Petits Four Backing Tutorial

jill here...A brand new book sample is close to completion.  This Blend collection is a perfect  gender neutral baby combination.  Polar bears and penguins, oh my!

I had 3 fairly large pieces of a similar taupe to get my backing  started.
I left the selvages intact and turned to the outside.
The majority of the piecing will be central to the back.

As we showed you earlier with scrappy backings, I'm using pretty much of what is leftover (plus scrap yardage from my stash).  The last chapter of our book Quilts du Jour shows all the backings of our quilts with descriptions and some recipes to build on.  An improvisational flip side is not always faster but is definitely more interesting.

Small rectangles, leftover strips, a fat quarter and some yardage
from my stash will be featured.

The prints were sewn between the white backgrounds
that were made the same width.

Here are the leftover strips pieced .

I checked my widths and trimmed to keep
them straight and square.

Trying different arrangements for better balance...

I'm not usually a pinner but sewing long spans
helps those measurements to merge equally.

My big board helps keep those edges straight while I pin.

A bit odd but lots of fun and different from the usual!

We'll show you the finished product soon.
'till next Tuesday....

Scrappy Backings

Spring is teasing us!

jill here..... A friend recently hosted a sewing get-together  to complete some charity quilts.  These quilts will be given to school age kids.  The photo shows the 2 "girl" quilt tops that were made from the Brioche and Baguette pattern.  One column and one row was added for additional size.  The quilt top measures 49" x 66" so the backings need to be 57" x 74 when sent to a machine quilter.

This is one of the focus prints.  Isn't it cute?  The white background really pops in contrast with the aqua sashing.

I started with a full width of fabric that was only 65" long (the cute little Monaluna bird print).  I had to bring it up to size by adding to both the length and width.  These two pieces were sewn together and trimmed to 10" x 57" wide.

The chevron print was cut width of fabric (x 2) and joined together lengthwise.

The "chevrons" were sewn to the trimmed width of bird fabric, leaving the selvedge intact on the left side.

To balance the weight of the aqua chevrons on the side, the birds were sliced again lengthwise and added to the other side of the chevrons. The birds are flying 2 directions but that's okay!

Then the back panel was sliced horizontally about 1/3 the way down and 10" piece inserted. Finally, the smaller cut was and flipped and sewn for visual balance.

The second backing was a different challenge.  I had several WOF colors that were trimmed various widths (here they are folded for easier handling) measuring them to bring it to the desired length.  Not to make my life more difficult but to create just a little more interest and variety, I trimmed some of the dark blue and inserted it into one of the yellows fabrics.  I eliminated the other yellow which will be used for the binding.

Once the widths were sewn together, I added 2 WOF chevrons to the side and trimmed the excess to fit.

I cut across the backing and flipped again for interest and balance.

 Here is one of the options.  Jackson is telling me it's time to come upstairs. 

Here's the second option.  Now it's really time to quit.  I think I like the first option better but I'll leave the decision for tomorrow.

Hope spring comes your way.  'Till next Tuesday.

Baby Bites Free Modern Baby Quilt Pattern

Marny here...Using the Random Number generator we declare the winner of a copy of Lunch Boxes is Char!  Send us an email Char and we will arrange getting your pattern to you.    

Surprise!! Here is Baby Bites, a free modern baby quilt pattern.  We promised that we would share this a few weeks back.  It was part of our submission to the Online Quilt Magazine published in Australia.  We love this little quilt.  Maybe you remember the quilt backing tutorial Jill did a long time ago.  True to our mission, Baby Bites is a simply sophisticated design that reflects a modern aesthetic.  Asymmetry, exaggerated scale of simple shapes and negative space are all parts of that aesthetic.  

Click on this link to get to an easily printable version of the pattern.  Below is a complete set of directions as well.

Baby Bites from Modern Quilt Relish

Baby Bites is a quick and easy baby quilt any modern baby/mom would love receiving.  It measures 38” x 48”.  Simple geometric shapes are set asymmetrically on negative space. The somewhat oversized large squares feature a high contrast fabric.  These squares are clearly the focus of the quilt not only because of their size and placement, but also because of fabric selection.  The fabric is more saturated (intense) and more complex in motif design than the neighboring backgrounds. Merging the two different valued backgrounds between the squares both isolates the squares and makes them appear to float above the surface.  This added depth gives the quilt interest and an element of the unexpected.  

Fabric Requirements:  we give suggested yardage.  It is possible to piece the large background areas and save yardage, but if you purchase the suggested amounts and cut as directed you will have enough remaining to complete the back of your baby quilt.  LOF=length of fabric.  WOF=width of fabric.

