My recent poll regarding which type of project I should design was inconclusive. As I was straightening up an area of my sewing room, I found a lone charm pack, which immediately told me it wanted to be a serger baby quilt. Perfect timing! These instructions will be in three (3) sections:

Fabric requirements and Central Block
Borders and Serger Quilt As You Go
Serger Piped Binding

This is a small, simple quilt, but all the techniques are the same on a larger quilt.

Let’s roll…

Quilt ‘n’ Serge Baby Quilt

Fabric Requirements and Central Block

Fabric Requirements:

1 Charm Pack – minimum 42 – 5” squares

1/3 yard 44” fabric for border 1

2/3 yard 44” fabric for border 2

2 yards 44” fabric for backing*

1 crib sized batting**

½ yard 44” fabric for straight grain binding

Other useful tools:

Rotary cutter, rotary ruler, rotary mat, Kwik Klip, quilter’s safety pins, ditch stitching foot for sewing machine, decorative threads for serger, temporary glue stick, fusible thread

* Backing can be pieced using 1 yard, 1/3 yard, and 2/3 yard pieces for the three (3) different sections. This makes a more interesting back and helps use up scraps.

**A thin cotton batting or cotton blend batting is the easiest to use for the serger quilt-as-you-go technique. Thicker battings will be easier to use after you gain experience with the technique.

Note: For this quilt, consistent seam allowances are more important than getting an exact ¼”, making it an excellent first serger quilt project. Pay attention to when to run the fabric edge along the inside of the knife, not trimming off any fabric, and when to trim an even amount of fabric. One of the joys of using a serger is how easy it is to have accurate seam intersections.

Tip: Practice running the fabric along the inside edge of the knife without locking the knife out of the way. The knife is the guide for the fabric edge, so if you lock it out of the way, there is no longer an identifiable mark to place the fabric edge.

Central Block

Serger Setting for SERGING SEAMS:

4 Thread Overlock
Stitch Width: Widest Setting
Stitch Length: 2.5 – 3 mm

1) Lay out 5” charm blocks in a pleasing arrangement of 7 rows with 6 blocks in each row.

2) Serge blocks together in each row, first serging two (2) neighboring squares together and then serging the pairs together to complete the row. Run fabric along inside of knife; do not trim edge.

3) Press all seams flat to set stitches.

4) Press the seams in neighboring rows in opposite directions.

5) Serge the rows together, locking the seam intersections together with the seam allowances going in opposite directions.

6) Press all seams flat to set stitches. Then press all seams in same direction.

7) Measure the central block, which should be approximately 32” x 28”. Cut 1 piece batting and 1 piece backing 2” larger in each dimension, i.e. 34” x 30”.

8) Lay the backing fabric WRONG SIDE up on the table, Cover with the batting. Lay the central block RIGHT SIDE up, centered over the batting. Pin baste.

I used quilters safety pins and the Kwik Klip tool to make this process relatively quick and painless.

9) Use a stitch-in-the-ditch foot on the sewing machine to stitch in the ditch of each seam in the central block.

NOTE: It is possible to use chain stitching or cover stitching here to quilt the central block, if that is preferred.

Serger Setting for BASTING:

4 thread overlock
Stitch width: narrowest setting
Stitch length: 4 mm

10) Baste outer edge of central block to prepare for adding borders. Mostly this should be running the fabric along the inside of the knife. Knife may be used to trim some unevenness, but if there seems to be significant unevenness, check and square up with a rotary ruler and cutter first.