Learn some tips and tricks showing you how to pick fabric for a quilt. Tips for picking fabric colors for a quilt and how much to buy.
Be sure to check out my UPDATED Four-at-a-Time Flying Geese Tutorial and Sizing Tables. I think you might find a lot more success with the intermediate sizing I suggest there! Over the years, IR…
I am not, have never been, and have come to terms with the fact that I will never be, a patient person. And I just couldn't wait any longer! This is the new fat quarter bundle I am using to make my Oblongagon quilt for the Quilt Along in 2014! Along with a couple solids. It is Spot On by Studio RK in the Summer Lovin' palette and I got mine from Pam at Mad About Patchwork. In the planning of your project for this quilt along, the cut of your chosen fabrics will be used to determine the layout and block size for the quilt you will be making. The oblongagon is made from a square, but a rectangle can also be used. Here are some possible cuts which can be made from fat quarters and half yard cuts. In the Introduction to the Oblongagonalong, we looked at 3 possible layout options... the Chevron, the Flower and the Random designs. For the Chevron design, the width of the quilt depends on how many blocks you decide to use for each horizontal "stripe", what size of block you use, and how many blocks are a part of each "stripe". This chevron style on the left has a lower hump and the style on the right has a higher hump. The one on the left needs 12 blocks per "stripe" - on the right needs 18 blocks per "stripe". Using your fabric pull for the project and a hexagon grid, you can plan your design using pencil crayons. I knew that I had 12 fat quarters of printed fabric and wanted to use the Flower design. Of those 12 prints, I determined how many of each colour there were: 2 dark blue, 2 light blue, 2 yellow, 1 white, 4 green and 1 orange. And each print cut into 5.5" x 6" pcs would result in 12 flower petals or 2 flowers each. I decided to use solids for the centers of my flowers and came up with this plan on the EQ7. This quilt layout is 54" x 55". Of course you can see that I really did break my EQ7. That blank block will always be up there on the top left corner for every design using the single block style quilt design. *Sigh* When it came time to cut, I chose the best use of my fat quarters. These fat quarters measured 18" x 21" so I cut each of them into 12 pieces at 5.25" x 6" a lot like the third diagram at the beginning of this post. I used two half yard cuts for my solids. First I cut those half yards each into fat quarters. Then I cut one fat quarter from each colour in the same manner, making 12 pieces of each solid. I cut 6 strips for binding from each remaining fat quarter and will use them to make a scrappy binding. Tune in next week to see how to turn those blocks into the OBLONGAGON! Keep On Quilting On!
Free Motion Quilting for beginners. Tips to solve free motion quilting problems:uneven tension or stitches, backing fabric fold plus notions that will help.
Top US quilting blog, Diary fo a Quilter, features their Lattice Baby Quilt Tutorial and Pattern, perfect for using 5" charm squares. Click here now!!
Several years ago I purchased a quilt pattern at the International Quilt Festival for a collage quilt by Laura Heine of Fiberworks. I’ve never made a collage quilt in my life but absolutely L…
Are you new to machine quilting? You may have made tied quilts for a while and now want to explore machine quilting. I’ve seen a lot of advice given for how to machine quilt but I think mos…
Have you used the Quilter's Little Helper app from Robert Kaufman Fabrics? I have tried a few of these apps that supposedly figure out measurements for you, but the ones I've tested so far have numerous glitches. I would never really trust them, so what good are they? However, I understand the urge for an app that you could pull out in a quilt shop when you find that perfect fabric and don't have a pattern or graph paper with you. Or when you haven't had enough coffee to do math. You know what I mean. It looks like the people at Robert Kaufman Fabrics have finally done it right. There are links to their social media channels, blog, and collections, plus a store finder for retailers near you. My top three favorite features include: The piece count. This is fantastic if you are making something scrappy. Let's go back to my example of the Circle of Love Quilt. I need 128 dark and 128 light 2 1/2" squares for my four patch units. I have a collection of fat quarters I would like to cut them from. Let's see how many 2 1/2" squares I can get from one fat quarter. Pieces to Yardage Area. For the half square triangles, I want all of the white and lime green triangles to be the same. I have to figure out how much yardage I need. Remember, I need thirty-two 5 1/2" squares of each color. If I find the perfect fabric in my stash or in the shop, how much do I need? Set-in and Corner Triangles. My third favorite thing is for a quilt that is set on point. I hate doing the math for the setting triangles, and I always end up with a lot of waste because I cut the fabric too small and have to start over, or I cut it way too big and chop off the extra. This part of the app lets you put in the block size and automatically calculates the size square to cut for the corners and for the sides. Thank you! The cons? Well, for one thing, just like the Quiltivate website, this app defaults to fabric being 43 inches wide. This makes me grind my teeth. It also makes me want to go measure all of my Robert Kaufman fabric and see what it really measures. I'll bet it's not 43 inches! [I did measure. It's 43" unwashed and including the selvage.] The only other thing that doesn't work as well as it could is the backing and batting calculator. It just takes the path of least resistance, and figures out how to use two large pieces of fabric to make your back with no regard for waste. The app or website that truly comes up with a way to calculate the most efficient way to piece a back will have my heart forever. These cons aren't much of a down side, especially for a free app. I look forward to using this one more. Try it out and let me know what you think. Tweet
How To Quilt As You Go - Simplified. Plus 2 Ways to Join Squares
After sewing for years, I’ve naturally acquired a handful of sewing hacks and tricks. I’ve gathered together 39 of my favorites just for you!
