I've been waiting for ages to show you this quilt. I made it for my sister-in-laws baby but it was two weeks late so I have had to keep it quiet for much longer than I thought. I wanted to make a quilt for her baby and I came up with this idea when trying to devise a quilt that would be really easy for any one hoping to learn to sew.
This quilt is so simple to make, if you have ever considered making one try this because it's a great beginners quilt. You don't even need to buy a cutting mat and rotary cutter which are normally pretty essential for speedy quilt making. So if you know some one who is having a baby soon, or maybe your are? Or maybe you just want something to pop over your knee on a chilly evening, you should make one of these quilts. It's super easy and also inexpensive as far as quilts go. Just follow along this week and you will have a quilt. Sorted.
You Will Need:
8 Fat Quarters, 4 dark and 4 light (any colour will do, or you could have 2 contrasting colours instead of dark and light)
Fabric Scissors (You can use a rotary cutter if you have one of course)
Sewing Machine
Thread
Wadding (Batting)
You might need extra fabric for binding depending on the size of your fat quarters
Make the Quilt Top
The quilt top, or the star, is the first thing you will need to make. Take a fat quarter and fold the corner up so that the side lines up with the top as shown (1). Then you need to cut off any excess again as shown (2). This leaves you with an exact square. Some fat quarters are cut as squares but normally they are cut from a metre of fabric (sometimes a yard) from the roll and then this metre is cut into quarters to make the 'fat quarters'. So unless the fabric was originally 1 metre across then you will have some extra. Save this extra piece for your binding (part 4).
Now that you have a square shape you need to carefully cut it into these 5 triangles:
To do this simply cut the square in half along the diagonal, then cut one of these triangles in half again, and finally cut these two smaller triangles in half again. Repeat with all your fat quarters until you have 8 large triangles and 32 small triangles.
Now you need to take your 32 small triangles and pair them up. Make 8 pairs with one dark and one light triangle, 4 pairs with both triangles from your darker coloured fabrics and 4 pairs with both triangles the lighter coloured fabrics. Then put each pair with 'right sides together' and with the long side of the triangles lined up.
Now you need to stitch together each pair of triangles along this longer edge leaving a 6mm (1/4") seam allowance. Then open out the triangles and you will see you have made them into squares, press the seams to one side, if you can press towards to dark side.
Next you can lay your squares out on the floor and arrange them into the star shape. You can move them around until you are satisfied with how they look. Then collect together each row of squares from left to right into a pile. With your sewing machine stitch squares together to make rows, make sure you have each square up the right way so that you keep your star shape. Sew with the squares right sides together and with a 6mm (1/4") seam allowance. Then press your seems to one side, again if possible towards the dark side.
Finally stitch the rows together, again with right sides together and a 6mm seam allowance. You may need to lay your rows out on the floor again to make sure you are going to stitch them in the right order.
And that's it! You have made a quilt top and it wasn't so hard was it? Well if you struggled with anything then let me know in the comments and I will see if I can help. I'll share with you the next stage next Tomorrow. Zoe x
Find the other 3 parts here:
Quilt Back
Quilting
Binding and Finishing
No comments :
Post a Comment