A Cozy Camping Quilt
This summer we went on our annual climbing and camping trip to France, and before we left I decided to quickly make a big double quilt to take with us and keep us cozy at night. Keeping with the spirit of using up my scraps this year, I looked through my fabric stash and pulled out lots of the darker colours. I figured I might as well make it a darker quilt to hide any possible camping dirt 😀 and it turned out I had quite a bit of purples, reds, blues and turquoise fabric that would do the job nicely. Because I only had a week to make this quilt, I opted for quite large squares. I did end up buying the fabric to back the quilt, but the cotton sheeting fabric was on sale and it cost me under £2, so I figured it was worth it!
I also bought two narrow feather pillows and made some pillow cases to go with the quilt, and I have to say it was very cozy at night in our tent, and far nicer than just sleeping in slippery narrow sleeping bags. We also used to quilt to wrap up in in the evenings after supper, while we stargazed outside. It was big enough for the three of us to keep warm under, and it will definitely be a permanent part of all future camping trips.
so resourceful 
I’m absolutely not a quilter, but I love this and was just talking to someone yesterday about how warm a duvet stuffed with rags would be. Basically, I’m trying to think of a cheap way of making something double bed sized that adds a reasonable amount of cozyness so…does this have wadding or something in it please?
Thanks!
Susie
I’m really confused. I’m not sure if my comment vanished because it has to be moderated, but it normally says that, or if it just vanished.
Anyway, I was saying that I loved this and does it have wadding or some filling in to keep it warm as I’m trying to think of a way of very cheaply making a bed covering that will be warm and cozy.
Thanks
Susie
It looks really snuggly and cosy, just what you need when camping. I took my crocheted blanket this year and it got lots of use 😀
How wonderful. I’ve been wanting to make on for my own bed. I think you have inspired me.
Hello…third time lucky (because I don’t think I’ve put anything contentious in my previous two attempts that would be moderated out…).
Lovely quilt…I’m not a quilter so maybe this is a silly question but – does that have wadding or some sort of stuffing in it? I was just pondering how to very cheaply make a bed cover that would be cozy and warm and was wondering if it would work to stuff with rags. Your quilt looks as though it’s quite slim and I wouldn’t necessarily think it would be warm so, yup, just wondering if it is stuffed.
Thank you
Susie
Hi Susie,
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog, so have you left previous comments that haven’t got through? That is strange, I will look into it.
The quilts I make have a middle layer of batting (sometimes called wadding too) and you can buy this in different thicknesses depending on how warm you want it. You are right, this one is relatively thin but has really warm wadding in the middle, but still not a winter quilt!
The way I make them, they are not stuffed, but actually sewn together with the top patchwork layer, the wadding and the backing fabric all sandwiched together already, I am not sure how you would do it with rags. If you are in the UK you can buy wadding quite cheaply at Dunelm Mill or John Lewis, it comes quite wide but not always quite wide enough for a double quilt, so you need to attach bits together (I just baste them together to make one big piece). You can order it online too, Ebay have some sellers selling it quite cheaply). I hope that helps!
Susie, for some reason your other comments went into my spam box! I have marked them as not spam now. I think you will definitely be able to make a cozy double quilt quite cheaply, especially if you don’t spend lots of money on the fabric but use up scraps or old clothes etc, and you buy a big double sheet to back the quilt with. Look on Ebay for cheap wadding, you will need something like this Buy 2 or 3 metres, 4oz or 6oz should be nice and warm. Alternatively at Dunelm Mill they have a lovely wool wadding for about £6 per metre I think that would be increadibly warm. Make sure you have some quilting needles for your machine to sew through all the layers though!
Oh, thanks so much for your lovely and very useful reply! I just loved the idea of using up as much as possible and it struck a chord because I’d been musing on using up old clothing/fabrics. Mine was more, wondering if you could use rags as a duvet filler but we reckoned that it wouldn’t be that warm and also it probably wouldn’t be that fire-resistant. I’m going to try a quilt though now, I’ve been inspired. Thanks
Susie
Lovely! And very impressed you did it in a week!
This quilt is just beautiful! (I still miss your blog posts, by the way. Am very inspired by your industriousness. Hope all’s well with you.)
Thank you Rachel, I will try to blog more often, work has just been so busy it has got in the way!
Lovely! Just lovely! And yes, have missed your posts (though I am very guilty of the same in recent months). Have a stash of scraps ready for another quilt myself, MUST get started on it before it threatens to engulf my whole sewing area!
where is the “how to line up blocks” tutorial? Cannot locate it….Thank you, Halle’
Looking for the tutorial for lining up the blocks…can you help?
Hello! I am also looking for the tutorial. Is there a special link for it? Thanks!
Hi Sue,
If you read the other comments here you will find I have already linked to the tutorial, alternatively, if you search in my blog for the scrap fabric postage stamp quilt you will find it.
For some reason my links are not working!
Try that, it should work!
where do I find the directions on how to make one of these? thanks
This quilt is a very simple one to make, you don’t need directions, you just need to sew lots of squares of fabric together for the top of the quilt and then sandwich some batting between the top and the bottom layer of your quilt and sew it all together, if you search online for any basic quilting techniques it will explain everything you need.
I love this it looks so soft and bouncy. Can you tell me what wadding you used?