidget. So what we
have for you today is a fantastic printable. And that’s just right there in the link
below. And it shows you the layout of my quilt. And talks to you about a lot of the different
objects we’re going to put together in the quilt. But before we even start today’s
lesson, let’s think safety, right? I want you to think about the person you’re going
to be blessing with this quilt. And I want you to think about what they’re needs are
and what they want to play with. And make sure it’s safe and it’s washable while
you’re picking the notions out of your notions drawer, right? So I chose this really cool
Cafe print from Wilmington. It’s a five by five square, there’s about 40 pieces
in it. But you don’t want your background to get all that large. So I did a five by
seven, you could even go smaller if you want. Remember very portable. You want to keep these
handy.
So what you’re going to first do is you’re going to take your squares, right? And you’ll
just start laying them out in an order where you like the way the colors go. But I want
you to set about five or seven aside at least because I’m going to teach you to make prairie
points. I’m going to show you some pockets and some zippers and all kinds of things.
So we’re going to need a few extra squares to work with. So you just go ahead and build
out all of your pieces that you’re going to use the five by seven. And then let’s
get involved in creating the actual fidgets we’ll call them.
Now I addressed each fidget individually but I constructed the quilt in a series of columns.
So what I’m going to show you first right here how to handle the burlap for the texture.
But we’re going to put everything together in the seams across here as the quilt goes
and then we’ll sew the columns together, ok? So in doing that, like I said, I chose
burlap because it’s got a wonderful texture. And again I’m making a quilt here for my
grandfather. I want it to be masculine looking. I want it to be somewhat sophisticated looking.
So I’m also choosing colors that are appropriate. So the burlap has a great texture. So made
a couple five inch slices. One of them I folded in half. And I simply captured, as you can
see here, into the seam allowance so that it was something that could be lifted and
played with. The other version I did, I simply took and made a loop where this was stitched
in on both seam allowances. And that’s why having all of your layout designed first this
is important so I know which squares are going where. So that’s how I handled my burlap.
And it was very simple. Here you see them in the quilt again. There’s the three dimensional
loop. And here’s the loop where you can just slide your hand underneath to play with
but it’s connected on both sides.
Speaking of loops there’s something else that was really fun here. On these I used
a standard satin ribbon and I just made different sizes of loops. And I pinned those in place
so I could catch them later, right? But over here I have what looked to be the same length
of loops but I’m also trying to stretch the mind and stretch some of the loops. One
of them is elastic. One of them is smooth and satin. The other one is rough and grow
grain. So I’m trying to, like I said, keep the person thinking that is playing with it,
what is exciting about this. When I stretch on here what happens. So if I come down here
to this other piece of elastic, I’ve got a lot more give. I’ve got a lot more things
you can do with this as I fidget about. Another thing you can do with your ribbons or your
rick-rack, both are great for fidget quilts, is I love these like 3-D woven pieces. So
this I just caught those in the seam allowances as I went around. But right here I actually
topstitched them down in the same woven fashion. But I made those ones wonky. So I’m thinking
about layout and I’m thinking about construction. What is different to me now about this loop
than is different to me about this loop. So those were a lot of fun as I went through,
ok? And so again, grow grain ribbon, satin ribbon, rick-rack is awesome, right? The rick-rack
I used sometimes just on a corner to corner. So it was elevated, right? This rick-rack
I stitched down the center so you play with it but you couldn’t get your fingers underneath
it. And this rick-rack I stitched one on top of the other. The micro on top of the medium
so you can see both colors. And a final piece of rick-rack, remember you’re giving them
lots of things to look at. I have one, two, three, pieces just stitched down so you can
play with them but you can’t get your hands underneath them. Constantly challenging the
mind, right?
Now I thought this was really going to be fun, again thinking for grandpa and he loves
construction and stuff. So this was the end of this tape which was literally a plastic
measuring tape that I got for next to nothing. Now the problem was I didn’t test it. And
so, like I said, safety first. When I put the iron next to this it started to melt.
So when I made this section down here I wanted to get some numbers into the quilt. I used
a strip of this tape. But in doing so I couldn’t iron, I had to kind of press by hand those
seams. So if you’re using something like this, please test it, it may melt and you
want to be very careful if that happens that way, ok? Now moving down the line let’s
talk prairie points. Prairie points in corners are super fun and this is easy to make. But
I wanted to have some objects here like large and small. So to create a prairie point, it’s
very easy. You simply will take, that’s how we’re going to put it in in a second.
You’ll simply take your square like it is and you’re going to want the print sides
out. So you’re going to go look at your back side and you’re going to fold it here.
