Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Week 2: Argyled Quilt Along (Strips and Finish Your Quilt Top))

Welcome back to the Argyled QAL with 1 Choice 4 Quilting! You can still get quilt kits here from 1C4Q if you'd like to use Kate Spain's Honey Honey like I did! Don't forget to post your progress on the Flickr group. We have a bunch of people QALing and we'd love to see your work!



Here's our schedule for the month of March:

March 13: Cutting and piecing the strips, finishing the quilt top
March 20: Quilting
March 27: Post your photo to the The 1 Choice 4 Quilting Club Flickr Group
by this day for a special PRIZE! 
Okay, so today we're cutting and piecing the front strips, and finishing the quilt top!I mentioned in my finish post that I broke up the argyle pattern for a more modern and unique finish - plus, I chose two prints that would show up very nicely together.

Here's where we left off last week - you have a tentative "quilt top" that we're going to cut up. Don’t worry, you can do it! Again, please read through all directions before proceeding!

I know it looks strange, but we're going to fix that right now :)


1. Turn your quilt on its side, which is different from how we pieced last week- refer to the picture above for the correct way. Using your rotary cutter, carefully make two cuts as shown below:

These cuts are along the bias; using spray starch before you cut will help from the fabric getting warped. It works SO well (moistens the fabric so you can make the cut accurately), and it washes out when you wash the quilt. Best Press, which is what I use (I got it from Amazon) also smells good. :)


The diamonds will now be a little stretchy, and don’t worry, when we piece the whole thing together, we’ll use a lot of pins. So for now, take a deep breath and make those cuts. 


 Woohoo! You did it! Now, reward yourself with a cookie or possibly some fabric window-shopping/actual shopping. You have three separate pieces. Are you ready to add the insides?


2. Cut the following lengthwise from BOTH your Lace Blue and Apiary Orange 1/2 yards. Cut carefully because you will have just enough!

(2) 5" (wide) strips
(2) 4" (wide) strips
(After this step, you will have 8  strips overall!) (They are much longer than they look in the photo!)

3. Process for making the longer, thinner strips: Cut one of the 5” orange strips in half (they will be 2.5” wide each). Place ends right sides together, sew together using a quarter inch seam, and press open. Repeat for both blue 4” strips, and the other 5" orange strip.






Do not cut into the (2) 4” orange strips, or the (2) 5” blue strips. Just sew them together and press as described above. These pieces will “anchor” our quilt on the top and bottom.

4. Snip off the white triangles that stick out on the quilt top. You can see my quilt top and which triangles I needed to snip off ( just in half). If you are having trouble, just refer to the diagram below of what your final quilt top should look like.


See the diagram below also for putting together your quilt top (though feel free to alter it if you want!), and before you sew, read the tips below the picture:

(I'm not a perfectionist in Paint - hopefully you don't mind!)

  • Use lots of pins, especially for the middle parts along the bias cut! 
  • Press seams open.



*Tip for piecing with bias edges – don’t fight with your quilt or pull it. Feed it slowly through. You will probably get faster at this gentle piecing as you do each row. Take your time!

* Yes, when you are piecing the bordering fabrics on, you will be sewing off the tips of the diamonds. In the manner that we pieced, I found it impossible not to. I promise, in the long run, you will be the only one who notices it on the quilt, and it won’t matter once we start quilting!


And now you have a quilt top! Pretty easy and minimal cutting (but plenty of sewing!)

Tune in next week for a suggested quilting tutorials and some final tips! (P.S. Don't forget about the Flickr group!)

1 comment:

  1. I am loving this. Since I won the quilt top fabric I am now going to make those cuts. Had a hard time digging into this fabric It is so beautiful I just wanted to admire it. Thank you so much for the fabric. I posted my first part on Flicker

    ReplyDelete

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