Sometimes it is difficult to see through a very thick fabric such as felted wool or a quilt that has already been sandwiched with the battin...
Learn six different ways to cut up a 10" quilt fabric square to use it for quilting or sewing. From NewQuilters.com. #layercakequilts #precutfabricguide #fabricsquaresideas #fabricsquares
You did it! You successfully pieced, sandwiched, and quilted a cool new project. It’s looking great, but before you finish it off with binding, there’s one more step you just can’t skip: squaring the quilt. This week I’m demonstrating how easy it is to achieve perfect straight sides and 90-degree corners. Click HERE to watch the tutorial and learn how to take your quilts from “good enough” to first-class!
This tutorial shows you how to blanket stitch your binding. The binding is fused on with an iron and then the sewing machine does the rest with it’s blanket stitch setting. You can see the full quilti
Your Laser or Inkjet Printer Can Produce Wonderful Results! With so many beautiful fabrics to choose from at the quilt store, it’s hard to imagine why you’d want to print your own. However, your printed designs can add truly special touches to a quilt. For example, photos are often printed on fabric and added to …
Half-square triangles are one of the most versatile units in quilting and these tutorials and size charts will help you achieve the accuracy you need!
Frustrated by quilt blocks that turn out the wrong size? Learn to sew a scant quarter-inch seam and make your quilts come out right. #quilting #quarterinchseam
Repair a damaged quilt, including tutorials on mending rips and tears, and fixing holes and frayed seams caused by frequent washing, pets and other damage.
It's important for any quilter to know how to join the ends of binding — no matter the skill level — and we're excited to show you how!
I totally do! The table shakes and all the fabric bits are flying everywhere. The fabric bits is where it begins.
Step-by-step tutorial with photos on how to make a hanging sleeve for a quilt. Learn some tips and tricks to be able to hand your quilt.
After sharing my Scrap Vortex quilt and mentioning that I spiral-quilted it, a few people expressed interest in learning more about spiral quilting, so today's post is about that. I'll admit that before spiral quilting for myself my thought was, "How hard can it be?" Well, it was trickier than I expect, so I'll give you the advantage of my experiences and share a few tips. Tip 1: Approach spiral quilting with a positive attitude. No matter what size project you're quilting, expect that quilting will be v-e-r-y slow-going. At first, it will be! Tip 2: Expect that your shoulders will get a little workout. All the cramming, shoving and quilt repositioning - especially for a large quilt - might give you enough of a workout that you'll it feel later! My arms ached a little and I'm in pretty good shape. Tip 3: The walking foot you choose to use makes a difference! Here you see two walking feet. On the left is the foot for my Pfaff Grand Quilter; on the right is the foot for my Bernina 440. Notice that the widths of each foot are different? I intentionally chose to quilt on my Bernina so I could use the wider foot as a guide for the distance between spirals. Tip 4: If your walking foot has the option of different feet, choose the open-toe foot for better visibility as you're quilting. Tip 5: If your walking foot has a repositionable guide bar, use it. The guide is the best way to ensure consistent spacing. Since I spiral-quilted in a clockwise direction, I positioned the guide to the left of the walking foot. Conversely, if you plan to quilt in a counter-clockwise direction, use a guide bar on the right side of the walking foot. For the quilting example that follows, I set the distance between spirals at 3/4". Tip 6: A machine adjustment you might like to make is to the pressure put on the quilt sandwich. On my Bernina, the dial at the end of the machine controls pressure. I turned the dial downward to increase pressure to help control bobbled stitches that sometime occur between stops and starts. On older sewing machines, the pressure adjustment can usually be made by "dialing down" the silver screw-like knob on top of the machine, above the presser foot area. Whatever you do, don't forget to return the pressure back to normal when you're finished quilting. Tip 7: My Bernina's default stitch length is 2.4. For quilting, I like to set it at 2.6. I can't suggest a length for your machine, as each brand is set differently, but I definitely prefer to have a slightly longer stitch length than what I use for piecing. Tip 8: Use the "needle down" option on your machine. When you're repositioning the quilt, like you need to do about a ga-jillion times, it helps that the needle stays in place. Find the middle of your quilt, and draw around a circle. I used a quarter as my center, but you should choose a circle size that's in proportion to the amount of quilting that will cover the piece. For my 88" X 92" Spiral Vortex quilt, I started with a two-inch diameter circle. Trace the circle with a blue wash-out marker, or disappearing ink pen. Tip 9: I found it extremely helpful to also draw the tail that would lead me out to the 3/4" distance I chose for this piece. I recommend you do the same for whatever spacing you choose for your quilt. Insert the needle at the point where the circle meets the beginning of the tail you've drawn. In the photo above, I've marked that point with an arrow. Draw the bobbin thread to the top. You're ready to begin quilting. Stitch. One stitch at a time to quilt the drawn circle in a clockwise direction. Seriously. Take one stitch: up/down. Move the quilt. Take one stitch - up/down. Move the quilt. