Showing posts with label Tutorials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tutorials. Show all posts

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Red, White, and Blue Table Topper- a Tutorial

Once again, I'm racing to get my little quilts and patterns out in time for the seasons. It's mid June already, so I whipped up a table topper for the Fourth of July, one that can be quickly made with time to spare. The patches are all made from squares, half square triangles and 1" strips. The finished size is 17" square.

"Red, White, and Blue", 17" x 17"

This takes only a few small pieces of fabrics. You need five main fabrics for the star and a few red and white pieces for the center square. 

Fabrics
  • two blues, one dark, one a lighter print
  • two reds, one dark, one a lighter print
  • one white
  • scraps of reds and whites for center square
  • 1/8 yard white print for border
  • 1/8 yard dark blue for binding
  • one fat quarter for backing


Cutting
  • From dark blue, cut eight squares, 3 1/2" x 3 1/2".
  • From lighter blue, cut four squares, 3 1/2" x 3 1/2".
  • From dark red, cut four squares, 3" x 3".
  • From light red, cut four squares, 3 1/2" x 3 1/2".
  • From white, cut four squares 3" x 3" and eight squares 3 1/2" x 3 1/2".
  • From red and white scraps, cut six strips, 1 1/2" x 8". 
  • From white border print, cut two strips 1 1/2" x 15 1/2" and two strips 1 1/2" x 17 1/2".
Note: All seams are 1/4". For best results with this pattern, press seams open.

Make the Center Square:

1.  Sew the red and white strips of fabric together, side by side alternating darker fabrics with lighter fabrics. Press.

2. From this set, cut five strips, each 1 1/2" wide. 

 Note: I made a mistake in choosing fabrics. O thought the bottom row would present as a white, but he two fabrics on the ends were much too similar. As a result my finished center square has one edge that doesn't match up the way I'd like.

3. Turn every other strip 180 ยบ. Align the strips in a checkerboard pattern. Remove an extra square from one end of each strip leaving five squares in each.


 4. Sew the five strips together to make one square, 5 1/2" x 5 1/2".
Even with more rearranging, I couldn't avoid having one end of the square with too little contrast.

Make the Half Square Triangle Patches

1. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of each 3 1/2" white square and each square of the lighter blue print.

2. With right sides together:
- Lay a 3 1/2" white square on each the four 3 1/2" lighter red squares.
- Lay a 3 1/2" white square on each of four 3 1/2" dark blue squares.
- Lay a lighter bue square on each of the remaining four dark blue squares.




 3. Sew 1/4" from either side of the lines drawn. Cut on the drawn line, open each half and press open to make half square triangle patches. You will have four patches of each combination. Trim each patch to 3 1/2" x 3 1/2".


Unit A
Make two
Unit A

1. Assemble top row as shown below. Sew all patches right sides together.
From left to right: white square, red and white half square triangle patch, blue and white half square triangle patch, blue and white half square triangle patch, red and white half square triangle patch, white square. Press.

Top row: make two

2. Assemble bottom row with patches right sides together as shown below.
From left to right: red and white patch, red square, dark blue and light blue patch, dark blue and light blue patch, red square, red and white patch.Press.

Bottom row: make two.
3. Sew the two rows right sides together, matching seams. Press.



Unit B
Make 2

1. For each unit, with right sides together, sew two dark blue and light blue patches together with the dark blue triangles together as shown. Then sew two dark blue and white patches together with the white triangles together as shown.

2. For each unit, sew a dark blue and light blue section and a blue and white section together with dark blue triangles together.
Assemble

1. Sew a unit B to each of two opposite sides of the center square.


2. Sew a unit A to the top and bottom of the center square and unit B strip.


3. Sew a 1 1/2" x 15 1/2" strip of white border fabric to each of two opposite sides of the completed star. Press to the border.

4. Sew a 1 1/2" x 17 1/2" strip of border fabric to the remaining two sides of the star. Press to the border.


 Add batting and backing. Quilt as desired. Attach binding.



Enjoy!!


 

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Sara's Quilt, Block 9, Tutorial

All of the blocks for Sara's Quilt are finished!! The patterns and tutorials are all mixed up in order, I know. It's just another example of how my brain bounces around from this to that at random.
Block 9, 10 1/2" x 10 1/2"


This was the final block that I made for Sara's Quilt, but there will be one more tutorial on my blog for block 7. The Dresden blocks will need a template, so that will be on Craftsy as a free pattern. Just more confusion, I know.

I can't believe that I forgot to take enough photos for this block! As a result, writing this blog took ten times as long as it would have if I hadn't had to make all of the diagrams. Sometimes I am such a scatterbrain! Sigh...

The diagram will be a useful guide to fabrics and their placement.

Eight different fabrics are used.
Cutting Instructions:

1. From each of the reds in the top row, cut one 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square and one 3 1/4" square. Cut the 3 1/4" squares in half diagonally. 
2. From the Medium Red, cut four 3 1/4" squares. Cut each in half diagonally.

