Week 3: “Easy As Pie” Quilt Along

This is the last post in the “Easy As Pie” Quilt Along series.  We’re going to lay out and sew the quilt top together, add borders, and cut the binding.  Post your quilt top (blocks together and borders sewn on) on Flickr and you will be entered to win a quilt kit from 1 Choice 4 Quilting for their next Sew Along!

Sewing the Quilt Top Together

You have all your blocks and rows sewn!  Now it’s time to choose a layout.  Make sure all your blocks and rows are pressed smooth and flat.  Seams should be pressed open.

You will lay out your pinwheels and stars in alternating order.  Place one sawtooth row between the top rows and bottom rows.  The brick row goes in the center.  When you are happy with the layout, you can begin to sew the star and pinwheel blocks into rows.

Sew your blocks together by row, pressing seams open.  When you sew the rows together to make the quilt top, align the seams and pin them before sewing.  Ignore that my seams are not pressed open in this next photo.  I pressed some seams open and some to the side to experiment which was easier and worked better.  But I found out pressing open is better for lining up your seams and creating less bulk.

I pin both vertically and horizontally when joining rows to keep the fabric from shifting around.  The vertical pins keep your fabric from shifting side to side, and the horizontal pins keep your fabric from shifting up or down.  If you pin both ways everything should stay lined up perfectly while sewing.  I know some people who split the difference and put their pins in diagonally, but this doesn’t work well when you are trying to line up seams.

Cutting the Borders

Once your rows are together, you will add the borders.  Change your rotary cutter blade and have a cup of coffee or tea to perk you up and get your brain stimulated!  You must cut this part correctly because there is no fabric left over. 

Start with the skinny border from the gray apples print.  With fabric folded and selvage ends together, cut six 1.5” x WOF strips.  Trim up the selvage ends to straight edges.

Since you are on a roll and your fabric is already pressed and squared up, go ahead and cut your binding fabric, too.  Cut seven 2.5” strips x WOF.  Put your binding fabric aside.  There should be virtually no fabric left over.

Now let’s cut the solid border.  If you bought the quilt kit, the solid is the Moda Bella saffron.  Find your leftover piece.  Press and fold so selvage ends are together.  Cut seven 2 1/4” x WOF strips.  There should be virtually no fabric left over.

Join your gray apples fabric together end to end to form one long strip.  Press your seams open. 

It is important to measure your quilt top and cut the borders accordingly so your quilt doesn’t ripple at the edges.  Measure the width of your quilt at the top, middle, and bottom.  Your width should be somewhere in the ballpark of 48.5 inches.  Take the average of your 3 measurements.  Cut two strips this length from your skinny gray apples strip.  

Sew one strip to the top of the quilt.  Pin vertically and horizontally to keep the fabric from shifting.   In the photo below, the skinny apples strip is underneath the quilt top.  I put it underneath so I can make sure my seam allowances stay open when being sewn.  You can also see in this photo that this time I pressed my seams open.   Once you’ve sewn the border to the top of the quilt, press the seam toward the border.  Repeat the steps to sew the other strip to the bottom of the quilt.  Press toward the border.

Now measure the length of your quilt from top to bottom on the left, center, and right.  Take the average of these 3 measurements and cut two strips from the skinny gray apples strip.   Sew one strip to each side of the quilt, pressing toward the borders.  Once your skinny apples border is sewn on, square up your corners.

You will basically repeat the same steps for the solid border, measuring the width and length, sewing on the strips, and pressing toward the borders.

Yay!  Your quilt top is finished!  Don’t forget to post your pics in the Flickr group!  I can’t wait to see your Easy As Pie quilts!

Week 2: “Easy As Pie” Quilt Along

This week I am going to show you how to put together the wonky star blocks and center row. 

The first step is to locate the ten pieces of layer cake with the larger prints that you put aside.  This fabric will become the centers of the stars and the leftover parts will become bricks in the center row.

