When I started making the quilt I thought it was going to be SO huge, apparently this is a CRIB size quilt when it is all done.
For this project you will need:
- TIME! This is my first project so I have learned a lot, but it probably took me a solid 15- 20 hours! I didn't keep track of time and worked on it sporadically but this is not a quick project for a beginner.
- OKAY IDEA: Good scissors ( I have scissors that I ONLY use on fabric)
- BETTER IDEA: Rotary Cutter/ Mat set (approx $50 from JoAnns, just look for a 50% off coupon -- this is a life saver)
- 9 quarter yards of patterned fabric
- 1 3/4 yard solid fabric
- 1/2 yard for binding
- 2 1/2 yards of backing ( I had to cut this to fit -- details later)
- Batting (crib size will be fine, I got full size because I use batting a lot in other projects and I didn't want to not have enough)
- Thread
- Sewing Pins
-
Instructions:
1. Cut strips 3 inch wide along the width of each patterned fabric.
You will need 2 3 inch strips of each pattern. For each patterned strip you will need 2 solid strips.
Note: You will need good scissors for this. A BETTER idea would be to get a rotary cutter and mat -- I didn't have these tools on this quilt but have since become wiser and purchased this. It will make life so much easier AND it will be MUCH easier to have perfect blocks, which will then make for a perfect quilt.
2. Put the front of your pattern and the front of your solid (sometimes with the solids it is hard to tell which is the front) together and sew along the side. The Bee Square Blog site says 1/4 inch allowance...I'm not that talented so I just sewed as close to the edge as I could.
I cut all my patterned strips first.
Then my solid (gray) strips.
Then sewed them together.
3. Iron your sewn strips.
4. Cut each strip into 5.5 inch blocks. You will need 14 blocks.
Note: Do NOT let a boy do this, if you do watch them like a hawk or your quilt will turn out wonky like mine did!
5. Lay your entire pattern out on the floor. If you make 7's with the pattern it will make it much easier.
6. Sew the "7's" together pretty side of fabric facing the middle.
7. Start sewing your strips the same way you did in step 7, pretty sides facing in when you sew
8. Once you have completed the entire rows, sew them together.
In this picture the left side is still in the "7" blocks, the middle is sewed into strips and then right corner is sewed all together.
9. Cut off all the triangles so you have a clean rectangle quilt front.
You can choose to either buy quilt backing or batting + another fabric for the back. I chose this option and got the same gray color for the backing,
10. Place top patterned part of the quilt you have sewn, followed by batting, and finally backing on the ground or other large work space.
11. Sew along the diagonal lines to hold all 3 fabrics in place. If you just sew around the edges the batting will get bunched up and look ugly.
I don't know why this picture is sideways and I don't know how to fix it, just turn your head :D
Okay you are SEW close to being DONE! *har har* don't encourage my jokes!
Binding - you can buy binding already premade or you can just buy fabric and make you own. We made our own.
12. Cut the fabric as wide as you want your edge to be plus a little extra to seam.
13. Seam both sides of the fabric so it looks clean when it is all sewed together.
14. Pin the binding onto the quilt making sure to get all 3 layers pinned.
15. Sew the binding to the edge of the quilt!
TA DA! Final product.
Send me pictures of your completed quilts :D
Special thanks to my friend Will who sewed a considerable amount of this, unjammed the sewing machine for me several once or twice, and listened to me whine about this taking so long :)
No comments:
Post a Comment