Fast as Lightning McQueen: My First Serger Quilt

Life with little ones leaves little time for in-depth projects. Which means I am always looking for ways to make things quicker so I can actually accomplish what I need to. So when I saw an episode of Sew It All that showed viewers how to make a baby quilt using your serger I was beyond intrigued. Rather than cutting time with the kiddos short I was going to be able to cut the sewing time in half! And so I decided to test it out on a quilt I was designing for my son's bed. 
It all began with this panel that I found on eBay (which I backed, basted and quilted before doing anything else). And let me just say, after much frustration with shoving another quilt in progress through my small home machine . . . quilting in stages was pure heaven. No bunching up in the back and no killing my arms as I shove an entire bed quilt under the throat of the machine. 

My son has recently become obsessed with Disney's Cars and Cars 2 so I knew that this panel would kick off the perfect bed quilt. 

Invisible thread was perfect for outlining the cars and their features. Once I finished quilting it I trimmed all the sides to be straight. Then I laid a piece of the backing on the back with right sides of the backing facing each other. Another great feature of quilting this way, I did not need to purchase a large backing piece. I was able to use up remaining chunks of fabric since the back is pieced along with the front.

Then I laid a piece of the quilt top on top of my panel with right sides facing each other. 

Then a piece of batting is placed on top of that piece and I am ready to feed it all through the serger. 

Of course, the serging is unbelievably quick and also wonderfully sturdy. It also smashes down the multiple layers of batting so that everything lays together nicely in the end.

Once I was done serging, I simply flipped the back panel up.

And then I flipped the batting and the front panel up. 

Of course, at this point you should press your pieces/seams into place but, being the hurried momma that I am lately, I skipped right to the quilting part. Quilting in stages like this is unbelievably quick since you do not need to fight as much bulk through the machine each time. 

I continued on like this all the way up the length of the quilt. 

I also added on to the sides once the length was there. Before I knew it, I had finished a twin sized bed quilt in a week and a half! That's a record for this tired momma who usually gets only an hour or two a day to set up my sewing area, sew and clean  it all up again so that the family has somewhere to eat dinner that night.

I will definitely be creating more quilts that will allow for this sort of piecing! 

But I have plenty to keep me busy in the meantime . . . like finishing a king sized quilt, sewing more charity dolls, creating Halloween costumes and perhaps finally taking a stab at paper piecing. Until next time . . . happy sewing!