Bigger layout options for your sampler quilt

So you want a bigger quilt? I usually don’t recommend that beginners work on very large quilts as they are difficult to quilt on a domestic sewing machine. It’s probably better to make a small project first, to understand what’s involved and to learn all the techniques. Having said that my first quilt was 88” (224cm) so I understand the compulsion to make your first quilt for your own bed!

Every quilt after that was smaller until I found I could get my large quilts machine quilted by a professional. This is always a possibility for special quilts, when you’re in a hurry or if you just don’t like quilting a large quilt. Machine quilting can be expensive however, a quilt 80” x 80” can cost upwards of $180 to have professionally quilted.The cost depends on not only how big the quilt is but also on the style and density of quilting. The most economical is edge to edge quilting where a pattern is repeated across the quilt.

You can contact the NSW Quilter’s Guild for a list of machine quilters or search the internet for machine quilters in your area. You could also check out this Directory of Machine Quilters.

So you still want to make a bigger quilt, here are your options:

1) Make lots more pieced blocks! For a quilt that finishes at 82” you will need 25 pieced 12” blocks. With sashings cut at 3.5” and a border cut 5.5” wide you will get a quilt that looks like this

Lou made one like this but didn’t have enough of the border fabric for a continuous piece. Her solution was to piece the border strips.This a great option if you only have a small piece left and your fabric has a big pattern that makes matching seams difficult.

2) Alternate your pieced blocks with some plain fabric blocks to stretch it out.

Leslie did this with the quilt for her nephew using a vintage toy themed fabric:

thanks to Amy for this photo! http://badskirt.blogspot.com.au/#!/2011/11/yesterday-i-popped-up-to-north-side-of.html 

3) Alternate your pieced blocks with simple pieced blocks that you can whip up quickly. You can find cutting and piecing diagrams to some simple 12” star patterns in the blog post by Piecemeal Quilts.

I used a Variable Star block alternated with pieced and applique blocks in this single bed quilt to give it some uniformity and make it a little bigger.

Next we’ll talk about wadding and backings and how to put the quilt sandwich together.

Getting back on the “repetitive horse”

I just read Amy’s blogpost about “the one trick pony” versus the “repetitive horse” and thought it was timely given the mind numbing, painstaking piecing I’ve been doing this week. I’m really not a fan of repetition, I love the challenge of finishing a tricky block and admiring it before moving on to the next one.

That’s why I love a good sampler quilt, with lots of different techniques and proportions. That’s probably what attracts so many of us to the Dear Jane, Farmer’s Wife and Nearly Insane quilts.

But a good pattern repeated over and over has it’s own beauty. The background photo on this blog is a good example. Making 49 Orange Peel blocks in black and white is really an exercise in pinning and pressing and then adding another finished block to the design wall. Yet the finished quilt looked so gorgeous hung up in my sewing room I really didn’t want to give it away! This has been my story as a quilter… making beautiful things and sending them off into the world to be loved.

But as I mentioned earlier, I’m trying to get into the Zen of repetitive piecing this week. I have quite pile of fabrics in front of me to get through…

What on earth am I making with these 1936 rectangles?

Four hundred and eighty four 2 1/2” little cross blocks. Phew, I’m tired just thinking about it. I briefly entertained the thought of quick piecing them, sewing up long strips and then cross cutting them but you don’t get much variety that way. I think the real beauty in these little blocks is how each one is different, with it’s own character and flaws...

It should be relaxing really, like meditation. I’ll let you know how it goes

Week Three, Dresden Plate

Dresden Plate Template
This quilt block is a combination of patchwork and appliqué. It is a very striking block which is easy to make using this shortcut method.

You will need:

14” square of your background fabric
4.5"” x 10” strip of each of your other 4 fabrics for the petals
Sewing needle
Thread to combine with your fabrics
Pins
Pencil, manicure stick or knitting needle to poke out the point!

Using the template cut 4 tumbler shapes of each fabric. Trace template onto fabric and cut shapes out. You can flip the template along your piece of fabric to make the best use of it.

You can draw up your own template by drawing an angle of 22.5 degrees. Continue the lines up till you have a tall wedge. Cut the point off so that this bottom edge is around 1" wide. You want a template that's 4.5" tall through the centre of the template.

(Boring maths bit: a circle is 360 degrees so to get 16 petals we divided that by 16 = 22.5 degress. If you would like a 20 petal Dresden Plate you would divide 360 by 20 = 18 degrees)

1. Lay out your petals in a pleasing arrangement
2. Fold petals in half, right sides together, lengthwise.
3. Stitch across the top, leaving a ¼” seam
4. Press the tip into a triangle and the seam flat
5. Turn the point so the seam is inside and it forms a neat triangle point, use a pencil or knitting needle
6. Lay the petals out again in order
7. Sew into pairs, pinning them together so they don't get muddled
8. Sew the pairs into fours and the fours into eights
9. Finally sew the two halves into a whole circle
10. Press well
11. Fold your 14” square into quarters and finger press the seams to mark the centre
12. Open up the background and lay the flower on top, turn it to find the best position but keep it centred
13. Pin into place
14. With combining thread, appliqué the petals onto the background fabric
15. Finally, create a cardboard or template plastic circle big enough to cover your opening by at least ½”
16. Cut a piece of fabric at least ½” bigger and tack around the outside, leave a thread tail
17. Pull the thread to draw up the circle neatly around the template
18. Starch and press, remove the circle template from the pressed fabric
19. Appliqué the circle onto your flower to cover the hole.
20. Admire your beautiful block and give yourself a pat on the back!

Week Two, Strip Piecing

This week we look at strip piecing, a technique which makes piecing blocks with many pieces of the same size very simple. Strip piecing can save you a lot of time at the cutting mat and sewing machine.

Rail Fence Cutting & Layout

Week One, Introduction

So much to take in on our first lesson!

It's important that we understand the language of patchwork and quilting and so we introduce the Anatomy of a Quilt. We talk about blocks, sashing, corner stones, binding and all the other elements that make up a quilt.

We also discuss colour and value and their important role in quilt design. Keeping your colour choices to the colours found in your preferred print fabric is an easy way for beginning quilters to select their palette. Have a good variety of fabrics, one or two stars and a supporting cast!

Different fabrics have different strengths within a patchwork design: plain fabrics, large and small scale prints, scattered patterns, stripes and florals. By moving around our cutting templates we can create a different effect within a quilt block, this is called "fussy cutting". Remember to cut fabrics "on the grain" as much as possible, place straight edges of any square shapes along the length of fabric threads. Diagonal edges should be cut on the bias. Following this simple rule allows your blocks to lie flat and ultimately your quilt also be straight.

A quick introduction to the common tools that quilter's use: needles, fine glass head pins, 100% cotton fabrics and cotton thread. Cutting patchwork pieces with scissors is very time consuming, a rotary cutting system can really speed things up. You will need a rotary cutter, a self healing cutting mat and a thick acrylic ruler. Be careful with the rotary cutter, keep it out of reach of children and always engage the safety latch.

Finally, we get to cut and stitch together our first block. We are working on 12" blocks for this sampler quilt. The larger size allows us to complete enough blocks in 8 weeks to make a small quilt. Individual blocks can also be used to make cushions, mug rugs, pot holders and little wall hangings. When stitching together our blocks we use a scant 1/4" seam. All pattern pieces are cut with the seam allowance included.

This week we focus on "nine patch" construction, a simple 3 x 3 grid. Chose from a simple Nine Patch, or the more complex Shoo Fly, Card Trick and Ohio Star. The last three incorporate triangles.