QuiltMouse

The Quilt Top that I’m working on for Fabric Café has 3 Borders with the outside Border having Corner Blocks (sometimes called Cornerstones).

Donna’s patterns have very good directions on adding Borders, but I wanted to share a few tips.

First – the White Fabric which I am using in Border #1 had 43” of useable fabric after the selvages were trimmed. I was able to add the right & left borders with only one Width of Fabric (WOF) each.  The top & bottom borders were the same. So no piecing necessary for Border #1.  If your fabric isn’t as wide, these borders will need to be pieced.

The 2nd & 3rd Borders needed piecing.  After trimming the selvages, one WOF strip was short by just a little bit. To avoid having just a little piece added, I cut one WOF in half – making 2 strips about 21” long, and stitch one piece to one full piece for the Left Border and repeated that for the Right Border.

Measuring/Squaring – I found a hint which helps keep your Quilt Top square.

Fold the top in half (bringing the Left side to the Right side) and lay it on your ironing board or cutting table. (OK, a dining room table would work, too!)

Do not use a tape measure – instead, take your 2 border strips and starting with the 1/2 strip end pin matching raw edges along the fold (not the left/right sides raw edges).  Smooth the 2 border strips, pinning a few times until you reach the other side raw edges. 

Mark your border fabric or slide a small cutting mat under and cut the border strips even with the raw edges.  There are now two border strips the same size which will fit the left & right sides of the Quilt Top.  Sew the ‘left-over’ fabric strips to the ends of the remaining 2 WOF strips to be used for the top/bottom borders.  Repeat the pinning/trimming for the Top & Bottom Borders.  Remember to begin with the short, added-on strip.

Note:  By starting your border strip with the shorter piece the border will be more evenly distributed and a small pieced segment will be avoided.

Repeat this process for the Left & Right Border #3 Strips.

Adding Corner Blocks (or Cornerstones) –

After adding the left over strips from Border #3 Left/Right borders to the two WOF strips for the Top/Bottom Border #3, add one Corner Block to the short end strip for both the Top & Bottom Borders. You will have two strips like this:

Fold the Quilt Top in half (bring bottom raw edges to top raw edges), and beginning with the Corner Block (use both strips), line raw edges together at the fold and the Corner Block seam with the Left/Right Seam.  Smooth the border strips, pinning occasionally until you reach the other side/raw edges.

Caution – unlike adding plain borders, do not extend all the way to the raw edges.  Since the other Corner Blocks will need to be added, the Top & Bottom Border strips will be cut a little differently.

When you reach the end measure 1/4” past the seam where the Corner Block will be added.

Mark it.

Cut it – But DON’T cut the Quilt Top!!! This gives the 1/4” seam allowance which will be used to sew on the 2nd Corner Block.

Return to the sewing machine and add the 2nd Corner Block to each strip.

Pin the Top & Bottom Borders in place matching the Corner Block seams to the Left/Right Border #3 seams.  Pin the remaining strip along the raw edges of the top.  Repeat for the bottom border

You now have perfectly attached 3 Borders and 4 Corner Blocks!

See the completed Quilt Top.

You ask, ‘How long does it take to make this top?’  Well, I’d have to say a day and a half.  But that included, taking pictures, editing pictures, and writing 2 Blog Posts.  Add into the timetable, I’m with a friend, and of course we had to visit a local quilt shop and spend some time catching up with each other’s lives. (Plus, I went to bed about 9 pm last night.)

Could I have made this in one day – Certainly!  Especially using the quick tricks of Strip Piecing & Chain Piecing!!  Try it!

This quilt is the Breast Cancer Awareness Kit which is sold by Fabric Café and when finished it will have Chenille Ribbons on the White Blocks.  I will post a picture of the finished quilt when it is available.

This kit is not on the Fabric Café’s website yet.  But if you are interested in making this Breast Cancer Awareness Quilt, you can call Fabric Café at 866-855-0998.  The 3-yard bundle costs $24 & includes a free pattern.  If you want to add the Chenille Ribbons, you will also have to order one roll of Chenille ($10.99).

Happy Stitching!

Quilt Mouse

Chain Piecing is another method of quickly assembling blocks and is another method that I used in making this quilt top for Fabric Café.

 In my last post I demonstrated Strip Piecing and mentioned that I would be able to make 18 Nine-Patch Blocks using only 10 seams (sort-a).

