Ring Around Baby Quilt

Hi There 🙂 It’s me, Melissa Corry from Happy Quilting and I am so excited to share my Ring Around Baby Quilt!! I really love the bold prints and colors of Zen Chic’s Comma line. They make it so much fun to work with. So let’s get right to it!!

1 Comma Layer Cake
1 yard of favorite black print for pieced back, I used 1513 16
1/4 yard of favorite white print for pieced back, I used 1513 11
1/3 yard of favorite print for binding, I used 1512 20
Spray Baste

STEP 1 – PIECING THE QUILT TOP

From your layer cake select the 5 black/white squares, the 3 grey/black squares, and the 8 white/black squares. Lay them out in a 4 x 4 grid alternating black and white prints as shown.

Sew the blocks into rows. Place the second block onto the first with right sides together and sew a 1/4″ seam along the edge as shown in row 1. I don’t pin these, I just align as I go. Then place the third block onto the now sewn together 1st and 2nd blocks and sew a 1/4″ seam as shown in row 2. Repeat process for the fourth block as shown in row 4. Press towards the black/grey blocks.

Now you can sew the rows together. Place Row 1 onto Row 2 and Row 3 onto Row 4 with right sides together. Take care to nest your seams and pin in place. Sew a 1/4″ seam along the pinned edges. Repeat the same process to sew Row 1/2 and Row 3/4 together.

Press your rows. Your quilt top will look something like this 🙂 Go ahead and set it aside for a bit.

STEP 2 – CUTTING THE APPLIQUE

Gather your remaining layer cake squares. I set aside the 2 reprint squares and the square that matched my binding fabric to use on my Bonus Tutorial mentioned later. Cut each of the remaining (21) 10″ squares into (4) 5″ squares. For your applique, you can choose to cut perfect circles or wonky circles.

To make perfect circles . . . Fold your charm square in half with right sides together. Then fold in half again the opposite direction. Press the folds. Using a compass, align the point on the folded center and draw a quarter circle. Repeat for one to two more arcs. Cut along the drawn lines.

And you have a varied number of rings and circles. Feel free to change the size and amount of arcs so that you get a lot of different size and widths of rings.

To make wonky circles . . . Fold your charm square in half with right sides together. Then fold in half again the opposite direction. Finger press the folds. Cut an arced shape over the folded center Repeat for one to two more arcs.

And you have a varied number of wonky rings and circles. Feel free to change the size and amount of arcs so that you get a lot of different size and widths of rings. And you can really play with the wonky factor here.

Repeat for all of your 5″ squares so you end up with a pile of rings and a pile of circles. Set the circles aside as you wont be needing them. (They can be used in the Bonus Tutorial.)

STEP 3 – ADDING APPLIQUE TO QUILT SANDWICH

First, you need to piece the quilt back so you can make a quilt sandwich. Cut your yard backing piece into 2 pieces measuring as follows. Trim the selvages from your 1/4″ fabric. Sew the three pieces together using a 1/2″ seams. Press the seams to the darker print. (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture so you get a graphic.)

Create your quilt sandwich using spray baste. The reason I suggest Spray Baste is because it will be difficult to add the applique with a whole bunch of pins in the way. If you are new to using spray baste for creating a quilt sandwich you can see my video tutorial on how to do so.

And now you are ready to add the rings 🙂 Place approximately 4 rings in a box an spray with a coating of spray baste. You don’t want to work with much more than that at a time or the baste will start to dry out.

Place the first ring onto your quilt top leaving a bubble where you would like to add the next ring.

Place the next ring onto the quilt top so that it links with the first. At one of the intersections of the two rings, cut the new ring as shown.

Slide the two cut edges under the bubble of the first ring. Press the rings in place leaving a new bubble in the second ring to add a third ring.

Continue the process. Start new groupings and vary the size and shape of each grouping. Some of my groups have up to 6 rings and some only two. The more variation the better.

Continue until you have covered the entire quilt. I ended up with about 2 rings left over.

STEP 4 – FINISHING QUILT

And now you are ready to finish the quilt. Your quilt sandwich is already made so you can move right onto quilting. You will want to quilt this with a rather dense FMQ design to ensure that all of those cut edges get stitched down. I choose to do a Interlocking Circles FMQ design and you can see a video tutorial on how to do this here. It also gives some insights on quilting with all of the raw edges. You will have to stop occasionally and lift your presser foot and then place it on top of the edge of the applique as sometimes it tends to pop up. You will notice a few of my circles have been pinned. Those were for the really stubborn ones that just didn’t want to stay in place.

