Hey everyone! Today we're making a cozy lap quilt, and you're going to learn how one royal blue wideback can back it, bind it, and pull the whole top together.
Here we go. The fabric we're spotlighting is the Blue Kona Cotton Royal Wideback Fabric per yard, from Robert Kaufman Fabrics. This is a cotton wideback, and it measures 108 inches wide. That width is the big story here, folks.
The color is a rich royal blue. It's a solid, so there's no print to match. The product notes describe it as pure cotton with a soft feel, made for quilting, apparel, and home decor accents. For a lap quilt, that soft feel is exactly what you want on the couch.
Because it's 108 inches wide, one cut covers a lap quilt back with room to spare. No piecing the back. No seam down the middle. Just one smooth panel. Just like that.
Why a Lap Quilt Suits This Fabric
A lap quilt is smaller than a bed quilt. We're making ours about 48 by 60 inches finished. That's big enough to cover your lap and feet, and small enough to finish in a weekend or two. A really good first quilt size.
This royal blue works three ways here. It backs the quilt in one seamless piece. It frames the top as sashing and borders. And it makes the binding. One fabric, three jobs. Super duper practical.
You can piece the center any simple way you like. Big squares are forgiving. Strips are faster. Completely up to you.
Materials
- Blue Kona Cotton Royal Wideback Fabric — 2 yards (from the 108-inch width, you'll cut the backing, sashing, borders, and binding)
- Top fabrics — 8 fat quarters or about 1 1/2 yards total of quilting cotton prints and solids that play well with royal blue
- Batting — one piece at least 54 x 66 inches, cotton or a cotton blend
- Thread — 50-weight cotton thread in royal blue for piecing and quilting, plus a neutral for the top squares
- Size 80/12 or 90/14 quilting needle, rotary cutter, ruler, pins, and safety pins for basting
Brief Steps
1. Cut the top. Cut your top fabrics into 36 squares at 8 1/2 inches each. Cut royal sashing strips at 2 1/2 inches wide. Lay out six across and six down, with sashing between them. Take a photo before you sew — trust me on that one.
2. Piece the top. Sew squares and sashing into rows with a 1/4-inch seam allowance, about 10 to 12 stitches per inch. Press seams toward the sashing. Then join the rows and add a 3-inch royal border all around. Your top should finish near 48 by 60 inches.
3. Cut the back. From the wideback, cut one panel at 54 by 66 inches. That's about 4 inches extra on every side for quilting. Measure twice. A long cut drifting off grain is easy, so slow down here.
4. Layer and quilt. Lay the back wrong side up, batting in the middle, top right side up. Baste well. Quilt it your way — stitch in the ditch is clean, echo quilting adds texture, and a meander is fast and forgiving. I like stitch in the ditch plus one echo line. Start in the center and travel outward.
5. Bind it. Trim the extra backing and batting even with the top. Cut royal binding strips at 2 1/2 inches, join them, and sew them around the edge. Fold to the back and finish by machine or by hand.
Practical Tips
Wash and press the wideback before you cut the back. Cotton can shrink a touch on that first wash, and you want that before the quilt is sized. Pressing also takes out the bolt fold, which can fool your measurements.
Watch your needle on those sashing intersections. Layers get thick where seams cross. Slow down or the needle can deflect and snap. Drop to a steady pace and let the machine do the work.
I have mixed up my square layout before. Rows sewn in the wrong order. It happens. That's why the photo in step one matters, and why a seam ripper is a friend, not a failure.
And here's your permission beat, folks. Your points do not have to be perfect. Your quilting lines do not have to be ruler straight. You are your own worst critic, and nobody on the couch is checking your stitches. It's not a race. If I can do this, y'all can do it. We're not reinventing the wheel here — just making something warm in a really, really good blue.
Thanks so much for sewing along with me today. We'll see you next time. Bye.
Shop the Blue Kona Cotton Royal Wideback Fabric per yard at Linda's Electric Quilters.
