Saturday, August 10, 2024

Resizing a King to a Twin-size Quilt

Dad's King-size quilt resized to a twin.

I knew this day was coming ...  when my Dad would move into assisted living, and I'd have to small-ify the king-size quilt he's been sleeping under to make it fit his new twin-size bed.

This is the quilt my mom and I made for their 50th wedding anniversary in 2019.  The pattern is Sonia's Windows.  It was so big, I couldn't even get it all in this photo!

The photo at the top of this post is how it turned out after my re-working it last weekend.

How did I do it?  I was entertaining several options to make it smaller.

Option 1) Fold it in half and sew a seam down the open edge.  I did NOT wind up doing this because as big as a king-size quilt it, it doesn't quite cover a twin bed when folded in half.  This method also messes with the borders, and makes it look like a quilt folded in half.

Option 2) Take it in down the middle, and fold the extra so that the mid section has a double layer.  This preserves the borders.  I did not use this method either.

Option 3) Cut part of it off, and add a binding, but this messes with the borders, and would make it look like an amputated quilt.

Option 4) What I ended up doing was to take it in on the border edges.  I folded 2 rows of blocks under the borders on both the right and left sides and stitched 2 seams to hold the overage.  This "hid" 4 rows of blocks -- half the quilt, while preserving the border treatments.  This also preserved the patterning of the blocks, and the diagonal colors running through the quilt.  The added weight at the edges makes the borders heavier -- This should be okay because the borders will hang over the edges of the bed, and won't make the center heavier or too warm.  If it's too long, we can always tuck it under the end of the bed.

2 comments:

The Idaho Beauty said...

So glad that your altering to make it smaller did not include cutting. You've left the quilt intact so that if in the future it has the opportunity to be full size again, it will be an easy fix. Your dad continues to be able to sleep under it in his new location, feeling the embrace of your mom and you whenever he snuggles under it. <3

Michele Matucheski said...

Exactly! Thanks, Sheila.