Lantern-a-long Block 3: The Double Ladder Lantern

Welcome to Week 3 of the Lantern-a-long (also known as the LAL)! If you're just joining us, there's still plenty of time to make a quilt top! Feel free to join the Flickr group and post pictures of your lanterns as you finish them. We've had some beautiful blocks so far! There will be five lantern tutorials throughout July and August. See this post for more info on the quilt top sizes and fabric requirements, schedule (also below), sponsors, and this post for prizes. It's not too late to join!

Thanks again to the wonderful and generous sponsors of this QAL - 1 Choice 4 Quilting, I Don't Do Dishes, and Christa Quilts!

 

 LAL Schedule:

Tues. July 2 - Mon. July 8 - Gather supplies

Mon. July 8 - Lantern Block 1 - Fan Lantern

Mon. July 15 - Lantern Block 2 - Staircase Lantern

Mon. July 22 - Lantern Block 3

Mon. July 29 - Lantern Block 4

Mon. August 5 - Lantern Block 5, finish up quilt tops

Mon. August 12 - Linky goes up for finished quilt tops/quilts (open for one week)

Mon. August 19 - Winners chosen at random from the linky pool!

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Block 3 - The Double Ladder Lantern

 Sharon of Vrooman's Quilts rightly stated that last week's block looked more like a ladder than a staircase - and I figured I should probably apply that to this week's lantern! The name from last week was decided on-the-whim - usually if I think of something quilty-wise, I just go with it :) Oh well! Here's your Double Ladder Tutorial. I like this one because it showcases all of your main fabrics very nicely (with more of a width visible than last week's, for example).

Finished size: 14" x 13"

 (see below for another version)

 Remember - all the blocks for the LAL are made of 2.5" strips, but they all measure a different size when finished. When you put your quilt top together, you will have to add in some extra 2.5" strips or blocks of solid fabric. Also, you don't HAVE to trim your blocks to the size I did above - that's the size mine ended up.

1. Choose your print fabrics for the lantern. You need 7, like last week. I made sure to stagger mine based on how much would be seen.You can see that my 4th strip was a scrap from an already-made lantern! Check your scraps to see if they fit :)

 2. Cut the following:

 3. CUT each strip of background fabric in HALF (Row 1's will turn into 4.75" each, and Row 2's will turn into 2.25" each).

4. Sew each of the 7 rows together  (background + lantern + background)

5. Press your seams to the side, out towards the background fabric. It's up to you, really (feel free to press them open if that's your preference), but I've that I like the visual effect of the lantern inset in the background.

 6. Sew the rows to each other. I find it easier to sew the strips together if I split the lantern up, like in this picture:

7. Trim to 14" x 13" (if you want). You're done! Congrats, now you have your THIRD block! If you're making a larger lap size, make sure you are sewing AT LEAST 2 or 3 of these.

I made this one in a gradient blue color scheme for some variety! Try to challenge yourself to try a new/different color approach to this block! See my recently reposted Color Harmony tutorial for some ideas.

Only 2 more blocks to go after this. Don't forget to post your progress to the Flickr group! 

I'll be writing a post this week about  all the beautiful lanterns so far!

Linking up to Let's Get Acquainted.