I starched and pressed these ten squares before cutting them.  Then, pick ten “motifs” from these squares and fussy cut them out in 4.5” squares.  Try to keep as much of these squares intact except for cutting the 4.5” squares out of them.  You will need the leftover fabric for your center row bricks.

Fussy cutting means you pick a specific motif (or scene) and cut it out of the fabric so it’s centered in the cut.  This is a fussy cut of a tree.

 

This is a fussy cut of ring-around-the-rosy.  Only cut around the motif and leave the rest of the fabric uncut.

You need ten total 4.5” squares.  Save all the remaining fabric.

Next cut your solid fabric.  The solid fabric is Moda Bella Solid in Saffron if you purchased the quilt kit.  Cut eight 4.5” strips.  Subcut these strips into 4.5” squares to make a total of 64 4.5” squares.

Gather all your leftover layer cake squares.  You will need eight 10” squares.  You are going to cut each square into eight triangles.  Simply cut in the middle across and down the center (making four 5” x 5” squares).  Don’t move the fabric.  Then cut across the two diagonals.  Now you have eight triangles. 

You need a total of 64 triangles.

Each wonky star requires four star point blocks.  To construct a star point block, start with one solid 4.5” square and one print triangle.

Place the triangle right side down so that the long side of the triangle goes past two sides of the square.

Sew down the long side of the triangle using a 1/4” seam allowance.

Line your ruler up so the 1/4” line is on the seam line.  Trim off the seam allowance.  (You should just be trimming off that solid fabric triangle.)

Fingerpress the seam open.  Then press, flip the block, and press on the right side.

Now square up your block to 4.5”.  You will have one star point.

Take the other triangle and repeat on the other side, making sure the long side of the triangle goes past the two sides of the square.

Sew down the long side of the triangle with a 1/4” seam allowance.

Trim at the 1/4” seam allowance again.  Fingerpress, press the seam open, and flip and press the block on the right side so your seams lay flat.

Square up your block to 4.5” square.  When you have made four star point blocks, you can lay out your wonky star block.  Working across, sew the three blocks together to make a row, pressing seams open.  Then sew your three rows together, pressing seams open.  Square up your block to 12.5” square.  Make eight wonky star blocks.

To make your center row, gather all your leftover print fabric and cut twenty four 2.5” x 5” rectangles.   I tried to fussy motifs from the larger print fabric left over from making the center of the wonky stars.

Sew these together, pressing seams open, to form a row that measures 48.5” long. 

Link up your photos to the 1 Choice 4 Quilting Flickr page and get your quilt top finished by February 25th to be in the running for a fantastic prize—a quilt kit for their next quilt along!

Week 1: “Easy As Pie” Quilt Along

Welcome to the first installment of steps for making your own “Easy As Pie” quilt from a layer cake.  The original post about the quilt along is found here.  Today’s directions include piecing instructions for the pinwheel blocks and sawtooth rows.

There is still time to join the QAL!  Nicole still has a few quilt kits available here. 

February 4th: Cutting and piecing pinwheel and sawtooth rows

February 11th: Cutting and piecing wonky star blocks and center row

February 18th: Sewing together rows and adding borders

February 25th: Post your photo to Flickr by this day for a PRIZE!

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Let’s get started!  The first thing you want to do is set aside some fabric for specific blocks.  You need to pick the fabrics you want to use for your sawtooth rows and put them somewhere safe.  You will need four 10” x 10” squares per row, two of each print per row.  After a little experimenting, I would suggest not picking red or olive for your sawtooth rows.  The darkness of the color can create a break in your quilt so the top looks like it is divided by the row instead of it blending harmoniously with the other rows.  I chose aqua and gray for my sawtooth rows.

The other fabric you need to set aside are the pieces with the larger prints of trees, ring-around-the-rosy, hula hoop girl, and girl reading a book.  That’s ten 10” squares from the layer cake as shown in this photo.