Once you are finished quilting all that remains is to bind it. Cut your binding fabric into (4) 2 1/2 ” strips and bind your quilt. I machine quilted this to add strength as it is a baby quilt. If you are new to this you can see a video tutorial on binding here.

One adorably chic and modern Ring Around baby quilt measuring 38″ x 38″, a perfect gift for a special little one.

And . . . If you want to finish that gift off with another little handmade treasure and use up your leftover circles at the same time, pop on over to Happy Quilting for this bonus Chic Circles Car Seat Cover Tutorial.

Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. If you make your own Ring Around Baby Quilt I would love to see it. You can add it to my Inspired by Happy Quilting Flickr group here 🙂

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!

Melissa Corry
{www.happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com}

Type Geek Pillows

Mar27

Hi there! It’s Casey from Casey York Design and Studioloblog.wordpress.com, and I’m back to share the pattern for my Type Geek pillows. I am a self-professed type geek, myself, so I couldn’t resist coming up with a project for Typography month on the Moda Bake Shop. These pillows are a perfect way to showcase your favorite fabric collections and fonts. I had so much fun matching typefaces to fabric lines that I couldn’t stop with just one pillow and ended up making three. You can find the templates for these three appliqued words in the Printer Friendly version of this tutorial at the bottom of this page. However, it’s easy to create your own templates, and this project is even more fun if you make up your own fabric-font pairings. I hope you have as much fun with this project as I did, and that you’ll share your finished pillows with me through the Casey York Quilts flickr group!

Front patchwork and back appliqué: one jelly roll (samples show PB&J, Comma, and 2wenty Thr3e)
Pillow back: (1) fat quarter or ¼ yd. solid white fabric (samples show Bella Solids in Porcelain)
Front Appliqué: (1) piece solid white fabric, 12” long X 3” wide
Lightweight, double-sided, paper backed fusible web: (1) 9” X 12” sheet
(1) 18” zipper

Please note: this pattern uses only (9) jelly roll strips, resulting in a lot of leftover fabric. You may want to plan another project to use the excess—I recommend one of the other wonderful tutorials here on the Moda Bake Shop!

Step 1: Make the pillow front:

Select nine strips from the jelly roll, trim to measure 18” long. Stitch along long sides to form a striped patchwork panel. Trim to measure 17 ½” X 17 ½.”

Tip: For maximum contrast, try to position a darker print or near solid as the second stripe from the bottom. This will ensure that your white appliqués show up well. Reserve the rest of this strip for the appliqués on the back of the pillow, which you will make in Step 2.

Step 2: Make the Appliqués

Print the template for the typeface of your choice—this tutorial features Helvetica, Rockwell, and Playbill. You will only need one template page per pillow. Templates can be found in the printer friendly version of this tutorial linked at the bottom of this page.

Tip: Make your own templates: Select a favorite font from your computer’s word processing program (bold san serif or slab serif fonts work best for this project). Type out the name of the typeface, then enlarge the character size until the letters are approximately 2” tall. This generally works out to be a type size of 180 to 210 pt., although this will differ from typeface to typeface. Print your template; for the pillow front appliqués, reverse the letters by turning the page over and tracing the outlines of the printed characters on the back. Use your templates to make fusible appliqués as follows.

Following the manufacturer’s instructions, trace the templates onto the double-sided light fusible web. Cut out roughly, leaving a ¼” margin around your traced lines; you may want to cut out the entire word rather than cutting out each letter individually. Fuse the letters that appear reversed onto your white appliqué fabric. Fuse the letters that appear correctly oriented onto the wrong side of the jelly roll strip you reserved from Step 1, or a different strip that matches the second stripe from the bottom of your patchwork panel. Make sure to use a pressing cloth between your iron and fabric in order to avoid getting sticky residue on your sole plate.

Step 3: Place the Front Appliques:

Position your white fabric appliqués on the patchwork panel, aligning them with the bottom edge of the second stripe from the bottom. You will want to make sure that the last letter is at least 1 ½” from the right hand edge of the panel to leave room for the seam allowance.

Tip: Begin laying out your letters from the right-most letter and move left (i.e. backwards) towards the left side of the panel.

When you are satisfied with your layout, fuse the appliqués in place, again using a pressing cloth between fabric and iron. Stitch around the appliqués using your machine or by hand; the samples were stitched by hand using a blanket stitch and a single strand of six-stranded cotton embroidery floss.

