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29 Dec
Curved Piecing, Curved PIecing, Polka Dot Bikini, Polka Dot Bikini QAL, Tutorials

Curved Piecing Tutorial; plus help with steps 13-14

I had a request from the audience to publish a tutorial on curved piecing to go along with the Polka Dot Bikini pattern. I plan to do lots of tutorials related to skills, along with tips and ideas for my patterns, so I thought this made a perfect place to start. **Important note: when you print your templates for the Polka Dot Bikini, make sure they print at actual size. Check your settings to make sure the printer isn't resizing "to fit". The straight sides of the template A should measure 9 1/2" and the template B should be...

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23 Dec
Binding, For Beginners, Modern Mini QAL

Binding Your Quilt (by machine, or by hand)

Welcome to the last installment of my basic "make a mini quilt" series! This is when we bind our mini quilt. For this tutorial, I am showing how I do all-machine applied binding as well as how to hand-stitch the binding to finish. Cutting: I prefer to cut my binding on the bias of the fabric. This is only due to the fact that my mom taught me this way, and I like the way it looks. To cut a bias binding, fold your fabric in half on the diagonal, forming a 45 degree angle at the corner. Line your ruler up...

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16 Dec
Binding, For Beginners, Modern Mini QAL

Modern Mini Quilt: basting and quilting

Last Sunday I published the instructions for piecing this cute mini quilt, This week, we are on to basting and machine quilting. Supplies needed: strong packing tape, quilting thread, safety pins, scissors, and a marking pen if you plan to do any fancy quilting (I like the fine point pens that come off with a little spray of water) You will also need 3/4 yard fabric for the backing (or piece some scraps together to be about 28" square) and batting 28" square. diversion: "batting" or "wadding"? I prefer 100% cotton like "warm and white" or "warm and natural"; these are good all-around...

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08 Dec
For Beginners, Modern Mini QAL, Patchwork

Make A Mini Quilt

This is a fun little quilt design that will be quick to make up if you are a seasoned quilter, or a good one for learning if you are new to quilt making. As you can see in the photo above, mine is not quilted, so this will give me some motivation to get this project all finished up. **Once you have made your quilt top, find the Basting Tutorial and Binding Tutorial** You'll need basic quilting supplies: rotary cutter, cutting board, rulers, sewing machine with thread Fabric Requirements: 1/2 yard each of the white and natural-color background (actual need is 15"...

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18 Oct
Circle Applique (by hand), Midnight at the Oasis QAL

Oasis QAL: center medallion and Circle Applique tutorial

We have finished our center star medallion! I am in love with these bright vibrant colors. Welcome to the Midnight at the Oasis Quilt Along, hosted by Jess (the elven garden) and me. Over the past two weeks I  have written several posts about options for sewing this center block, check out the Quilt Along page for easy table of contents on all the posts and tutorials so far. I had a couple of setbacks while sewing this block, maybe you can learn from them if you are following along. First, when I drafted the triangle units for paper piecing, I...

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17 Oct
Hand Piecing, Midnight at the Oasis QAL

Hand Piecing Tutorial: homage to our quilting roots

I know a lot of people don't make quilts by hand anymore, but there some projects that can be done easier that way: set in seams, small pieces, triangles, or if you want something portable while waiting in the carline at the end of the school day or during soccer practice. I mentioned last week that my mom is doing the Midnight at the Oasis quilt along with me and she hand-pieces pretty often. She hand-pieced the center triangle star and demonstrated her skills for me while she was visiting. 1. start by cutting templates out of paper or plastic. Do...

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13 Oct
Beginning Paper Piecing, Midnight at the Oasis QAL

Basic Paper Piecing Tutorial

Are you ready to sew your medallion for our Quilt-Along?On my last post, I posted basic instructions for converting your center triangle blocks for the Midnight at the Oasis pattern into paper foundation patterns for piecing. Here I will show how I pieced the triangles using the foundations that I drafted. These techniques can be used for any basic paper or foundation pieced block.You will need to make four of the triangles pictured above to complete your center medallion block.copy and  cut out the patterns1. make four copies of the foundation patterns (above). Cut out the patterns outside the seam...

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10 Oct
Beginning Paper Piecing, Marcelle Medallion QAL

Medallion QAL: create your paper piecing pattern

We are one week away from our first post on the finished center medallion star! I decided to paper piece mine and one reader expressed interest in doing hers that way, too, so I wanted to write up some guidelines for adapting the pattern to paper piecing, and also show a how-to on the actual piecing.I published a tutorial on paper piecing a compass block Here, if you are interested (skip past the compass pattern specifics to the part about the piecing)Drafting your foundation pattern:1. on graph paper, draw a square that is Half the finished (no seam allowance) size...

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03 Jun
Mitered Corners, Tutorials

*Easy* Mitered Corner

mitered corners are fun...and attractive! I really like the look of mitered corners. I have used this method for all sorts of borders as well as piecing within a quilt (think diamonds). Sewing time has been short the last couple of weekends, but I did work on my Noteworthy quilt today, adding three of the borders. I want to show how I do the mitered corners....a really easy way! 1. To determine the length of your first set of border strips: see my border tutorials here and here (but don't cut them yet!), then multiply the width of your borders by two and add that...

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how to sew a pieced border on quilt
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10 May
Borders, Twirling Fans, Twirling Fans QAL

Making a Pieced Border

This is it! the final tutorial in making the Twirling Fans Quilt. I hope you all have enjoyed the entries (and Maybe, just Maybe, someone has sewn something with the tutorials....). Even if you don't make this quilt, there have been some tutorials along that way that you may find useful for other projects, including, partial seams (adding the center square so the fans "twirl" around it) cutting and sewing borders that lay flat machine applique with a turned (finished) edge This is our last step: sewing the optional outer pieced "scrappy" border for the quilt. This pieced border would replace the solid...

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