Bricks Baby Quilt Tutorial

I’m excited to share a new, simple baby quilt tutorial! I love simple quilts – especially because they are a fun way to show off  cute fabric as well as pull together a great baby gift in a relatively short amount of time. This one is Fat Quarter friendly or perfect for using stash you’ve already got on hand.

This quilt is based on my popular Bricks quilt tutorial, but scaled down for a smaller size quilt. The information in this tutorial contains affiliate links.

This crib size quilt finishes at 42″ x 54″, but it’s very easy to modify the size by adding or removing bricks. 🙂

Baby Quilt Tutorial

Fabric Requirements:

• Bricks: 7-8 Fat Quarters OR 8 strips of fabric 6 1/2″ x 42″ (Width of Fabric – WOF)
• Background fabric: 3/4 yard
• Binding: 3/8 yard (if you’re cutting bias strips like I did you may want 1/2 yard)
• Backing: 2 1/2 yards for a pieced back OR I used 1 3/4 yards + left over front fabric bricks to piece my back (see below).

[If you would prefer not to piece a back, and you are careful when quilting, you could leave off a row of bricks and get away with 1 3/4 yard piece for a 39″ x 54″ quilt.]

For this quilt I’m using Deena Rutter’s latest collection, Joey, from Riley Blake Designs. I love the color palette – perfect for a boy quilt – and the Koalas – and even a few charming Sloths – are so cute.

For this design to really pop, I suggest using colors that have a lot of contrast – so I mostly went with the darker prints to contrast with the cream colored text print I used as my background fabric. But, as you can see, I still threw in a couple of the light prints – or at least they read light when I stepped back and looked.

One of the reasons I love this design is that it’s really easy to strip-piece and cut multiple blocks at once.

Cutting Instructions:

From the assorted prints: cut 14 pieces 6 1/2″ x 21″ – you can easily cut two from a Fat Quarter, or cut them from assorted yardage. (I used 14 different prints in this quilt and cut them from regular 1/4 yards)

From the Background Fabric: cut 7 strips 3 1/2″ x WOF (width of fabric). Cut them in half on the fold to get 14 strips 3 1/2″ x 21″. (I used the cream text print for my background fabric.)

Piecing the quilt:

Sew a 3 1/2″ x 21″ background strip to the top of a 6 1/2″ x 21″ print strip. Press seam toward the print strip. Carefully trim off the end to square-up the outside edge. (This Strip Piecing Basics post has helpful tips on accurate strip piecing and cutting if this is new to you.)

Measure over 3 1/2″ and cut a 3 1/2″ x 9 1/2″ Brick Unit from the strip set. Continue cutting 3 1/2″ units. You should be able to get 6 units per 21″ strip set.

Repeat with 13 remaining strip sets to get 84 total 3 1/2″ x 9 1/2″ Brick Units.

A note about directional prints: This fabric collection contains multiple directional prints, including the text print I used for my background. Using this strip piecing method, you will be rotating fabrics and they won’t all face the same direction. I chose to not worry about that.

If you want all of your prints to line up the same direction you’ll need to cut individual 84 individual 3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ squares and 84 individual 3 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ bricks.

For each row, layout 14 Brick Units, alternating directions. You will make 6 rows of 14 Brick Units. I recommend laying out the whole quilt so you can play with the overall color and pattern.

Sew 14 Brick Units together to make each row. Press seams to the left on the odd rows (rows 1, 3, 5) and to the right on the even rows, (rows 2, 4, 6)

Pressing the seams in opposite directions on adjoining rows will make the seams allowances but up against each other, helping to match up corners and keeping rows straight.

Sew six rows together and press seams one direction.

And that’s it, folks! It’s such a simple quilt. But I love what a great modern variation it is on tradition patchwork.

If you’re interested in help to finish this quilt, check out this post for how to quilt your own quilts and How to Finish a Quilt for tips on Binding a quilt.

Here is how I pieced my quilt back. I had a 1 3/4 piece of yardage and leftover remnants from the fabrics I used for bricks. So I made one vertical cut in the yardage about 20″ from one side. (I wanted it slightly off center). Then I cut the brick fabric remnants into strips 8″ wide x a variety of different heights. After that I sewed them together into an 8″ x 63″ long strip and sewed that strip between the two pieces of yardage. I love a pieced back for using up remnants from the quilt top.

I had Melissa from Sew Shabby Quilting quilt mine using the modern Apartment Windows pattern.    

For my binding I used another fabric designed by Deena Rutter – this Edie Jane navy sketch plaid.  

You can find Joey fabrics available on Etsy.

And there you go! Feel free to Pin this image to help you easily find this tutorial any time.

I have created a printable PDF version of this baby quilt tutorial pattern, combined with the Throw Size Easy Bricks Quilt pattern as well. You can find it here for $1.50.