For any quilter it is immensely rewarding to make a quilt for a child and if you are starting out as a beginner quilter, a baby quilt can be a more manageable size project to test your skills on. There are many classic children’s quilt themes to choose from and it is always fun to pick a theme which will appeal to the child you are making for.
Some of the most classic and enduring children’s quilt themes include animals, nature and space – all three have always been popular themes in early childhood both in books and on TV. A child’s imagination can be kindled by these stories, helping them to understand the world around them. What better way to fuel their imagination than with a quilt theme reflecting their early interests?
At Fabrics Galore we thought we would explore these 3 classic children’s quilt themes and show you a few small samples to inspire your own quilting for the little people in your lives.
Space Quilts
Ever since that first moon landing, space has inspired young and old alike. Space stories are a superb way of encouraging an interest in the universe beyond planet earth and provide a gentle introduction to science by teaching them about the solar system and planets. Inspired by films like Toy Story and the loveable if slightly misguided Buzz Lightyear, children can now identify with real live astronauts like Tim Peake who have helped make space cool.
For a space themed quilt there are so many options: moon and planet prints, star prints, rocket prints and cute aliens. If there is a space obsessed child in your life, you can really have fun with your quilt, balancing a space shuttle panel feature with a star print such as our best-selling Night Sky Cotton. This small detailed print with it’s dark background is great for newborns as they can focus on the details. When we have used it for a baby quilt the recipient found it memorising.
Space Themed Quilting Fabrics at Fabrics Galore
As most space themed fabrics are dark by nature, try to balance this with some lighter coloured prints so the overall quilt isn’t too sombre. Even better, try this brightly coloured space camp baby quilt pattern, downloadable at Quilting Daily and suitable for a confident beginner.
Woodland Quilts
Woodland Quilt Sample in Dashwood Studio Woodland Fabrics
Woodland themed quilts represent a fantastic opportunity for a children’s quilt as you can incorporate so much to love about woodland flora and fauna. For anyone raising children in the late nineties and early noughties, Percy the Park Keeper and the Animals of Farthing Wood was a staple of children’s TV. Percy was based on the children’s books of the same name by Nick Butterworth, the gentle park keeper helped look after all the animals in his park and rescued them from all kinds of mishaps while keeping his park in order.
For older children Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl has inspired countless children to perceive this much maligned animal in a positive way and has enjoyed a resurgence for World Book Day outfits in recent years too.
Popular woodland quilt designs include forest animals like the fox, badger, deer and mouse, while birds such as owls have always been popular in children’s stories. Leaf prints, woodland floral and mushroom prints can all help bring a woodland themed quilt to life. Check out Etsy for a fantastic range of woodland animal quilt patterns.
Luckily, our Woodland range from the Dashwood studio is perfect for a woodland children’s quilt and the colours balance the traditional browns and greens of the forest with pale pinks and blues to create a delightful range of quilting cottons. By using so many colours in the prints, it means you have so many options for the blenders to break up the quilt.
Dashwood Studio Woodland Fabrics
Animal Quilts
Stories about animals have always been a dominant feature of children’s literature either with the practical purpose of helping them to read and count (see our best-selling Alphabet Animal fabric!) or increasingly as entertainment. Authors can convey important messages about human emotions by using animals as characters. Think of Beatrix Potter and all the different character traits represented by Peter Rabbit and his friends, not forgetting all the animals who interact with Mowgli in The Jungle Book. Animal characters can bring silliness and humour making a story more enjoyable for a young child.
When it comes to animal themes for children’s quilts, the possibilities are endless; farm animals like cows and sheep, jungle animals such as monkeys and tigers, safari animals like zebras and lions, and even pets all make super cute quilts for children and are popular themes for baby quilts.
Once you have decided on your animal theme think about the colours you want to include – a young child’s parent will appreciate a colour scheme which ties in with the décor of the bedroom or nursery. An older child may love a particular colour (Barbie pink, anyone?).
Here at Fabrics Galore we are thinking about making a safari themed quilt, and thought we would start with a multicoloured zebra print (which is also an FG exclusive). By mixing in various different prints and patchwork blenders, we have managed to balance the darkness of the black background. We even mirrored the zebra stripes with stripes of the different fabrics.
Fabrics Galore Animal Print Quilting Fabric
But if zebras aren’t your thing, we have many others in our animal print quilting fabric collection. Be inspired by others who have made jungle safari quilts on Pinterest.
Show us Your Classic Children’s Quilts
We hope we have inspired you to try one of our classic children’s quilt themes; whether you pick a safari animal, woodland animal, or space themed quilt we have plenty of fabrics to choose from in our children’s quilting collection.
We would love to see your classic children’s quilts to inspire our quilting gang. Do share them on your social pages and if you tag us, we’ll do our best to feature them on our Instagram account @fabricsgalorelondon
