Baby's Soft Book of Colors

This tutorial uses crazy quilt squares to make a soft book for baby. Each "page" is a crazy quilt square with scraps of just one color so baby can see lots of shades and variations of each color; together the pages make up a rainbow soft book. Use scraps with lots of texture and pattern to keep baby interested. Finn and I had a lot of fun choosing the fabric scraps and everyone in my family has enjoyed seeing little bits of memories from their lives sew together: a piece of Granny's shirt, a scrap from a cousin's baby blanket, a bit of fabric leftover from an auntie's first quilt. The whole family has loved "reading" Finn's book of colors!


Finn with his Papa.


Finn with his cousin Ella.


Finn with his auntie Leandra (my little sister) and uncle Obie.

If you've never pieced a crazy quilt (or any quilt) before, don't worry! I hadn't either and it turned out to be really easy and fun. And I've put together a little video to help you.

Supplies:
fabric scraps
1 4" piece of ribbon
fabric for backing: 4 pieces measuring 8"x8", 4 pieces measuring 7 1/2"x7 1/2"
batting: 1 piece measuring 8"x15", 1 piece measuring 7 1/2"x14"
small piece of iron-on velcro
and of course thread, sewing machine, and an iron.

All seam allowances are 1/2".

1. Separate scraps into piles based on color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. You should have at least 5 scraps of each color.


2. Piece a crazy quilt square for each color. Use the larger backing squares for red and purple. Use the smaller backing for orange, yellow, green and blue. Here's a video tutorial for piecing crazy quilt squares... it's easy and very free form!



3. Make a front and a back cover using the remaining 8"x8" backing squares. I made a rainbow for the front and embroidered a message on the back. Other ideas are an appliqued title or even just a solid piece of a favorite fabric.


4. Start putting the book together:
Put the back cover face up, top with the front cover face down. Sew along the right side.


Red square face up, top with purple face down. Sew along the right side.
Blue square face up, top with orange face down. Sew along the right side.
Yellow square face up, top with green face down. Sew along the right side.
Press all seams.


5. Attach your velcro: one side to the ribbon, one side to the front cover 1 1/2" from the right side and centered top to bottom.

6. Now for the batting:
Put the back and front covers face up, lay purple and red face down with purple on top of the back cover and red on top of the front cover. Lay the larger piece of batting on top. Sew all three layers together along top, right side, and bottom.

Place blue and orange face up, lay green and yellow face down with green on top of blue and yellow on top of orange, lay one layer of fleece or batting on top. Sew all three layers together along top, right side, and bottom.


Clip corners (but don't clip the seam!), turn both pieces right side out and press.


7. Hand stitch the final seam closed on each piece.

Be sure to stitch the ribbon into the seam between the back cover and the purple square.


8. Hand sew the book together with a line of stitches along the binding of the book. Make sure the colors are in rainbow order. It's ready for baby!





And I managed to finish this tutorial just in time to enter it into the Sew, Mama, Sew! Scrap Buster contest! Have you been checking out all the scrappy goodness? Lots of Christmas ideas!


Updated to add: If you make a soft book, please consider adding photos of it to Homegrown Happy's Flickr Group.