I am a member of a FB page ‘Handmade for Charity‘ and a recent post about the first Charity drive of the year for ‘Dress a Girl around the World’ Dress a Girl – Syney & Australia‘
– 100 days of quilting that ends on the 16th October, 2013, prompted this Quilt-A-Long as a way to support non-quilters in their desire to participate.
I am not a quilting expert but am happy to share ‘my way’ of doing things!
So welcome to visitors from ‘Handmade for Charity’ and ‘Dress a Girl Around the World’ – whether you choose just to visit or you decide to become a follower, I hope you enjoy your time here at Nannynotes2u!
To my regular followers, please consider joining us as we Quilt-A-Long for Charity!
Keeping in mind that many of you have not made a quilt before, I have chosen to make this one using 5″ squares. It will be a Disappearing Nine Patch so if you are so inclined, have a ‘google’.
This will work best if you have a mix of Darks, Lights and Mediums. Don’t worry, I will explain any terms I use – like any craft, quilting has it’s own lingo….
If you take some pieces of fabric, squint your eyes while looking at them. You will be able to see the different values more clearly! Sounds silly doesn’t it – but it works!! Dark and Light are pretty self explanatory, and while you are squinting, you will be able to see the ones that just don’t fit either Light or Dark – we will call them Mediums.
What you need:
144 x 5″ squares
We are going to use a ‘nine-patch’ block – a square made up of 9 of our 5″ squares.
We will be making 16 of these 9 patch blocks and each block will need:
4 corner squares
4 inner squares
1 centre square
Take a look at the photo, and this will help you decide on your fabrics and positions. The red tape shows where we will cut after we have made our 9 square block ( Part of the fun is cutting it up to join it all again!!):
The corner squares are like your ‘feature’ pieces – they remain as a full square. (They do not have to be the same as in my example, they can be all different)
The central square is a good one to make a ‘dark’ or powerful print as it will be cut into 4 smaller squares and so won’t ‘take over’ the quilt.
The inside squares will be the ones that you don’t want left whole, and that are not overpowering – these will be cut into rectangles. Note how I have placed the stripes so that the red line cuts through the stripes – you could have it the other way but I prefer it this way.
So the totals of squares needed is:
1. Corner squares: 16×4 = 64
2. Inner squares : 16×4 = 64
3. Centre Squares : 16×1 = 16
.
Let’s look at some ways to get your squares!
1. You could buy ready cut Charm Packs a selection of co-ordinating fabrics already cut to 5″ square – these are available from any quilting/fabric store:
2. You could cut squares from fabric you have selected – for instructions on how to cut squares see here
This design can work using just 3 different fabrics as in this quilt top I made – for a child, novelty prints in the corners and brights for the inners and a powerful colour for the centre can be very effective!
3. You could make up the squares by joining strips (Instructions here) – the instructions are not this project specific (my family crisis at present means I didn’t have time to make specific instructions) but I’m sure you will get the idea.
4. You could join scraps (instructions here) – once again, not this project specific. Please ask if you are not sure!
I will leave you to choose how you collect your squares! They will all work, will all look wonderful and I’m sure will bring warmth and comfort to a little one next winter.
Don’t forget, if you have any questions “Just ask Nanny”!
Until next time
Nanny xx
I love the look of the Disappearing 9 Patch and have been meaning to give it a go for ages. Will watch closely.
Thanks Nanny!
Hi Jane! Thanks – it is an interesting one for beginners – I hope we inspire you to give it a try!! 🙂
I’ve pinned for future reference, Margie.