Got that fabric set aside?  Now let’s pick the fabric you will use for your pinwheels.  You will need sixteen 10” squares to make your eight pinwheel blocks.   You can pick any sixteen squares from the remaining fabric because they are all smaller prints and perfect for the pinwheels.  Pair up your squares.  You should choose different colors and different prints.  For example, you wouldn’t want a pair of two red squares or a pair of two different color apple prints.  Try to vary the pairs as much as possible.

Place the first pair right sides together.  Pin around the block so that you fabric doesn’t shift while you’re sewing it together.

Sew a 1/4” seam around the perimeter, stitching over your first few stitches or backstitching when you get back to your starting spot.

Stop at each corner about 1/4” from the edge in the needle down position.  Simply lift your presser foot and pivot your fabric 90 degrees and start sewing again in the next direction.

Press the perimeter seam to set it.  I like to starch my fabric.  At this point, I starched both sides of this sandwich.  The extra body and stiffness will help decrease any movement of the bias edge when you cut the fabric.  Get ready to cut!  

Cut your square in half on the diagonal in both directions.  Make sure you don’t move your fabric at all when you are cutting!

And voila!  You have four half square triangle units you will reassemble into a pinwheel block!

Press your half square triangle units, first finger pressing the seam allowance open.  Have you ever finger pressed your seams before?  Just open up the seam and slide your fingers out to “press” it all the way open.  Then use your iron to make the open seam permanent.  Finger pressing helps so that the seam line doesn’t get distorted or wonky like it might if you just nose the tip of the iron in there without opening the seam first.

Then flip your half square unit over and give it one more press with the iron.

You are almost done!  Lay out your half square triangles to create a pinwheel shape. 

You’ll notice that each of your units has little fabric flaps on the corners.  You can just trim these with a pair of scissors, but make sure you only cut off the flap and don’t cut into your fabric!

Now, working horizontally, place two half square triangle units right sides together.  In order to make clean, crisp points on your pinwheels, fold back the top fabric to make sure your seam lines on the diagonal are aligned perfectly.

Place a pin right in that seam going on the diagonal.  That will hold those two seams right on top of each other when you are sewing the units together.

If you want to make sure your seams form a perfect point, you can flip open the fabric and check your work. 

Sew both the top and bottom halves of the block.  Finger press and press your seams open.

Now you are going to sew together the top and bottom of your block. 

When you line up your center seams, if you pull back the top fabric you will see these mini hourglass shapes.  Awesome!  All of your seams are aligned perfectly!

Pin your center seams—I like to put one pin directly through the seam and then one pin on either side just for extra insurance.  I also pin horizontally to keep the fabric from shifting around.  Sew the two halves together and finger press and then press the seam open.

Square up your block to 12.5”.

Repeat for all eight pairs until you end up with eight perfect pinwheels!

Now that you are an expert at making easy half square triangle units from two pieces of a layer cake, making the two sawtooth rows will be a walk in the park!

Find your four 10” squares for each row.  Pair these together so that you have two different fabrics in each pair.

Follow the exact same steps as you did to make four half square triangle units for the pinwheel blocks (sew around the perimeter, cut diagonally in both directions, etc). 

This is where the directions vary a little.  Square up each half square triangle unit into a 6.5” square.

You’ll end up with a pile of eight 6.5” half square triangle units for each row.

Pin your units together and sew together.  Finger press and press seams open.

Join your pieces together to make one row that looks like this, with seams pressed open.

Repeat to make another row from the other four 10” squares you set aside.  End to end, each of your rows should measure 48.5” long.

You are done with week one of the QAL!  How fun and easy was it to make these blocks and rows?  I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and would appreciate any feedback.  Please email me with any questions at lugar4tresgatos [at] hotmail.com. 

Come back next Monday for cutting and piecing directions for the wonky star blocks and center row!

Join the fun and add your photos to the Flickr group here.  Remember, you can win next month’s quilt kit if you quilt along with me and finish your quilt top by February 25th!