And then fold it again. And at this point what I normally would do is come right over
here and I grab myself an iron and I”m going to set that down to press this. But I’ll
go ahead and just capture that pinked edge into the seam allowance later on. So like
here it was and I just captured that pinked edge right there into this seam allowance
down here so that also could be added into the quilt.
So like I said sometimes you’re building off of each square. So here was the prairie
point. The next seam down I added in some of that jumbo rick-rack to catch that in there
as well, ok? Now back to the prairie point. So I’ve got large ones and I’ve also got
small ones. And small ones are easy to make as well. You take your square, divide it into
quarters. So you’re going to get four that are about that size, right? Once that happens
fold it in half right sides out. Then you’re going to quarter fold it again. But these
get kind of small. And in the quilt I had them going to both directions in the same
square, again for the visual interest of it. So once I pressed it like this you can probably
see here that I did a little bit of stitching on it just to hold it in place while I get
it over and ready to quilt. So I can play with them in both the seams I’m creating
and the column seams later. Here they are now. So you can see these were caught up and
those are those little prairie points next to the big prairie points. Again what is the
difference in my mind. What am I thinking about? What is this challenging me to do?
Ok?
So a couple more things I’m dying to show you. Pockets, pockets are super fun. I’ve
got a pocket up here and I’ve got a pretend looking pocket right here. So the way I did
those was I bought some ready made bias trim but you certainly could use one of your squares.
It’s going to be the right length. But for the first one, a pseudo pocket, I just took
this trim and I stitched it right into that seam allowance like I’ve been doing all
the other base construction, ok? So that was easy but then I cut off another five inch
section because of my five inch squares. And I took one of those squares and I cut about
an inch and a half off the bottom. And then I just went ahead and I faced the top of that
with the welting or the trim. And then I can stitch this on like this so that that there
will become this extra pocket right here that I can just go ahead and put my hands in. You
could put all kinds of little treasures in there as well. You could even put a piece
of elastic with like a key or something that comes out of there so that they have something
to tuck back in and out of the pockets as you go. Then that little scrap piece I just
folded it up and back on the quilt I made myself another little pseudo flap to play
with. So that again I would be thinking, is it a ribbon, is this a pocket that’s going
on here?
Now can’t forget velcro on a fidget quilt but I’m thinking, what about maybe if I’m
going to church or go I’m going to go to the library with this fidget quilt. So on
my velcro I made my pieces completely removable so I could go ahead and stick those together
and keep them in my pocket while my person that’s fidgeting with this quilt can’t
make a bunch of noise, right? The velcro itself was simply stitched down in place one piece
at a time. So you can see here and I put in the lighter color thread so you can see the
stitching, that I just went ahead and stitched this down onto the square as if it were here.
Take that, lay it out, stitch it down. Take this, lay it out, stitch it down. And then
later on once it’s into the quilt is when you can put on your other pieces and make
sure that everything fits. Don’t put on your pieces first before you sew it in because
you might accidentally stitch those down and then you can’t get inside of your velcro.
So the other halves of your velcro will wait patiently while you continue building your
fidget quilt, right?
Now we’re getting to some of the favorite parts for me, zippers and I’ve got a cool
button to show you here in a minute too. Now before I bounce into zippers I just realized
I forgot about some of the fun things. Like a loop with a button on it. This was very,
very easy to create. I just took a little piece of the paracord that we used at the
end for the tie. And I put a couple of little beads on it or this was just a big plastic
washer. But the reason I chose plastic was washability. I didn’t want anything metal
in there. I didn’t want something that might rust over time. So plastic is a great use
for that. And that was just caught right there in the seam as I was building those sections
as well. Now zippers, and I have been accused of playing an awfully unfair trick, right?
But here was my zipper. I have created a zipper in here that has a full pocket that I can
get in and I can see and I could put stuff, maybe even identification or something like
that in there if I needed and zip it closed. Back to the challenge mentally though, I wanted
to think, so here is the zipper that has no head on it and it’s topstitched down so
that a person might consider what are the differences between these zippers. Why can
I unzip one and not the other. To keep their minds sharp and fresh. So first the easy zipper,
take a scrap leftover from the zipper you’re going to sew in proper. That was the other
end of it there. And I simply just took my square and I stitched across on both sides.
And then again later on when these get laid like here like right sides together that will
capture that perfectly and cover up that end. And there’s no reason to sew the zipper
closed because it’s not going to come open either, right? The other zipper, the working
zipper, we want to go ahead and sew it in place. So the first thing you’re going to
do is take one of your five inch squares, split it in half, 2 ½ inches and 2 ½ inches.
Now I’ve got a little chunk of zipper, I can even show you with this one here quick.
