Monday, May 27, 2013

Chevron /Zig Zag Quilt


Meg, one of Keaton's sitters, wanted a quilt for her graduation from college. I told her I would attempt it if she found the directions. This is the result of her search and my sewing.


She found the quilt she wanted here.
(You have to scroll down to find it.)
The directions were for a quilt with finished measurements of 40in x 48in. That was a little smaller than our girl, Meg, wanted. So I had to use my head and do a little math but mostly I flew by the seat of my pants and made decisions as I went. The end result turned out well if I do say so myself. Listed below is what I ended up using to make Meg's beautiful quilt.

We started by selecting 8 different but coordinating or complimenting fabrics.
I'm not sure how much of each kind of material we bought. I'm learning that if I am asked how to make a quilt, that information could be useful. 

Next, the material was cut into 5 inch squares as listed below:

Fabric 1 (orange with white dots): 40 squares
Fabric 2 (orange): 32 squares
Fabric 3 (white with teal lines): 40 squares
Fabric 4 (teal blue solid): 16 squares
Fabric 5 (orange with blue design): 32 squares
Fabric 6 (navy): 16 squares
Fabric 7 (chevron pattern): 48 squares
Fabric 8 (green): 16 squares

Make sure to keep color/patterns separated. Next, you will pair them up in the  combinations below...
(from top of photo)
orange with white dots  and white with teal lines
white with teal lines and green
green and orange
orange and orange with blue design
orange with blue design and chevron
chevron and navy
navy and orange with dots
orange with dots and orange with blue design
orange with blue design and teal
teal and white with teal lines
white with teal lines and chevron
chevron and orange
orange and orange with dots
orange with dots and chevron
chevron and white with teal lines

Then take the first pair and place the right sides facing together. Use a pencil or fabric pen to draw a line from one corner diagonally to the opposite corner. Stitch 1/4 inch away on both sides of the line. Your pencil line should be sandwiched between two stitched lines.
Using scissors or a rotary cutter, cut along the pencil line. You should be left with two  pieces. Press the seams toward the darker of the two fabrics. You now have 2 half squares triangle blocks.  Repeat this process until all blocks are complete.

As you complete the blocks, you can start lying them out to make your zigzag pattern. (Notice one set of zigzag squares were sewn upside down in the quilt shown above creating a diamond instead of a zigzag. We decided we liked it enough to keep it that way. Feel free to make you own decision when you sew your quilt together.)

Once you have all your blocks laid out in order, begin assembling the quilt top. Using a quarter inch seam, first sew each block in a row together forming a long strip. Next sew the long strips together until your quilt top is complete.

Now you are ready to quilt your quilt using your method of choice.
To learn how to bind the quilt, I searched for directions on youtube.
Enjoy!!!!!

Saturday, May 25, 2013

It's been a while...



It is hard to believe that it has been more than a year since I have written a blog post.
I have thought of checking out the blog several times but just never did. It didn't help that the lap top started having issues. I return to the blog tonight ton consider making a tutorial blog post. It would happen tonight as typing on the tablet isn't all that convenient.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll connect the keyboard and create a tutorial for making a zigzag chevron quilt.