A quick tutorial for a precut friendly picnic quilt.
Fabrics for this project were provided by Benartex Fabrics as part of their Ambassador program. It is called Bluezette and is designed by Jan Shore
My second quarter project needed to be based on precuts. I knew the quilt would have to be scrappy, which is not my strength, in order to use up as many pre-cuts as I could.
To start I used two packs of 5" squares to make 21 four patch blocks. I flipped one stack over and proceeded to stitch them in that order.
When using precuts, don't trim off the jagged edges, they are part of the measurement.
Instead, sew with the tips against your quarter inch foot.
Chain stitch all the things to make your quilting life happier.
There's something so satisfying about a pile of stitching. I like to "chain press," too.
To do this I simple leave the units stitched together. I hit the seams with a hot iron to set them.
Then I press them, clip the threads between each unit, and lay out the next set to be pressed.
Pin the seams on the four patch units to match up your centers. In all honesty though, this fabric is busy enough no one would notice if you didn't.
I wanted to also put the 10" squares to use, but because they are 10" and the 4-patch blocks end up 9 1/2" because of seam allowance, I had to trim off 1/2" from two sides.
To do this I used my 12 1/2" square ruler, lined up the 9 1/2 mark on one side and the bottom and just trimmed of the other sides. You need 21 of these
I *also* wanted to use the 2 1/2" strips. I cut them down to 9 1/2" for the sashing and also cut a few 2 1/2" posts. You need 71 sashing strips and 30 posts.
When I first laid out all of the pieces, it was a bit overwhelming and I admit to questioning my decision to use all the things.
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| I might need to fire my photographer, this is the ONLY picture taken of the sashing and posts. |
After years of quilting though, I know that you never know how it will truly look until the last stitch is made, so I started stitching.
In the end, I LOVE how it turned out.
The last step was to add a 2 1/2" border strip around the whole thing.
If you love these Bluesette blues from Benartex, don't miss the giveaway happening in THIS POST!
Let's make something Extraordinary!
Jen
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