Neonatal Quilts

Mary Catherine 2014Members of the guild have been creating tiny quilts and isolette covers for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Tallahassee Memorial Hospital for several years. Information and instructions on how to make these quilts and covers are listed below.

Quilts

QU members have been involved in providing quilts for use within the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Tallahassee Memorial Hospital since 1996. This project started through contests held by Wal-Mart where small quilts were designed, displayed at Wal-Mart and then donated to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. The small size of the quilts made it an easy project to continue as a guild philanthropic venture due to the generosity of our members wanting to provide a community service.

These quilts are used for several purposes within the unit. They are often used for the babies that don’t survive and given to their families as a keepsake. Those that are used within the unit are laundered in the hospital laundry which is a harsher laundering process than that in family homes. Therefore, they must be durable as well as attractive. This is a good project to practice machine quilting techniques… it’s small, portable, and quick to finish.

Your participation in this worthwhile community project would be very welcome. Here are just a few guidelines that you should be aware of:

  1. Quilt should be anywhere from 15″ x 22″ to 17″ x 25″ (as of March 2017).
  2. Children’s themes are preferred but not required. Just choose a simple 9-patch or other small squares using children’s fabrics. This is a good place to use scraps or pre-printed panels.
  3. Colors are optional although pastels are preferred
  4. DO NOT use embellishments such as buttons, bows, or lace. Remember that these quilts need to be durable enough for the hospital laundry!
  5. No sleeves are required – these quilts are used for the babies and not hung on the walls
  6. A label is not needed unless you wish to attach one. Some quilters just write on the back with permanent ink.
  7. Bring your finished quilt to any Quilters Unlimited meeting or call Lorna Fisher to make other arrangements
  8. Feel free to make more than one quilt!

Neonatal Teddy

Want to make a neonatal baby quilt?

Our thanks to Wendy Stone and Lorna Fisher for creating several sample NICU quilt instructions.

 

The babies of the NICU at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, and their families, thank you for caring.