Winter weather isn’t motivating me to spend time in my shop, so I am spending my winter break inside being crafty. This weeks project is a sensory planet quilt. This 30″ x 42″ quilt doubles as a play mat with lots of fun textures and colors. You don’t need a fancy machine (mine is an inexpensive one from Costco), or any special tools to make this quilt, though I do recommend a few that will make it go much faster.
Printable Version Available Here
Material List
- 17” Sun Material
- 5” Mercury Material
- 7” Venus Material
- 6” Earth Material
- 5” Mars Material
- 11” Jupiter Material
- 9” Saturn Material
- 12” Saturn Ring Braid
- 8” Uranus Material
- 7” Neptune Material
- 1 yard Background
- 1 yard Backing 2/3 yard Binding Material
- 1 yard 90” 80/20 Batting
- Black thread (for quilting)
- Silver Thread (for quilting)
- Thread to match each planet 2 yards 1-sided fusible interfacing
Tools List
- Fabric Scissors
- Sewing Machine (walking foot optional)
- Iron & Ironing Board
- Basting Spray or Pins
- Safety Pins
- Self-Healing Mat (optional)
- Rotary Cutter (optional)
- Rotary Circle Cutter (optional)
Step 1: Find the Fabrics
A sensory quilt is meant to expose babies to multiple patterns and textures, so each planet was a different material. I chose a nice flannel as the backing material, a solid black cotton for the background, and a different texture corresponding to each planet. Be warned any of the soft materials will shed like crazy as you cut them, and I highly recommend getting enough stabilizer/interfacing to make cutting and sewing non-cotton materials easier.
Note: This pattern assumes at least a 42” width of the backing and background materials. If yours isn’t that wide, you’ll need to buy at least 44” lengths (instead of 36” lengths) of the backing and background materials. All of my fabrics came from Joanns. I used the following lengths:
| Area | Length (inches) | Material |
| Background | 36 | Kona Black Cotton |
| Sun | 17 | Anti-Pill Plush Fleece |
| Mercury | 5 | Soft & Minky Fleece Fabric Solids – Castlerock |
| Venus | 7 | Wubby Brown-Tipped Fleece |
| Earth | 6 | Metallic Velvet Burnout Fabric – Botanical Garden |
| Mars | 6 | Silky Furry Fleece |
| Jupiter | 11 | Sew Sweet Ribbon Ruffled Velvet Fabric – Gold & Ivory |
| Saturn | 12 | Tissue Lame Fabric – Gold |
| Saturn Ring | 12 | Simplicity Metallic Braided Trim 0.44″ Gold |
| Uranus | 8 | Flannel Back Satin Fabric |
| Neptune | 7 | Soft & Minky Fleece Fabric – Dots Skydiver |
| Backing | 36 | Kitties in Space |
| Binding | 24 | Nursery Flannel Fabric Good Night Stars |
| Batting | 36 | 80/20 Batting |
Step 2: Cut Out the Planets
Cut out interfacing slightly smaller than your lengths of fabric. For example, Mercury is 5” diameter, so cut out a 4.75” x 4.75” square of interfacing. Follow the instructions on the interfacing and secure it to the wrong side of each planet. Next, use a rotary circle cutter and cut out each planet from edge to edge of the interfacing (so Mercury is actually 4.75”). If you don’t have a rotary circle cutter (available for ~$20 on Amazon or ~$30 at Joanns), follow the instructions in Step 3.
| Area | Diameter (inches) |
| Mercury | 5 |
| Venus | 7 |
| Earth | 6 |
| Mars | 6 |
| Jupiter | 11 |
| Saturn | 12 |
| Saturn Ring | 12 |
| Uranus | 8 |
| Neptune | 7 |
Lastly, cut the sun out. The sun is different than the circular planets as it is a triangle in the bottom corner of the quilt. My sun is a triangle approximately 2” tall and 17” wide.
Step 3: Cutting Circles with Scissors
If you don’t have a rotary circle cutter, follow this step for each planet. Otherwise, skip to step 4.
For each interfaced fabric square, mark the center on the interface side (black circle in the figure). Measure the distance from the center to the edge of the interfacing (X in the figure). Using a ruler, mark X distance from the center point all the way around the circle. Then, connect each of the dashes until you have a smooth circle, and then cut out the circle using scissors.
Step 4: Baste the Planets
First, iron your background material so it is smooth with no creases or wrinkles. Lay it out on a flat circle and align your planets. Use basting spray or pins to temporarily secure your planets to your background material.
Step 5: Attach the Planets
Each of the planets are attached to the quilt as an applique. I chose thread that matched each planet. Because it’s a sensory planet quilt, you could also play around with the thread and do contrasting, or complimentary colors. My favorite applique stitch is the blanket stitch, but you can use your favorite.
If you have fuzzy materials, it is a lot easier to applique if you can tape the wiry bits away from the edges. I used packing tape.
Step 6: Pin the Quilt
Iron your backing material and lay it wrong side up on a flat, hard surface. I intended this quilt to double as a playmat, so I doubled up the batting (two layers). This will make it harder to sew but isn’t an issue for my machine as long as I have a sharp needle. Lay the batting down on top of the backing material and smooth flat. Finally, lay the quilt top on top. You’ve now created a quilt “sandwich”. If you’re having difficulty with the layers shifting as you lay it out, you can try lightly basting each layer.
A lot of quilters recommend starting at the center and pin outwards, but I had a hard time getting the safety pins through all the layers, so I started at one end and worked my way across. Pin every ~5”, ensuring there are no wrinkles in the fabric. Make sure you don’t stretch out your fabric either, as this will cause it to lay funny once it’s been washed and shrinks back. If you’re having difficulty with your straight safety pins, they make curved ones that making pinning a quilt much easier.
Step 7: Quilt It
I machine quilted mine, but you could also tie quilt this. I stitched a line through all layers every one inch, alternating between silver and black threads. The silver thread is embroidery thread and tends to be more fragile than what I typically quilt with, so I alternated rows to help the strength of the quilt.
I stopped each line at the edge of the planets. This allows the planets to “pop” once it has been washed and the batting has shrunk. I felt like this made the best sensory planet quilt, but you could also quilt patterns on top of the planets for extra texture.
Step 8: Bind the Quilt
Binding is the step many quilters hate. Every quilter I know has a pile of un-bound quilts. The traditional way to bind a quilt is to machine sew on one side, and then hand sew the opposite side. I do not have the patience for this, so I machine bind my quilts. There are several excellent tutorials out there for binding quilts, so I won’t go into great detail here.
Note: If you use flannel backing and doubled up batting like I did, a standard 2.5” binding strip isn’t wide enough. Use 3” instead. I used 2.5” and had to really yank it around the edges which left it uneven.
