Recently I showed you an easy charm pack. 5 inch project that you could make to use scraps, or even just for a quick fix. That project is at the end for those who missed it. It is on the blog on 4 Sept 2021.
I wanted to encourage beginners or people locked down to take the next step and try a slightly different pattern using the skills you learnt last time with "one extra cut".
This time I am using the Song Book Charm pack by Fancy That Design House.
Here it is here
As my background I am using grunge. It was a tough choice between 2 and I reached out on social media for help with my decision. Thank you to those who answered.
See the options here
Many of you chose the safe choice, that I would use, but the person getting the quilt answered so I went with her choice and I made my final decision based on her answer. It is not what I would normally use but I am excited to try something different and see how it looks. It will pack some punch.
Step one is to cut 42 x 5 inch squares of your back ground.
Pair these with your charm pack squares.
Place right sides together in each pair.
Draw a temporary line through the diagonal centre as shown below. I have used an air erasable pen as I am sewing the blocks immediately. It does not need to be a heavy line. See photo 2.
If you are concerned the fabrics may move when you sew pin each side of the line. Well outside where your foot will sit when you sew down the centre where the line is. See photo 3 below.
Using the 1/4 inch edge of your foot, line up the line you drew, with the edge of your foot. See photo 1 below.
Sew a 1/4 inch on the outside of the line. Repeat on the other side of the line. See photo 2 below.
Line the ruler up along the diagonal centre of the block again. See photo 3.
Cut down the centre of the block where you drew the line to make 2 Half Square triangles.
See photos 1 and 2.
Open up the blocks and press the seam towards the background. See photos 3 and 4 below.
Cut the blocks back to 4.5 inch blocks.
Use your ruler markings to ensure the centre seam is centred. Photo 1
Make sure you cut off all the extra buts on the sides of the seams Photo 2
The process from here is very similar to the one we used in the first project.
Per charm pack you will need more background
5 x 2.5 inch strips WOF cross cut into 4.5 inch * 2.5 inch rectangles 42 in total
Depending on the width of fabric if 42 inches or larger
6 x 2.5 inch strips WOF cross cut into 6.5 inch * 2.5 inch rectangles 42 in total
You may need an additional strip if your fabrics is less than 42 inches wide
Construction
When you start the layout and construction I ask that you give yourself some quiet time. I tried to do this quickly and it "did my head in" and I also did it incorrectly. When I did it more calmly it was much better. I also think you need to give yourself sewing time as you do the layout. It is not easy to move if the blocks at a minimum are not sewn together. Every time I move mine I loose the layout and muck it up.
I know it is not easy but I think you need to allow about 5 or 6 hours to knock this out of the way. Yes you can tell your family I said you had to LOL.
If you have a design wall or somewhere you can leave it laid out not a problem. Take your time and do it in stages.
I laid out colours into positions to try and get the colour stripes correct. If you want to random place that is not a problem. These are not in the right directions at this point. It was more to see where blocks are to be placed.
Ready ?? Once your layout is done.
Sew the 4.5 inch background piece to the coloured. Do this for all of these fabrics. Please note these are not all sewn the same way. Some are to the top of blocks and others to the bottom
See the photos below. You will sew them in different directions.
My suggestion is layout the quilt. Sew the 4.5 inch pieces to each 1/2 sq triangle. Replace into the quilt. Checking the directions as you do.
Once all of the segments are joined I moved onto the rows. Mine are not complete here - part of the rearrangement problem of packing it up one day and getting it out the next.
Depending on your arrangement one row will start with a 2.5 x 6.5 inch rectangle and the next will not.
The opposite happens on the other end of the row.
Join the blocks into rows
As you can tell mine moved many times.
Here is how it ended up. I decided to add a 2.5 inch border (cut) all the way around the outside.
I then added a 1 inch (cut) border of print and another 2.5 inch cut border to the outside.
I now need to get it quilted and then bind it. I have decided this will need to be a green binding. The green already has enough personality, I don't want to add more to it.
I look forward to seeing your creations.
Bernadette xx
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