How to Sew a Cuddle Quilt without the Binding

(Please note that affiliate links have been used in this post.)

If you are looking for a quilt to snuggle or a quilt that’s warm to the touch as soon as you pick it up, this is it.

It’s soft, cozy, fluffy, and warm.

Mine is not entirely finished. I still have some more hand quilting to add to it, but it’s somewhat usable during these remaining weeks of winter. I plan on moving this quilt to storage on the first day of spring. It’s much too heavy and warm of a blanket to have out all year round…not to the mention the winter inspired fabric.

I chose to make this quilt without a binding. That was for pure aesthetic purposes. There’s no other reason other than I enjoyed the way this baby blanket turned out with no binding, and I wanted to try it with a full sized quilt.

This quilt was originally inspired by Meghan from Then Came June. She made a cuddle quilt a few months ago, and I wanted to give it a try. If you read through her post and mine, you’ll see our quilts are quite different, but I wouldn’t have tried it without her inspiration!

The quilt top was made with a variety of fabrics from Charlie Harper’s line called Winter Wonderland. You can find all the details on the quilt top here. I purchased all the fabric for my quilt top from Teresa at Sew Organic Fabrics. I HIGHLY recommend this cuddle fabric. You can find it at The Fat Quarter Shop. I used this cotton batting for this quilt.

Here’s how I made this cuddle quilt without the binding. And please note that I had my husband to help with this basting process. It definitely could be done alone, but if you have another helpful (and PATIENT) adult around, I recommend having two people.

1. Baste your quilt top and batting together. In the last year or so, I have migrated away from using basting pins. I use spray baste for almost all my larger projects.

2. Trim the batting down to the same size (or close to it) of the quilt top. We left about a quarter of an inch of excess at most.

(Please note that this is my husband crawling around and trimming. I was approximately 30 weeks pregnant at this time, and thankfully he was willing to do most of the moving and trimming.) I hear many of you baste using your dining room table and a pool noodle?! I should probably look up more on that method.

3. Lay out the backing on the floor FACE UP. Since I’m not planning on sewing a binding, I want the backing face up. (You’d leave it face down like any standard quilt if you are planning on sewing on a binding at the end.)

Below is the cuddle fabric that I use for the backing. Depending on which way you pull, it’s going to stretch almost like a jersey fabric.

Sidenote: Most of you may know that there is the warp and the weft of the fabric. This is how the weave of the fabric is created. Fibers go multiple ways. If you pull side to side, the fabric is stretchy, but if you pull up and down, it doesn’t have the same amount of give. When I sewed the backing together in the below picture, I had not taken into account the direction of the weave. So the top half of the backing is going one way and the bottom is going the other way. I’m not entirely sure this is going to make a difference in this quilt, but I wished I had noticed that detail before moving forward.

4. Lay the quilt top and batting (basted together at this point) face DOWN on top of the backing. The backing is face up and the top is face down.

5. Pin together the top and bottom of the quilt.

6. With the quilt top pinned face down and the backing face up, sew around the perimeter of the quilt top. Leave an 8 to 12 inch gap at one end for flipping the quilt right side out.

Yes, this is MUCH like sewing a HUGE pillow together. Remember back a couple pictures ago where we trimmed the batting down to the same size as the quilt top, this is where that quarter inch or so of excess becomes important.

As you’re sewing around the perimeter, you want to ensure you are catching the edge of the quilt top. You want it stitched down.

7. After sewing around the perimeter and leaving a gap, take out the pins and turn the quilt right side out.

8. Smooth out the top and bottom as best as you can. Begin RE-PINNING the top and bottom together. The edge is secure, but you don’t want the layers shifting around during the quilting process.

If you plan to machine quilt this top, I’d recommend using a LOT of pins. The cuddle fabric is likely to shift around similar to a jersey fabric.

I have been hand quilting the this quilt and thoroughly enjoying that process. If I had chosen to machine quilt this top, I could imagine it being very stressful with the shifting fabric and bunching.

9. I figure if I start hand quilting now, I will have this quilt entirely finished for next winter. 🙂

I’ll reiterate, once again, that this quilt is crazy soft and fluffy and cozy. If you’re up for a quilting adventure, I HIGHLY recommend trying this one out. Be sure you are in a patient mood and have a little help! 🙂