Practice Quilting With Cheater Quilts

Breezy and cheerful, a Summer light weight
cheater quilt for a Barbie bed.

        Little hands can learn to quilt easier with cheater quilts! Cheater quilts are printed designs, often in a geometric pattern with areas of print that look as though they are pieced together. Piecing may become frustrating for beginners because they must cut and measure, trace and assemble; in other words, a novice sewer must accomplish many more basic steps in order to finish a quilt before experiencing the satisfaction of his or her end product. But with a cheater quilt, those steps are narrowed down to learning the straight stitch and binding the edges only.

       There are many cheater quilts sold in second-hand markets for young sewers to acquire online these days. Make sure to purchase one that has miniature geometric patterns so that the quilt will be to scale for your doll's house bedroom. This is not impossible to find, folks who sell fabric for cheater quilts are familiar with the request; little girls have been making dollhouse quilts for their own dolls forever! The quickest way to see if a printed cheater quilt has the right proportions is to view it with a coin or ring in the picture online. The smaller the printed piecework, the better scale for a doll.

       You may wish to layer the quilt top along with a thin piece of felt instead of cotton batting sheeting. Dolls don't need real warmth at night after all, just pretend warmth. Felt is far less expensive for young people to purchase and if thin, it is easier for a needle to pass through when layered together with one or two other fabrics. 

       When teaching a younger child, I have them practice with only two layers of fabric for their first doll quilt. It is quicker for them to stitch through and attaching the third layer to the bottom while binding all of the layers together with a ribbon will conceal any flaws that may be obviously seen on the underside of the quilt. It is more important for young sewers to feel proud after a first attempt, than to worry over inconsistency. With practice, their work will improve. In the mean time, their doll will have a new blanket to snuggle beneath that is made by a very young enthusiastic parent. 

• Quick baby quilt using a cheater print by Amy Smart
• How to make a cheats patchwork quilt by Laurens Top tips