While Strip Piecing, I used 8 (long) seams to assemble 4 strip-sets which were then sub-cut into smaller segments.

Now I have to assemble the 18 blocks using 18 of one segment and 36 of another.

Following the directions, I take one of the larger 3-piece segments and match it with one of the smaller 3-piece segments.

Using pins to help keep the seams matched, I start sewing.  I always sew with the smaller segment (or block or row) on top.

When I get to the end of the segment, I do not remove what has been stitched.  I just take another larger 3-piece segment, match it with one of the smaller 3-piece segments, pin, and continue stitching.  Continue adding segments until all of the larger 3-piece segments have a smaller 3-piece segment stitched to the right side.

You will have something like this when you finish. (Sun was shining in the window and the picture didn’t turn out great, but you get the picture.)

Technically, you could call this all one ‘seam’  – you didn’t stop/start, waste thread pulling it out & cutting it between stitching segments.

Repeat the process.  You don’t have to cut the stitches   between the blocks, just start at the end and sew the second small 3-piece segment to the other side of the larger 3-piece segment (which actually now has 6 pieces).  This will be your 10th long seam and you will now have 18 Nine-Patch Blocks completed!

Your choice – cut the blocks apart and then iron, or iron and then cut the blocks apart.

More Chain Piecing – There are now 18 Nine-Patch Blocks and 18 fabric rectangles and the rows are ready to assemble.  Pair one Fabric Rectangle and one Nine-Patch and again Chain Piece the pairs until there are 18 pairs.

The pattern calls for 6 rows of 6 blocks each, so take 6 pairs of blocks and Chain Sew them to another pair making sure you are alternating  the blocks (and if using directional fabric, keep the fabric going the right direction).

The rows are now almost done.  Take the 6 rows of 4 blocks and Chain Piece the remaining 6 pairs to make 6 rows of 6 blocks each.

So, there you have it. Eighteen Nine-Patch Blocks stitched in only 10 (long) seams and 6 rows of 6 blocks each Chain Pieced.

Next comes the Borders & Corner Blocks.

Happy Stitching!

Quilt Mouse

OK, Gotcha Attention, didn’t I?!? <Big GRIN>

I’m talking about Strip Piecing.  Some people find it boring, but I find that it helps me to keep moving and get a lot done.

This is what I mean – when piecing a quilt top, sometimes you cut all the itsy, bitsy, tinnie, tiny pieces and individually sew them to one another and keep stitching larger pieced segments until you get a complete block.  Often this is what you need to do.

But there are times when you are piecing several blocks – like today, I’m piecing 18 blocks – that all have the same sized pieces in the same positions. In this case, Strip Piecing makes the work so faster.

This block is a 9-Patch –  See the nine segments? 

I ‘could’ cut each little piece and stitch them one-at-a-time.  This would be 8 seams per Block times 18 Blocks – you do the math, but that’s a lot of seams.

I can accomplish the same result in only 10 seams by sewing strips together and then cutting the strips into segments which are then sewn together to make the block.

The first step – cut strips of fabric the width of your yardage – that is from selvage to selvage. This pattern is one of Fabric Café’s.  Donna’s patterns are so very easy to follow and fun to make.

I cut strips of one fabric and strips of the second fabric, following the pattern’s directions.  Now I only have 8 (long) seams to stitch.

Following the Pattern Directions match 2 of one color and one of the second color and begin stitching.

Repeat until you have one strip sewn to one larger strip.  With this pattern, after 4 long seams, I have 4 pieces with 2 strips each.

This next step is optional – to iron or not to iron.  If you need to stretch your legs, go ahead and iron this strip.  In this case, I have ironed the seams open.  Your choice!

Now proceed with stitching the 2nd narrow strip onto the 2-piece strips you have on the opposite side of the wider strip.

Ironed –

Not Ironed –

TA DA!  After sewing only 8 (long) seams, I now have 4 strip sets.  If you haven’t ironed them yet, this is the time to do it.

Now I sub-cut each of the 4 strips into the sizes required, and I’m ready to assemble my 18 blocks.

After cutting the required number of pieces, I have all I need to finish up my 18 Nine-patch blocks.  So far, I’ve only sewn 8 seams!

Now, isn’t strip piecing fun?  Sometimes it’s nice to stitch something I don’t need a degree in higher mathematics!

Next I will show how these 18 blocks come together with only 2 more seams (sorta).

Happy Stitching!

Quilt Mouse