Squares-Floral Focus...⅓ yard…cut an 8” WOF strip…sub cut this strip into five 8” squares.

Left Background-Medium Blue…1 ½ yards, sub cut this into:  one 22 ½” LOF strip  (will be cut later to 22 ½” x 48” or the length of your quilt) and one 3” LOF strip (sub cut this 3” strip into four 3” x 4 ¼” rectangles).

  

Right Background-Light Yellow…1 ½ yards, sub cut this into: one 9” LOF strip (will be cut later to 9” x 48” or the length of your quilt) and one 3” LOF strip (sub cut this 3” strip into four 3” x 4 ¼” rectangles).

Binding…1/2 yard (you are only using 12 ½” so perhaps you can get by with 3/8 yard)…cut five 2 ½” WOF strips.

Piecing Instructions:  Refer to the photos.  ¼” seams throughout.  Press seams open for a flat finished look.  Remove selvages.

Step 1.  Piece a 3” x 4 ¼” rectangle of Left Background and a 3” x 4 ¼” rectangle of Right Background together along their shorter edge.  Repeat three times for a total of four Step 1 units.

Step 2.  Checking the orientation in the photographs, piece a Step 1 unit to the lower edge of four of the 8" Squares.

Baby Bites full view from Modern Quilt Relish

Step 3.  Again following the photographs, piece four Step 2 units into a column.

Step 4.  Add the fifth 8” Square to the lower edge of this column.

      

Step 5.  Measure the length of your completed column.  Either cut the 22 ½” x LOF piece of Left Background appropriately and then add it to the left side of the quilt, or add first and then trim to fit.

     

Step 6.  Either cut the 9” x LOF piece of Right Background appropriately and then add it to the right side of the quilt, or add first and then trim to fit.  

      

Step 7.  Quilt, bind and savor.

  So till next Tuesday!

Premativa Twist on Bowtie Pasta and Free Tutorial for Quilt Backs

Bowtie Pasta With A Twist in "Primitiva"

jill here....Andover Fabrics was gracious to share some of designer Jane Dixson's new line of Primitiva.  Together, Marny and I cut and pieced the quilt at our DSM Modern Quilt Guild retreat.  We just got it back from the quilter and it's worthy of a process discussion.  This tutorial is intended for personal use (gift or charity) and may not be reproduced without our permission

For the backing, we had a length of Andover's Dimples (designed by Gail Kessler) but not wide enough for the entire quilt.  So rather then adding just another length to bring it to the correct width, I wanted to use the one fabric in the collection that we didn't sew into the top.  Still not enough!  So I added one more light valued fabric with enough contrast to the print.  The quilt top measured 56" X 70"  therefore I needed 64" X 78" to send to the machine quilter.

Three fabrics for the backing with the print acting as the focus.

For the backing I needed:  2 1/3 yard of dark, 5/8 yard of focus, 7/8 yard of light.

Cut the following from the dark fabric: Remove the selvage from one WOF side, leave the other on for stability.  Cut the LOF to 78".  Cut another 5 " X  24" strip.

Cut the following from the focus fabric :  2 strips of  9 1/2"X WOF.  Cut again into (7) 9 1/2" squares.

Cut the following from the light fabric:  2 strips of 11" X WOF, 1 strip  5" X  24" strip.

Sew the dark and light 5"X 36" strips lengthwise.

Sub cut this into (8)  2 1/2" X 9 1/2" segments.

Starting with the above strip set, alternate the strip sets with the 9 1/2" blocks, keeping the same orientation of lights and darks.  The fabric pattern of the focus fabric square was alternated from vertical to horizontal for a more lively setting.

This will make a  strip set  79 1/2" long, trim either end to make it 78" long

Sew the (2) 11"X WOF strips end to end (after trimming the selvages).  Trim this piece 11" X 78".   Sew it to one of the sides of the pieced square sets.

Back side after sewing the light value to the square sets.
We press our seams open.

Back side after sewing the dark value to the other side of the squares.

If there's fabric, they will come.  Thanks, Jaxon!

Back from April West, the quilter, the final challenge was to find the best binding fabric.  The top two fabrics were in the quilt but the orange was the  same light in the bowties.  Not wanting to compete with the accent, it was voted off.  The browns weren't so exciting so I went with the darker orange zig zag.  It was lively but not too crazy.  Turned out just fine!

All decked out with no where to go!

Spring shadows....

Ta Da!

 'Till next Tuesday when I can hopefully say the taxes are out of my hands!  Enjoy  the arrival of spring.