We are running this patchwork series throughout the first 9 months of the year with the last 3 months showing you how to piece together with sashing, how to layer the quilt, how to quilt and how to bind the edges. So by the time December 2022 comes around you will have a finished quilt! This project is great for stash busting all your leftover fabrics from your dressmaking projects. We are using a mixture of leftover fabrics from our dressmaking samples, however, these will need to be a woven cotton or cotton/ linen mix without stretch (so no knitted fabrics). Medium to lightweight fabrics are best. Please ensure you wash your fabrics first to ensure your colours don’t run and if you are using a floppy cotton or linen we suggest you use a spray starch to help stiffen the fabric a little before cutting out. Do this after you have washed your fabrics as you press them. It’s easier to sew stable woven cotton fabric, that is why quilting cotton is generally used but there is no reason not to use up all your lovely linen scraps. If using linen, try to use the grain line to cut a straight edge, take your time cutting out and use the spray starch, it really does help. And try not to be a perfectionist! We are making a sustainable handmade heirloom and we don’t want it to look mass produced. We will make the background blocks slightly bigger so we can trim them down later too.
Traditionally quilting measurements are in inches as most patchwork and quilting rulers and tools and blocks use these measurements. We have converted inches/ yds to cms/ metres where useful.
We will make 9 blocks over the next 9 months. Each block will measure 16 inch square in total (plus seam allowance and extra for trimming), we will then add sashing between the blocks so the overall size of the finished quilt will be 56 inches (142cm) x 56 inches (142cm) square.
When collecting fabrics and sorting colours you will need 5 colour groups, dark, bright, mid x 2, light, not necessarily all from 5 exact colours, you can mix prints/ patterns and colours but try to sort them in terms of colour value (‘value’ refers to the lightness or darkness of a colour). For example, we used a dark colour (navy), a bright colour (bright red), 2 mid tone colours (paler reds and paler blues) and a light colour (white). To make it easier to sort colour by value, try squinting when looking at them all together or take a photo of them in black and white. The shades of grey would be the different values or tones within the photograph. Have a look at our colour bundles. We’ve kept it easy using tones of blue and red.
The background of our quilt and blocks (and sashing) is going to be white, as this is what we have a lot of, if you decide to go completely scrappy and use a different colour for every background it will look different to ours but still be really lovely. What’s great about this quilt is that you will learn lots of different techniques, using up lots of fabric that you already have. You can use the printable colouring in sheet to plan your quilt if you’d like.
Download the printable colouring in sheet – Black and White version
Download the printable colouring in sheet – Full Colour version
You don’t necessarily have to complete each block either, you may decide that you’d just like a cushion or you could turn your blocks into a table runner using 3 or 5 of the blocks.
For ease of use throughout the quilt blocks, we will refer to our colour bundles as:
Colour A: Dark (navy)
Colour B: Bright (red)
Colour C: Mid (mid blue)
Colour D: Mid (mid red)
Colour E: Light (white)
Fabric quantities are approximate but will give you an idea of how much is required. Even though some pieces in this quilt look small they sometimes start off as a larger unit to make 8 or 4 units at a time.
Measurements are in inches or increments of inches but have converted these to mm & cms where useful.
Fabric Quantities for the whole quilt.
For the top of the quilt:
Colour A Darks. 12 inches (30cm) x width of fabric
Colour B Brights. 12 inches (30cm) by width of fabric
Colour C & D: Mid tones. 20 inches (50cm) x width of fabric
Colour E Lights. 2.2 yards (2m) x width of fabric
Colour E: Sashing 20 inches (0.5m) x width of fabric
Binding: ½ yd (0.5 m) x width of fabric (but can be made out of 2 ½ inch (5cm) strips)
Batting/ wadding: 58 inches (148cm) x 58 inches (148cm)
Backing fabric: 60 inches (150cm) x 60 inches (150cm)
You will need:
A self healing cutting mat
Rotary cutter and extra blades
Quilters rulers, long and short
Erasable fabric pen
Fabric scissors
Steam iron
Pins
