I’m A Clubwoman

Operation Smile Quilting 101

by karen on 12/01/09 at 12:17 pm

My club makes about 80 quilts annually for Operation Smile.  This worthwhile charity is partnered with GFWC, and I encourage your club to take up the cause.  You can find more information at www.operationsmile.org.

We just completed our 1st quilting bee of the year and made about 30 quilts.  The process is very simple, and no one needs to know how to “quilt.”  At our 1st meeting of the year, our International Affairs Chairman distributes plastic baggies of the material for the quilt tops.  This consists of nine 13 inch squares and 4 strips of edging about 46 inches long.  We use cotton material in pretty printed patterns.  Usually the squares have some common color or pattern theme to work well together in geometric patterns. The ladies take home the baggies and sew the squares and edges to make a top about 45 inches square.

In the meantime the chairman buys the batting material in 45 in rolls and some plain colored solid cotton material to act as the bottom of the quilt.  She cuts those bottoms in 45 in squares too.  We get together one morning in late October for our quilting “bee.”  This process is usually repeated two more times throughout the club year.  When we have our quilting bee we choose a room with large banquet tables and good light.  Three ladies bring sewing machines, and the rest of us bring scissors, straight pins, thread, yarn, and needles.  Usually ten or more ladies show up.  There are probably fifty members who participate at one time or another.

To put the quilts together the roll of batting is pulled out on a table, a backing square is placed on top of it, and then a top square is put down face down.  That square is then cut from the batting roll and moved to the next group who keep it flat on a table and pin all the way around the edges.  The square is next moved to the sewing machines where the outside is sewn close to the edge.  A twelve inch gap is left on one side, so the quilt can be “turned.”

After the pins are removed by the next group of gals, the quilt is turned inside out…actually it’s outside out   The gap is sewn carefully shut, and the “tying” begins.  A piece of yarn is sewn all the way through the quilt at  each corner of the small squares that make up the pattern.  The piece of yarn is cut off about 3 inches long on each side and knotted.  All the corners are knotted, and yarn is also knotted in the center of each square and at intervals along the edges.  Sometimes we take the quilts home to finish the tying step.

Voila..a completed lap blanket for some lucky child who will have facial surgery in some far distant country.  The children get to keep the blankets when they go home.  Our love and good wishes are sewn right into the fabric of those blankets.  Your club can easily take up this project too.  The most expensive part of the process is the postage mailing them to Operation Smile.  We often get the fabric stores to donate the material or a part of the cost.

Making these blankets has become a real membership tool for our club.  There is nothing more rewarding than making a tangible item you know is going to be used with love.  Our members continue their participation in our club and this project because they feel so connected.

Int. Affairs Chrm. Carolyn Van Patten