3. From Cream 1, cut four 2 1/2" squares and four 3 1/4" squares. Cut the 3 1/4" squares in half diagonally. 

4. From Cream 2, cut four 2 1/2" squares.

5. From the Center Cream, cut on 2 1/2" square.

Make half square triangle patches: 

1. From each of the main red fabrics you will have two triangles. Sew the triangles into half square triangle patches as shown. 

Sew one triangle of each with a Cream 1 triangle. Sew the other triangle with a Medium red triangle. 


2. The patches will be slightly larger than needed. Trim each to a 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square.




 3. Four Medium red triangles and four Cream 1 triangles will remain. Sew each Medium Red triangle to a Cream 1 triangle to make four half square triangle patches. Trim each patch to 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" as before. 

Assemble the block.

Arrange the patches into rows and sew together.  


 

Next up, Block 7.
We are nearing the end.









Monday, February 27, 2017

Sara's Quilt, Block 3 Tutorial

Sara's Quilt, Block 3 (10 1/2" x 10 1/2"

So far, I've made six sampler blocks for Sara's Quilt. The sewing is going too fast for me to keep the patterns up to date. I'll try to get one out every week or two. Block 3 is a very basic pinwheel in a star. I loved making it because it's so quick and easy to piece.

Fabrics

Three reds, one cream, one wheat. This could be done very nicely with one light and two medium to dark fabrics of any color combination.

I forgot to photograph each fabric before cutting, and I don't have scraps of one of the reds left. This photo should help to explain the color arrangements.


Cutting and Piecing
1/4" seam allowances are used. 
 
I like to cut any pieces used for triangles just slightly larger than needed. This way I can line seams up on the diagonal lines of my ruler and trim than back to get exact measurements and perfect points.  It's so much easier to trim than to deal with pieces that are too small or a bit wonky.

Small Pinwheel
This block within a block is made with quarter square and half square triangles.

1. To make the small Pinwheel section, cut:
  • one 4" square of Red 1 and one 4" square of Cream. 
  • two 3 1/2" squares of cream

2. Cut each square in half diagonally. Turn and cut on the other diagonal making four triangles.
 3. Lay the triangles out in pairs as shown below. Make sure the positions of fabrics on all four of the pairs are the same.



3. With right sides together, sew the matching short legs of the triangles together. Press seams open.

4. Cut each 3 1/2" square of cream in half once diagonally. You will have four triangles.

5. Sew each cream triangle to the long side of the triangle made from the two smaller triangles. Press the seams open.


6. Line the seams up with the diagonal measures on your ruler. The short seam on the half square triangles should fall exactly at the corner of the 3 inch mark. Trim each square to 3" x 3".

7. Sew the patches right sides together to make the pinwheel.

8. Press the seams open. The pinwheel block will measure  5 1/2" x 5 1/2".



Outer Star

To make the outer star, cut:
  • two 3 5/8" squares of Red 2
  • two 3 5/8" squares of Red 3
  • four 3 5/8" squares of Wheat
  • four 3" squares of Wheat 

1. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of each 3 5/8" Wheat square.


2. Place each Wheat square on top of a red square, right sides together. Make two half square triangle sections by sewing a 1/4" seam on either side of the drawn line.


3.  Cut on the line, fold open, and press the seams open. Line the seam up with the diagonal line on your ruler and trim each half square triangle patch to 3" x 3".

At first, I pressed the seams to the dark. When it came time to sew the patches together, I realized that I'd have a very thick layer of fabric on one side of each seam. Back to the ironing board to press those seams open.

4. Arrange the half square triangle patches in pairs so that the reds are in the same positions for all four pairs.
Half square triangle sections will be sewn down the center where the wheat colored pieces meet.
5. Sew with right sides together. Press the seams open. The sections will measure 3" x 5 1/2".

6. Place one of the red and wheat sections on either side of the pinwheel block.



7. Sew 3" squares of wheat to either side of each of the red and wheat half square triangle sets. The sections will now measure 3" x 10 1/2".



8. Sew these last two sections to the top and bottom of the pinwheel block. The finished block will measure 10 1/2" x 10 1/2".



That's it. Happy Stitching!

March arrives this week! Spring is definitely on the way. 










Sunday, February 19, 2017

Sara's Quilt, Block 2

There hasn't been much progress on Sara's quilt this week, but I do have the pattern for Block 2 ready. It's the first in Sara's quilt that's made with applique on a pieced block.

This blog post explains details about how I did the applique, but I can't make PDF downloads of the templates available on my blog. I can only give a link to another site, so I'm publishing the instructions for cutting and assembling the block in a free pattern on Craftsy.