The first construction, right sides together. So you’re going to go right sides together
like this. And I’m going to stitch right along here as you can see that I’ve done
on this one. Once that’s done and flipped over as you can see I have now done here,
you’re going to go ahead and press this with your iron. So you come over here and
don’t pull the head all the way off the zipper. But you come in here and you get yourself
a nice little press. And then as you can see that as I’ve already done here I went ahead
and topstitched ever so lightly right along the top edge of that to secure it. It helps
the zipper work better. And then once that whole thing was constructed then I went ahead
and laid it right sides up and right sides up and set it into my patchwork background
so that here I have there’s that zipper as you just sawl. And when I open it up I
have the right sides if another piece of fabric going through. So it’s a very easy way to
practice your zippers as well. And if you buy a long enough zipper you can use the extra,
as I said, for that other little part.
Now something else that I really enjoyed putting together here is this pocket button flap.
So what I’ve done is I’ve got a piece of elastic in here. And I did it in case you
don’t have a buttonhole creatable machine at home or if that just makes more sense.
This button can go around this, or excuse me can go around this shank button like yay.
But in order to do it what we’ve done here, kind of like the prairie points, is I’ve
taken one of my big five inch squares and folded it right sides together. And up inside
of here is the elastic with the loop already formed and pointing up to the flat end. And
I pinned it in place. What I will then do is I will go ahead and machine stitch around
leaving just a small opening so I can turn it back right sides out. Once it’s right
sides out let’s topstitch all the way around it just to make it look cool and we’re going
to add a little bit of strength to it. And then that can later on be captured in the
seam allowance. But the button, this is something really cool. And if you haven’t studied
garment I’m hopefully showing you something new. So what I wanted to do was I wanted to
create what’s considered a shank button. Meaning a button that has a height to it like
you’d find maybe on a wool coat. And one of the old tricks to doing that is you take
a standard button and a match stick. And as I’ve been hand sewing this I’m actually
hand sewing it through around the button. So I’m creating the height underneath the
button. So let’s take a couple more stitches here. So I”m going to drop it through on
the top, out, back up. Just do this maybe eight or ten times with a double loop of thread,
ok? And then the last time when you’re all set when you come back up we’re not going
to come up into the button. We’re going to come up through the bottom. And I’m probably
right in your way, I’m sorry. Even with these new glasses I’ve got to get a little
close. So I”m coming up into the bottom, I’m not going into the button. And at this
moment I’m going to slide the match out. I’m going to grab this thread here and I’m
going to begin tying it like this around the back side of this button effectively making
an elevation on this button. And you notice I didn’t take the needle off yet, right?
So now that I’ve done that I can come right back into the cloth, bring it through and
then I would set my normal knot to finish off that shank. But now I’ve got this really
cool height that I can wrap that loop of elastic around. And it makes things really easy.
Now no good quilt is finished until it is labeled. So don’t forget your cool little
owl, I have a great t-shirt that says Owl You Need is Love. Really simple but I didn’t
glue it down. I didn’t want it to fall off later. So I just stitched it down on this
side. And then I left it so you can see and then later on I’ll stitch this side down
as well. And then this goes right here middle of the quilt so they always see that and they
know that you’re thinking about them and caring for them. As I said and I know I went
fast, there’s a lot of things I wanted to teach you. I want you to build your seam allowances
this way first so that you can come back and sew together all of your columns and as you’re
doing it be careful to watch out for the fidgets. And if you need to get extra fidgets in these
long seams you can get them in place carefully so that you can catch them as you go.
Once that’s done you’re going to put your backing fabric which is going to be a few
inches larger. You’re going to put your batting down and then you’re just going
to do your stitch in the ditch. And I used a walking foot for that. Once it was all quilted
then at the very end what I did was one last fun fidget. And the reason I wanted to get
you all around to talking about the binding is you can always put great prairie points
and other fun fidgets in the binding. You see that often. For me what I did is I wanted
to go ahead and add one last something to play with. And it’s some of that paracord
with a cord lock. So I have this skill, I have to squeeze it and slide it which I like.
I can use these to practice tying bows. Remember we’ll building or reminding folks of the
skills that are daily skills. But at the end, remember we want this to be portable so I’m
going to open this up, slide this down and then I can take and make a nice little roll
like this. And I left myself just enough cord that I can then come around here and come
around there, so I’ve now got a super cool, super portable fidget quilt to keep myself
or anybody in my family that just can’t sit still busy while they’re enjoying more
tutorials right here on Man Sewing.
Thanks for being a Man Sewing fan. It’s great to have you out there encouraging me
to create fantastic new content. If you’ve missed any of the videos we’ve got links
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