So, I've been busy making patchwork quilts this week. It's really fun and simple to do, yet I cannot find a simple and easy to understand method online. So here you go... This first stage involves preparing all your materials ready to be sewn together. It's not as boring as it sounds, in fact it's the part where you get to be the most creative! This is what you will need.
A ruler, cardboard, fabric cutting scissors, pins, tailors chalk in a colour that contrasts your fabrics, a large piece of fabric for the underside and several other pieces of fabric for the squares.
Firstly, you will need to create a cardboard square template - it is much easier than measuring out the squares with a ruler each time. I've been using a 7 by 7 Inch, however, you can make yours a size that suits you. You have to remember that you will loose about an inch via seam allowance and a 7x7 will usually end up being 6x6 when the quilt is finished. Seam allowance basically refers to the fabric that finishes on the underside of the seam that holds the seam in place.
When choosing the fabric for your quilt, there are a variety of different methods you can use. Most traditional patchwork quilts give the impression that the colours are a hotchpotch of random choices, however, there is usually a underlying theme. For this quilt I chose a blue polka dot underside and for the squares I have used blues, pinks, peaches and pale green. It can be good to include a couple of squares that match the underside but it is not essential. I like to include a variety of different prints in addition to plain fabrics, but again you have freedom of choice. If you are using a floral underside or a fabric with a variety of different colours in it, it can be good to pick out the colours from this to use for your squares. This helps to tie the two sides together.
When cutting out the fabric for the underside of your quilt, you need to consider the dimensions. I've discovered that a lot of fabric off the roll isn't usually wide enough, so I will sew two pieces together lengthways. You can do this with an invisible seam. Basically, put the two sides of the fabric together with the pattern sides touching, pin along the edge and sew in a straight line about half an inch from the edge. As with all seams, make sure you backstitch (as you start, run the needle backwards by pulling the the handle thing on your machine for a few stitches, then let go of the handle and continue sewing your seam on the top)
NB- When opting for a size of quilt, consider the area the quilt will be covering eg. if you are wanting to cover a single bed, check what the size is first to avoid disappointment.
Once you have decided on the size of you under fabric, you can begin to cut out your squares. To do this, draw around your cardboard square with chalk and cut the squares of fabric out. You can choose how many duplicate squares to do. I usually do between 4 and 6 or each fabric but it depends upon how big your quilt is.
Assemble your squares in the pattern of your choice on top of your backing fabric, using it as a guide for the sizing. Here is your opportunity to be creative and you can spend a while playing around with which square goes where. Do remember that your squares will be smaller, as mentioned earlier, so it does not matter if there seems to be too many squares in comparison to backing fabric.
Once you have cut and arranged all your squares, you need to organise them ready for sewing. Starting with the first row, pick the squares up into piles and lay them in a pile at the end of each row. You need to make sure that if the square on the top of pile one is the one from the far right, this needs to be the same for row two and so on. This is so you collect the squares in an order.
Pin the corner of each pile to hold all the squares together.
After this you can put all the piles on top of each other in an order. This way your sewing doesn't end up covering your whole house and you can come back to the sewing part at a later date. So now you're all ready for the next stage! Stay Tuned...
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