A few months ago I was browsing different sewing blogs and came across several different quilts made from vintage sheets.  I’ve never been a huge fan of the shabby chic look, and the frilly look has never been a favorite either, but I do love vintage!  I started looking around for vintage sheets and didn’t find anything quite vintage enough. (80’s sheets aren’t quite vintage in my book.) I asked my mom to keep an eye out for me, and she found the vintage sheet motherload in about 2 days flat.

Well, those vintage sheets sat in my cupboard for quite a long time.  I didn’t really know what I was going to do with them and it was a ton of fabric.  I was a bit overwhelmed.  Then, one day, I decided that doing something (anything) was better than nothing, so I started cutting them up.  (More on that later.  I definitely learned a few things about how to tackle the cutting phase.)  I decided to cut the sheets in fat quarters and then use the fabric to make a little quilt.

What do you think?  Not bad for a bunch of old sheets!  I used a combination of 5 inch squares from sheets and 5 inch plain white fabric squares. I wanted to make a small quilt because I think it’s a good example of a simple quilt that even a beginner could do.  I did my own quilting on this one. I’ve always enjoyed taking my quilts to my quilt lady to finish up for me.  I know how to do my own quilting, but it’s my least favorite part of the whole process.  I figured if I made a quilt that was small enough, I could tackle quilting it myself.  Surprisingly, I didn’t hate the process and I didn’t even hate the finished product.  (Usually, when I try to do it on my own, I end up cringing every time I look at it.)  This time, I think it turned out ok!  I think the quilting pattern adds to the overall look too.

My daughter’s eyes lit up when she saw the finished quilt.  I think she almost had a bit of panic when she asked who this was for, probably afraid I was going to give it away.  I told her I was going to use it as a sample, but that she could have it when I was done taking pictures of it.  In her very calm voice she sighed and said, “I really love that one.”

So, friends, I have several of these vintage sheet fat quarter bundles all packaged up. I have also written up the pattern for this quilt with super-easy instructions.  This is a great beginner quilt.  The vintage sheet bundles are available for purchase.  Feel free to email me and I can hook you up.  (homeiswheremystorybegins@gmail.com)  The bundles will be selling for $12 per pack of 7 fat quarters. For those of you who are unfamiliar with fat quarters, it is an 18″x22″ rectangle.

I’m kind of in love with vintage sheets now.

Happy quilting!