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. This is the S-L-O-W part, and that's the only way to begin to quilt around the circle. Tip 10: If your sewing machine has a knee lift, use it! You'll develop a sort of rhythm: Stitch (up/down) Raise foot Move quilt Lower foot Stitch (up/down).... and so on. Eventually, you'll make it around the drawn circle. When you've completed the circle, continue following the drawn tail until you reach the desired distance between spirals. Once you've hit that mark with your guide bar, or the side of your walking foot (or, if you prefer, eyeball a space slightly wider than the side of your walking foot, as I have also been known to do), continue quilting one stitch at a time. Don't rush! Quilting one stitch at a time may seem to go on forever, but remind yourself that the number of stitches you take at one time will eventually increase. In the photo below, I've continued to stitch one stitch at a time. When I reached this point, I was up to two stitches at a time. And even while stitching this slowly, and turning the quilt every time, the slightest bobble can be seen just to the left of the guide bar tip. Expect that perfection is next to impossible. Pretty-darned-good is wonderful! At this point, I'm up to a combination of two stitches (raise foot, adjust quilt, lower foot) and three stitches at a time. As you continue to stitch, you'll gradually be able to take more stitches at a time, and when you hit four or five stitches at a time, you'll feel good that "the worst is over." Then, by the time you get to the 12th spiral or so, you know you've got it made! Be aware that eventually your spiral will reach the edge of the quilt. At that point you'll see that the outside corners of the quilt still need quilting. On each of the four corners, keep the distance between each spiral the same and continue to quilt a gentle curve. Though one spiral on a quilt is impressive, consider the possibilities of a more dramatic effect with several quilted spirals. I plan to pursue this further. How about you? Linda
Have you ever wanted to make a quilt but didn't know where to start? These 15 Quilt Patterns for Beginners is the way to go!!!
Learn how to quilt-as-you-go and connected large quilted blocks together in a new quilting tutorial with Leah Day. This quilt-as-you-go method is excellent because you can quilt smaller blocks on your home machine, then connect them together to make a large quilt.
The quilt as you go method is so easy and makes so much sense if you don't want to spend a load of time quilting in the traditional quilt top first method. I love doing quilt as you go blocks, but I came to an abrupt halt when I actually had to join my blocks
Have you ever made a “One Block Wonder”? To make one you place 6 layers of the same fabric on top of each other lining up the patterns exactly, and then cut them into triangles then sew each group…
I'm not sure what I spent my week doing, but I know I was busy. Sometimes the time just gets away from me. So I am pulling in a couple ...
Today I am going to attempt to help you figure out how to cut and buy the correct amount of fabric for the back of your quilt. This will be ...
Although it takes a little extra time, it is so important to square up your quilt blocks before you sew them together to make your final quilt top. Here...
Free machine binding quilt tutorial by quiltylove. This tutorial will teach you how to machine bind a quilt. Beginner friendly quilt binding tutorial.
Learn how to bind a quilt with a sewing machine only. We're sharing our secrets and tips that yield great-looking binding every time!
How to Free Motion Quilt, and how to set up for freemotionquilting
Whether you’re trying to save some money or you’re wanting to make a lightweight quilt, there are several reasons why you may wonder if a quilt can be made without batting. Quilt batting is not needed when making a quilt. You can make a quilt by quilting the top and back together without a middle...
Are you new to machine quilting? You may have made tied quilts for a while and now want to explore machine quilting. I’ve seen a lot of advice given for how to machine quilt but I think mos…
Learn how to transform leftover fabric scraps into useable quilting binding. Scrap binding is perfect for charity quilts, small projects and more.
This is a very quick and simple way to bind a quilt! Once you’re done…
After putting out the Patchwork Planner & Journal--- and then this year the Patchwork Calendar, I got thinking (and was missing) a few things.
