Learn how to make a simple cheater quilt top with a pre-printed fabric panel. Have you ever wanted to make a really really fast quilt? Then the cheater quilt is your answer. It uses a pre-printed fabric panel so you get to skip piecing the quilt top and get right to the quilting.

With the pre-printed fabric panel, all of your fabrics coordinate and you don't have to work about crooked seams and wonky piecing. It will look perfect! Plus you will learn to steps to making your very own quilt.

I have made a really in-depth tutorial explaining all of the steps to making the cheater quilt. A lot of these steps are assuming that you have never made a quilt before, so this post and video are going to hold your hand and walk you through the entire process. Be warned this is a long post. However I have made a table of contents, so that you can simply click the link to the part you want to go to, and skip the parts you don't need.

The video will walk you through every step as well, along with some of my favorite tips for quilting. So if this is your first quilt or you are still getting your feet wet in the quilting world, I suggest you check it out.

I have also provided some more easy baby and quilting projects you might like as well some some great beginner quilting information.

More Projects You Might Like

• Simple Squares Baby Quilt Pattern
• Sherpa Fleece Baby Blanket Tutorial
• Swiss Cross Baby Quilt Pattern

Quilting Tips

• Must Have Beginner Quilt Supplies
• How to Use a Rotary Blade Cutter
• How to Choose the Right Sewing Machine Needle for Quilting

What is a Cheater Quilt?

A cheater quilt is a pre-printed fabric panel that has a design that imitates the look of a pieced quilt top. This allows you to skip the piecing process and skip ahead to make the rest of the quilt. The cheater quilt top can feature any large geometric shapes such as squares, lines, or hectagons, otherwise knows as hexies.

Supplies

• Cheater Quilt Fabric Panel - 36" x 36" (You may need more than one depending on the panel size) - I used the Summer Picnic Panels in this quilt. You can find several different varieties on etsy.
• Crib Size Batting
• 40" x 40" Backing Fabric
• 1/2 Yard Fabric for Binding

Cheater Quilt Instructions

Fabric Tips

***Be sure to starch and press all fabrics before getting started. There is no need to pre-wash the fabric. Part of the beauty of a quilt is the crinkle that comes after the fabric and batting shrink during the first wash.

Make the Quilt Sandwich

Step 1 - Place the backing fabric wrong side up.

Step 2 - Lay the batting on top of the backing fabric. The backing fabric can extend past the batting or lay even with it. Smooth all of the wrinkles from the batting and the backing fabric.

Step 3 - Place the fabric panel on top of the batting right side up. Smooth all the wrinkles from the fabric panel.

Step 4 - Check to make sure the batting and backing are several inches wider than the fabric panel. Just to note - my fabric panel was larger than the quilt size I was making, so it was ok if it did not extend past the fabric panel because I was going to cut off some of the panel.

Pin Baste the Layers

Step 5 - Get out your basting pins. There are several methods to baste a quilt, but the easiest is to use basting pins. These are special quilting pins that have a curve to help you pin and close them without killing your fingers.

Step 6 - Place the pins every 5 to 6 inches of the quilt top through all three layers, both horizontally and vertically. This fabric panel had six inch squares so I put a basting pin in the center of every square.

Quilt the Top

Step 7 - Roll up the edge of the quilt half way so it will neatly fit under the throat of your sewing machine.

Step 8 - Starting in the middle of the quilt, sew straight lines down the quilt top following the lines of the squares. Start at the top of the quilt and sew down to the bottom. When finished return to the top and start again. Quilt from the middle of the quilt outward to help prevent bunching. When you have finished quilting the vertical lines, repeat the process for the horizontal lines to make quilted squares.

Make the Quilt Binding

Step 9 - Fold the fabric in half, selvage to selvage. Trim the edge of the fabric before cutting your strips, so you have a straight edge to begin cutting the fabric. Cut three 2.5" strips across the width of the fabric. Strips will be 42" long and 2.5" high.

Step 10 - Place one of the strips horizontally, right side up. Place the second strip vertically, the wrong side up at the end of the right side of the first strip. Overlap the strips, so the selvages hang over the edges of the opposite strip.

Step 11 - Place your ruler over the binding strips so the 45 degree line is vertical and perpendicular to the vertical strip. The edge of the ruler will be going diagonally from the upper right hand corner to the lower left hand corner.

Step 12 - Get out your favorite fabric pen to mark the diagonal line. Frixon on pens is a favorite among sewists because they can be erased with heat.

Step 13 - Using your pen, draw a line along the diagonal edge of the ruler from the top right to the bottom left-hand corner.

Step 14 - Place 3 pins along the diagonal line to hold the binding strips in place. Sew along the diagonal line, backstitching to start and finish. Remove the pins as you sew.

Step 15 - Trim the corners off the binding strips. Place the edge of the ruler 1/4" away from the diagonal line and cut off the excess fabric.

Step 15 - Fingerpress open the seams of the binding strips and press them flat with the iron to reduce the fabric bulk

Step 16 - Fold the quilt binding in half lengthwise and press flat.

Attach the Quilt Binding

Step 17 - Starting in the middle of the quilt top, place the quilt binding ontop of the quilt top with the raw edges aligned. Pin or clip in place.

Step 18 - Place your finger on the quilt binding along the bottom edge to hold the binding flush with the edge. *It is important that the mitered corners do not have seams where the binding is joined together. To make sure the seams are not on the corners, you will make a mitered corner fold to check. If the seam allowance does land in the corner, you will need to adjust where you started the binding.

Step 19 - Keeping your finger on the binding, pull the binding to a 90-degree angle toward the outside of the quilt. Lift your finger to make the fold and then place it on the fold to hold it in place.

Step 20 - Keeping your finger in place, pull the binding back to the inside of the quilt top. This will form a small fabric triangle on the corner. *You can make the mitered corner without using your finger to keep the binding in place, however the fabric often slips out, making a smaller fabric triangle.

Step 21 - Continue clipping the binding and folding the mitered corners for the remaining three sides.

Sew the Ends Together

Step 22 - Trim the end of the binding so it only overlaps by two inches.

Step 23 - Open one side of the binding and fold the edge inward 1/2" and fingerpress.

Step 24 - Place the other end of the binding inside the opened and folded binding edge.

Step 25 - Close the outside binding over the inside binding and clip or pin in place.

Step 26 - Sew the binding onto the quilt top using 1/4" seam allowance.

Make a Mitered Corner

Step 27 - Stop 1/4" before you reach the end of the first corner of the binding with the needle down.

Step 28 - Pivot diagonally toward the corner point and sew to the end of the corner.

Step 29 - Fold the binding toward the outside of the quilt. The fold should have an angled corner. This is the same step as you did before to make the mitered corner.

Step 30 - Fold the binding down, to form a small triangle flap of fabric as you did when you made the previous mitered corner and clip in place. This extra fabric is to allow the binding to fold around the backside of the quilt

Fold the Binding to the Back

Step 31 - Fold the binding to the backside of the quilt and clip in place.

Step 32 - Place your finger on the edge of the quilt to hold the binding corner in place, and fold over the next side of the binding to form a mitered corner.

Step 33 - Clip or pin in place to hold. The mitered corner should form a perfect diagonal line from the corner.

Machine Stitch the Quilt Binding Back

Step 34 - You can either hand stitch or machine stitch the quilt binding to finish. I prefer to machine stitch quilt binding. To machine stitch, sew along the the line or ditch between the quilt top and the binding.

When machine stitching your quilt binding, the stitching from the front should catch the binding on the backside.

Watch the Video on Youtube

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