Patchwork Quilting

One of the keys for making beautiful heirloom quilts is to make sure that your patches are cut accurately. With accurately cut patches and careful sewing, you’ll be a long way toward creating blocks that are all the same size, and a perfect size, too.

Cutting your patches.

Whether you cut your fabric using scissors or a rotary cutter, there are some techniques that will help make the cutting easier and more accurate:

Know whether your patches should be cut on the lengthwise or crosswise grain of the fabric, or on the bias.
When cutting on the bias, be sure not to stretch the fabric as you cut.
Use templates that are accurate and include the seam allowance – that way you are not relying on the lines on your ruler for the seam allowance measurement. Remember, the width of the line on your ruler can make a difference.
Use a rotary cutter to cut your fabric, and stack your fabric so you can cut several layers at once, but not so many that you lose accuracy as you cut. I usually cut no more than 4 layers at a time.

Now is a great time to make use of all that old clothing and material laying around the house. Patchwork quilting has been around for ages and is still very popular today. Many patchwork quilts reflect an era in American history and as well as a way of preserving family history. Patchwork quilts are another exprression of photographs and scrapbooks.

A patchwork quilt is a quilt in which the top layer consists of pieces of fabric sewn together to form a design. The quilting design does not necessarily follow the patchwork design.

Originally, this was to make full use of left-over scraps of fabric, but now fabric is often bought specially for a specific design. Fabrics are now often sold in quarter meters. (A "fat quarter") is one square meter folded into four and cut along the folds, thus giving a square piece of fabric 50 cm on a side, as opposed to buying a quarter of a meter off the roll, resulting in a long thin piece that is only 25cm wide).

Designs can be geometric and formal or imaginative.

The quilt is formed of three layers: the patchwork, a layer of insulation wadding (batting) and a layer of backing material. These three layers are stitched together ("quilted"), either by hand or machine. The quilting can either outline the patchwork motifs, or be a completely independent design. Click Here! to learn specific steps and strategies to quickly boost you quilting skills and confidence.

Instructions
Difficulty: Moderate

Cut a 6 ½ inch square from cardboard to make a template for the large square. With your rotary cutter and cutting mat, make 50 squares of this size from various fabrics of different colors and designs.

Sew two strips right side together along the long edge. Press seams to one side.
Cut the pieced strips 3 ½ inches wide using the cutter and ruler. You need 98 paired pieces. Press seams to one side.
Place two sets of pairs right side together. Carefully sew, matching seams together. Press seams to one side. You need 49 newly sewn blocks.
Use crochet cotton to tie double knots at alternating blocks to help hold quilt layers in place.
Make strips of fabric 3 ½ inches wide from various gingham and striped fabric with a rotary ruler and cutter.
Rotate the large squares and the four-patch squares, while you sew together nine blocks to create a row. You need 11 rows to complete the quilt. Press seams to one side.
Sew all 11 rows together to form the quilt top. Be careful to match the seams. Press seams to one side when completed.
Cut backing and batting 1 inch larger than quilt top. Put quilt together in layers: backing right side down, batting and quilt top right side up. Carefully pin layers together all over quilt. Zigzag around edges.
Finish the edges of the quilt. Turn the backing ¼ inch so wrong sides are together. Next, turn it over to the quilt top, making sure all edges are covered. Pin and sew using an invisible stitch.

Do you have any old fabrics or clothes not used anymore? Why not make good use of it?

Follow these simple directions and you are on you way to making that one of a kind heirloom patchwork quilt you've been putting off!

When you finish a quilt, it's a good idea to sign the quilt and give information about the quilt.

Some quilters include:

their name and addrerss ( city, state, and country
the date the quilt was completed ( or when it was started and completed)
who the quilt was made for
the occasion of the quilt (birthday, graduation, wedding, etc.)
the address of the person (or city, state, and country)
type of fabric and batting - any other interesting information - class project, special challenge, made with friends, etc.)

With all the information, someone 100 years from now will enjoy knowing something about the history of the quilt.

Marking Patches:

Punch or drill a hole in the corners of your template
that marks the stitching line. As you cut your patches,
place a pencil dot on the wron side of the fabric in
each of the hole in your template.

Those dots guide your stitching, so you get accurate
seam allowances. This is especially useful if you
don't have a 1/4 presser foot on your machine and you
have 1/4 inch markings on the throat plate of your machine.

NOTE: To test to see if yor seams and points will line up as you piece
patches or blocks together, try this:

Line up the seam allowances as best you can and then stitch them from
approximately 1/2 inch beforw the seam to 1/2 inch after it. Remove

the block from yur machine and open up what you just sewed.
It the popints or seams match, yur're all set to sew the seam.

If they don't, you can un-sew and re-sew only that small portion
not the entire line of stitching.Continued →

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