The templates can be used with fusible web, and that's the method I almost always use. I want this quilt to be special, though, with turned under edges. I love the look of hand applique, and with turned under edges, I can avoid the stiffness that can come with fusible web.

I'm not an expert at all when it comes to hand applique. I've experimented with lots of techniques, from needle turn applique to ironing heavily starched edges around templates. I'm pretty hopeless at turning edges as I sew or with an iron, so I used freezer paper, basting, and starch. Yes, it's much more time consuming than fusing, but this is a once only, very special quilt.

1. I traced the templates onto the dull side of freezer paper and cut them out on the lines.

2. I put the freezer paper shape shiny side down on the wrong side of the fabric and ironed it so it would stick.

3. When I cut the fabric I cut it about a quarter of an inch larger than the freezer paper template all around.

4. Now came the not so fun part - basting. Hand sewing is not my thing, but my O.C.D. has kicked in and I'm being fussy. Hand work is something I can do to keep my hands busy in the evening, and basting doesn't require much finesse. I have to admit that the basting  went very fast. I had all the pieces basted in less than an hour.


5. Normally a person would stitch this onto the quilt by hand and later snip the fabric behind the applique and pull out the freezer paper. This block was an experiment with trying to use machine stitching in such a way that it would imitate hand stitching, so stitching it down first wasn't going to work. I feared that some of the stitches would pierce the freezer paper and I'd have bits of paper stuck permanently in the quilt.

6. Starch next. I poured a little bit of liquid starch into a small plastic container. Then I used a small brush to saturate the turned edges of the fabric on the back of the freezer paper. I ironed it dry, and removed the basting stitches and the freezer paper. I was a little bit surprised that it held it's shape perfectly.

7. Next came glue. I put a few drop of quilt basting glue on the starched edges.


8. I placed the applique pieces onto the quilt block. Then I gave them time to dry.

I fussy cut the center part of the flower to get the large dot exactly in the middle.

9. Finally I sewed the appliques in place with a tiny machine blanket stitch. Matching thread for the faux applique was recommended in one of Pat Sloan's books, but even on the dark reds, the stitching didn't totally disappear into the background. That was a bit of a disappointment.

I think I'll go back to using the polyester microfiliment thread next time. It's practically invisible to start with. Then, again, I might just bite the bullet and applique my glued pieces down by hand.

I hope to make another pieced block this coming week. Fingers crossed!

We're experiencing a strange record breaking heatwave in Nebraska right now. I've never seen temperatures near 80 degrees in this part of the country in February! I may have to break down and do some yard cleanup.


Friday, February 10, 2017

Sara's Quilt: Block 1, Tutorial

Sara's quilt is a sampler with some pieced blocks and some applique blocks. This is the first pf the pieced blocks, so I'm calling it Block 1 for now. It looks a bit like four fish in a pond to me. Eventually, I may name it Fishpond. Or not.

I'm working with a layer cake and cream background yardage from "Miss Scarlet" by Moda. 

The block goes together so quickly. It's made entirely of squares and half square triangles (HST).
10" s 10"
I used six fabrics in this first block, but you could make the block with four. The cream fabrics in the blocks could all be made with the background fabric without changing the effect.


Cutting: 
From Red 1, cut two 3 1/8" squares
From Red 2, cut six 3 1/8" squares
From Red 3, cut four 2 1/2" squares and two 3 1/8" squares.
From Cream 1, cut four 2 1/2" squares and two 3 1/8" squares.
From Cream 2, cut four 3 1/8" squares.
From Cream 3, cut one 2 1/2" square.


Make the half square triangles.

You will need to make eight of A, four of B, and four of C, and one of Cream 3.


Red 2 and Cream 2 are used to make Unit A.
Red 2 and Red 3 are used in Unit B.
Red 1 and Cream 1 are used for Unit C
Cream 3 is used in the center of the block.
The squares for these are cut a bit larger than the exact measurement. I cut them down to 2 1/2" x  2 1/2" after they were sewn.

1. Choose the two 3 1/8" squares that are used for each unit. Place them right sides together in pairs.


2. Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on the wrong side of one of the squares in each pair.

3. Stitch 1/4" from the drawn line on each side of the line.

4. Cut along the line. You will have two HST units. Press seams to the dark.
5. Square up and trim each HST to 2 1/2" x 2 1/2.

Assemble the block.

Diagram of the block assembly.

 1. Make four 4-patch units. Use one of each HST in each as shown below.
Make four.

2. Make two 2-patch units from 2 1/2" squares of Red 1 and Cream 1.
3. Sew one of the 4-patch units to either side of the 2-patch unit. Make two of these sets.

4. Sew the remaining 2 1/2" squares together in a row of five squares with the Cream 3 square in the center.

5. The sets from step 3 will go on the top and the bottom of the row of five squares. Sew together.



That's it. Easy-peasy. 

If you find a mistake in this tutorial, please let me know right away so that I can correct it.