hello dear creative people and welcome to my youtube channel. my name is eudiceã© and i am very excited to have you here. as you can see, this is all about sewing. but my big passion is patchwork and quilting. some of you may have had the intentionto work on a quilt, but may have struggled with the problem to get this - well lets say - not so small blanket through a not so big sewing machine. i also had these struggles in the beginning! in the case youâ´ve finished it:
be proud of yourself!i belive you loveand use it every evening on the couch! for those of you, who still are afraid of working with such a big piecethrough a small sewing machine i may have the right solution! there is not just one way of working a quilt by piecing a large patchwork top, and then clear the entire room to lay out the back fabric, the batting and the top to carefully baste the three layers together,
before working it through a small sewing machine! the technique that may be interestingfor the beginners among you is calledquilt-as-you-go. in doing so you work out separately small blocks, which are later put together to a blanket with an ingenious technique. the advantage of this isthat you donâ´t have to work on a big chunk, and you can create and design your blocks individually. that means, you can choose different patternsfor each block, different quilt designs.
this way you can gradually gain more practice in patchwork and quilting. i will show you how to calculate the right sizeof quilt blocks for your blanket, and to calculate the right size ofpieces of the block pattern. i will tell you some tips and tricks, and also things, you may roll the eyes, but are just indispensable for working with patchwork and quilts. you will see, when you follow the steps you have finished your blanket in no time! so - lets get started with block no.1 ...
here is what you will need:a sewing machine an iron and an ironing board -one of the indispensable things ! really!ironing the pieces will make it a lot easier for youto put them together. it will be just fun and joy to work! fabrics of your choice - no matter if pre-cuts or material out of your fabric-treasure-box ;-) pins or wonder-clips. also helpful are quilt pins. the batting of course. iâ´m using a poly material today. advanced quilters or those, who want to experiment with something new,
can try to use a silk- , a soja- or a wool-batting. fabric matching yarn. i recommend using high quality thread,especially for free-motion-quilting in future. working on quilts i usethe imperial measurement in inch. therefor i have a cutting board, a rulerand a rotary cutter. this ruler is one of the smallest, there a several sizes, but all of them have the measurements in inch, half inch, quarter and 1/8 inch. converting the measurements into centimeterscan be tricky. who wants to try, can use a measure tapeon wich both systems are marked.
so we will be working on a blanketmade out of several quilt blocks, with a finished size of round about 48" x 60" (about 1,20m x 1,50m) every quilt block will be 12" in finished size(12,5" unfinished) we start with a nine-patch, using two fabrics, one solidand one with matching prints. we will need 5 pieces of the solid and 4 pieces of the colored. knowing the block will be 12"we can not cut the fabric pieces in 4", 4" is the size of the finished piece. we still have to calculate 1/4" for the seam allowance
on the sides of each block and on the bottom and top, because we have to sew the rows together. so our fabric squares are 4,5" to cut. find matching fabrics you like,mine have the same green in the solid and the dots. fold the fabric along the smaller selvedge,cut off the selvedge for a straight line place the ruler on the straight linewith the measurement of 4,5" and cut out a stripe. open up the fabric stripe,cut off the ends and cut out squares of 4,5".
same procedure with the other fabric. here i needed a second stripefor the 5th square. place the fabric pieces as the pattern shows. we sew the pieces together in rows,and then the rows together. for the piecing i set my stich length to 2.0 for exactly seam allowance of 1/4"i use the inch-sewing foot. 1/4 " on the right side,1/2" on the left side. exactly seam allowance makes fitting the piecesmuch easier! in this project i will use the normalsewing foot for quilting(walking foot in the back).
using this for sewing seam allowance, please measure where the 1/4" is running under your foot, to keep the same distance continuously. working systematically from top to bottom. sewing two fabric pieces of top row,then two pieces of middle row, using the chain-piecing-method. this saves thread and time. laying pieces in right order on working surface, and placing the left over pieces to the right row.
[explaining chain-piecing in my language] letâ´s turn to our favorite activity -> ironing ;-) seam allowance should not shine through light fabric.to avoid this we lay the dark fabric on top, setting the seam and pressing open. in these rows the seam allowanceslook outwards. same procedure with the middle row, the seam allowance looks inwards. you will see, how helpful and importantthis is for sewing the rows together.
placing rows in the right order andeventually trimming off threads. placing one row on another, right sides together,you will see, the contrary ironed seam allowancesform a little upright edge, which prevents moving. we pin where the seams match. the pin follows the seam line on the back and the front. when sewing together, we check the direction in which the seam allowanceis at the top and at the bottom to avoid unwanted folding.
unwanted folding makes bulges,wich hardly can be flattened by ironing. same procedure with the bottom row. we iron the block outwards. place the patchwork top on the batting,wich is larger (about a finger or so), we will need the space when quilting. the fabric in the back should be biggerthan the batting (about a finger). place the batting with the patchwork topcentered on the back fabric. baste with quilt pins. start from the center and keep the fabrics straight,
avoid wrinkles. you can choose different fabrics for the back fabric. that will make the quilt more colorful on the back. by choosing one fabric for all quilt blocks, the quilt will be more calm on the back side. i am choosing a matching yarn color,wich is a bit lighter than the green fabric, and doesn't shows off too much in the white fabric. i could have also chosen a beige color, and because i only have one spool of green yarn,i will use the beige for the bobbin thread.
if you want to be quite experimental, you can also choose a color that has more contrast. this makes the quilting stand out more. for the quilting i switch to the standard sewing footand set the stich length to 3.5 try first on a sample,wich you prefer - 3.0 or 3.5 we start in the middle of the piece and will use the stich-in-the-ditch method. use the needle-down function on your sewing machine, this will help rotating the fabric on point. after sewing one time aroundwe repeat sewing inwards using the width of the sewing foot as distance,
and sew in cornered spirals inwards. at the end donâ´t forget to lock the stich. the light pieces will be stitched with a big x.mark the sewing lines with either a colored chalk or a trick marker, wich will disappear after a time. i will not use a frixion pen,because this one is to remove by heat, wich will be bad for the batting in this case. mark the x lines on the light pieces. lock stich at the beginning and at the end,and follow the lines over two fabric pieces. repeat with all other light pieces.
start sewing the corner pieces from the middle,stich-in-the-ditch and near the edge on the outside, avoid wrinkles while sewing the outer edge. and again sewing in spirals inwards. first finished block of the quilt :-) that was it for today, stay tuned to see,wich block will be the next!see you !