The making of little quilts for premature babies was started in 2007 as a Mini-Group
Challenge. Guild members have responded very positively to this effort, and since
2007 we’ve taken more than 1000 preemie quilts to the UC Davis Neo-Natal unit in
Sacramento, as well as several bags of knit and crocheted preemie hats.
Preemie quilts are a great way to use up some of the scraps and orphan blocks that
we seem to collect. A preemie quilt needs to be about 18 to 22 inches wide and 20
to 24 inches long. They can be made from Minkee, flannel and/or kid-friendly cotton
prints. They can be finished with machine binding or in pillow style. Batting for
a preemie quilt should be cotton batting, flannel or no batting at all. (Since they
are washed and dried in high temperatures, polyester batting is not recommended.)
A preemie quilt is a great way to practice your machine quilting, since they do not
require a lot of quilting.
This has continued to be a great, on-going Community Service Project.
Community Service collects preemie quilts at guild meetings. There is an on-going
need for preemie quilts: several quilts are used for each preemie baby; they get
frequent washings, and eventually wear out; and sometimes a special quilt is given
to the parents of a preemie baby.
