Sew Your Own Whole Cloth Knit Quilt…Yes, I Said Knit

When I first started sewing, I was obsessed with sewing knit. And I’m pretty confident that many of the first dresses and shirts that I made for my friends and family might not still be intact. And after a few years of persistence and humility, I can confidently say that I have conquered knit… enough so that I am going to share with you how to make your own whole cloth knit quilt. And I promise that it won’t fall apart.

Machine Used

DreamWeaver® XE VM6200D (AKA Felicia) with the MuVit Digital Dual Feed System

Supplies

• Two 1.5 yard cuts of knit fabric (one fabric for front, one fabric for back)
• ¼ yard Width of Fabric knit fabric for binding
• Wool batting – throw size (60” x 60”)
• Spray fabric adhesive
• Standard weight thread for top
• Stretch thread for bobbin
• Jersey/knit needle for sewing machine

Mathew’s Choices

• Blueberry Cobbler Plaid & Deep Sea Plaid for main knit fabrics and Sahara Sun knit for binding from the Knits collection by Art Gallery Fabrics
• Hobbs Tuscany Collection 100% Wool Batting
• Aurifil 40 wt thread in Pale Yellow (top) & Maxi-Lock STRETCH™ thread in white (bobbin)

Preparing Your Throw For Quilting

So if you're used to working with quilters’ weight cotton, knit has a stretch and requires a more gentle touch when working with it to keep it in its natural state. The added stretch can also create runs if you baste with traditional sharp pins, which is why glue and clips are preferable to pinning. Before basting, I encourage pre-washing and drying the knit before making your quilt sandwich. If you're new to using spray adhesive to baste, follow the instructions on the can and spray each layer liberally. As you smooth out the fabric, try not to stretch it when smoothing out the bubbles. Once you’ve done this and trimmed any extra batting, you should have a full cloth knit sandwich around 50” x 58” ready to be quilted. So roll this puppy up and take it over to your machine for quilting. When choosing my fabric, I made sure that one of my picks had a pattern that I could stitch directly on top of for quilting. The blue plaid knit fabric I used had a grid of 2.5” squares that was perfect for this batting, which called for quilting up to 4” apart. Before you begin sewing, make sure you have the following set-up on your machine:

• MuVit Digital Dual Feed Foot (or standard walking foot)
• Ballpoint or jersey needle
• Lightning bolt looking stitch (called the Stem Stitch), length increased to 4 mm
• Standard thread in the top & stretch thread for the bobbin

Quilting

Assuming you have this set-up, begin quilting over the pattern you’ve selected on the fabric until you’re done. If you’ve never used the stretch stitches before, they take longer than a traditional straight stitch since they’re going back and forth, so I cranked up the speed of my machine. I was actually pleasantly surprised that there was no shifting of the quilt sandwich layers as I proceeded quilting, but retrospectively it makes sense since the stretch of the knit would keep everything in place if there were any pulls as I quilted.

Binding

Once I was done quilting, I machine basted the desired perimeter of the quilt and trimmed any excess to ¼” outside of the perimeter stitching. For the binding, I cut four 2.25” WOF strips from the solid color knit, connected them, and pressed them in half lengthwise, which is my go-to binding technique for machine binding. I used a slightly different set-up for my machine for attaching the binding:

• MuVit Digital Dual Feed Foot (or standard walking foot)
• Knit or jersey needle
• Triple Stretch Stitch with length increased to 3 mm
• Standard thread in the top & bobbin

Aligning all raw edges along the back of the quilt, I initially stitched the binding 8 mm from the edge. This should allow for the binding to then be folded over and sewn to the front of the quilt without having to stretch it. And once you cut and connect the open ends, you've got yourself a whole cloth knit quilt.