Saturday, August 29, 2009

Building a Quilt

So, I'm making my very first "real" quilt. I've made a few cheater quilts --- the 3 t-shirt lap-quilts for the kids, and one out of pre-quilted fabric I still have that I made when Gina was a baby --- but this is my first quilt with a pattern that will be used as a comforter. (In-progress photos to follow.)

So, step one was to find a pattern I like. I chose the Disappearing 9-patch. Mama T on SewForum.com has done many and I really like the way they look. So, thanks Mama T!

Step two was to find some fabrics that coordinated well. Sarah's only request was that it incorporate some lavender, since that's the color of Katherine's room. I am horrible at coordinating colors, so was very happy to see that Moda Fabrics puts together "Charm Packs" of pre-cut squares in a lovely assortment of coordinates. I chose the Kashmere IV assortment.

Step two would be to find and buy a nice solid color to coordinate. I thought about getting lavender, but decided a nice cream color would be more complimentary.

Step three is to cut up the solid into squares. Now, I'd read somewhere that the charm packs are 5" squares, so I proceeded to cut up 2 yards of the cream colored cotton into 5" squares.

Next step was to pin the squares together into 9-patch sets, then to sew up the 9-patch squares. This is where my first mistake was discovered. The charm squares are actually 5 and 1/8 inch square. So, step three should have been to measure the charms and then to cut the solid cotton the same size.

Now that the pre-cut charms are now cut into 5" squares, and pinned together in sets of 3, it's time to stitch. The 9-patch pattern is pretty basic: row 1 - print, solid, print; row 2 - solid, print, solid; and row 3 - print, solid, print.

Sew 3 squares to make a row. Do this 2 more times and press open the seams.
Sew the 3 rows together and press open the seams.
Now, you have a 9-patch square. Now comes the "Broken" part of a broken 9-patch.

Fold the patch in half, top to bottom and finger-press. This is your cutting line.
Now you have two strips. Fold them in half also, and finger-press. This is your second cutting line.

Now, re-arrange the 4 patches so that you have a sash on the right and bottom edges with a small square at the lower right corner of each.