Step 4: Make the Pillow back:

From the solid white fabric, cut two rectangles measuring 17 ½” wide X 8 ½” long and 17 ½” wide X 11 ½” long. Fold one long edge of the 17 ½” X 8 ½” rectangle back 1 inch and press well, creating a crease.

Install the zipper:

Make sure the zipper is zipped. Unfold the crease in the 17 ½” X 8 ½” rectangle and place with the crease facing up; this is the right side of your pillow back. Place zipper face-down along the 17 ½” edge closest to the crease and align long edge of zipper tape with edge of fabric; pin well. Your zipper will be slightly longer than your pillow back is wide; to create a new “stop”, simply stitch back and forth several times across the zipper teeth at the point where the zipper reaches the 8 ½” edge of the fabric. Use your machine’s zipper foot to stitch as close to the zipper teeth as possible. When you approach the zipper pull, lower the needle, raise your presser foot, and carefully unzip the zipper until the pull is behind your needle. Lower the presser foot and continue stitching to the end of the zipper.

Refold crease; stitch along fold as close as possible to the zipper, making sure not to catch the zipper tape in your stitching. This will create a placket to cover the zipper.

Unzip the zipper. Place the tape face down against a 17 ½” edge of the 17 ½” X 11 ½” rectangle and pin well. Stitch as close as possible to the zipper teeth. This time, when you reach the zipper pull, carefully zip the zipper until the zipper pull is behind your needle. Continue stitching to the end of the zipper. Zip the zipper, place pillow back right side up, and press well.

You should have a 17 ½” X 17 ½” square (if slightly larger, trim to measure 17 1/2″ X 17 1/2″). Baste along side edges to hold zipper together when you assemble the pillow cover.

Place the appliqués:

Place your pillow front right side up. Place the pillow back on top with the right side facing down, the zipper towards the top edge, and the edges aligned. You should be able to see your front appliqués through the white fabric of the pillow back. Use a removable fabric marker–I recommend a Hera Marker or other creasing tool–and your ruler to trace lines along the bottom and sides of the word on the front of the cover. These will be your guidelines for placing the appliqués on the back. Turn the pillow back right side up and use the guidelines to place your back appliqués; the letters should be backwards. When you are satisfied with your placement, use your iron to fuse them in place. Stitch around appliqués using your machine or by hand.

Tip: If you use a fabric marker or pencil to make your placement guidelines, make sure you remove your markings before you use your iron to fuse the appliques in place! This is why I prefer to use a creasing tool for this step–I don’t need to remove any markings before pressing.

Step 5: Assemble the Pillow Cover:

Place pillow front cover and back cover together, right sides together. Make sure the zipper is unzipped a few inches. Align edges and pin well. Stitch along edges with a ¼” seam allowance. If you wish, finish the edges with a zigzag stitch. Unzip zipper all the way and turn cover right side out. Insert an 18” X 18” pillow form and you’re done!

This pattern will yield one cover for an 18” X 18” pillow. I recommend making several—have fun matching typefaces to the character of different fabric collections!

Casey York
{www.casey-york.com}

Comma, Pyramid, Hexagon Quilt

Mar7

My name is Sara and you can find me at www.knottygnome.com. This is my first bakeshop tutorial and I’m excited to bring you this hexagon quilt in two sizes. I love to play with color in textiles. In addition to quilting I engage in many crafts, like knitting, spinning, dyeing, crochet, embroidery, and sewing. Be sure to stop by my blog for a bonus tutorial that uses scraps from this quilt to make an improv pillow cover.

Stroller blanket:
1 Comma FQ bundle + 1/2 yd Bella solid 9900-11 (Snow);
155in binding using your preferred method
Batting: 40×48

Lap quilt:
1 Comma FQ bundle + 1 2/3 yd Bella solid 9900-11 (Snow);
2 1/4 yd yardage for backing;
290in binding using your preferred method
Batting: 76×80

I used the Fons & Porter Pyramid ruler, but I’ve also included a triangle template that can be found in the printer friendly version of this post.

Step 1: Choose your fabrics. Each fat quarter will yield 24 triangles, or 6 per 21” strip. A strip cut from yardage will give you 12 triangles.

For the Stroller blanket you will need 150 triangles. I chose extra fabrics for more variation but remember to keep 7 FQ intact for the backing
36 Black: 1.5 FQ
36 Grey: 1.5 FQ
12 Green: .5 FQ
12 Orange: .5 FQ
12 Yellow: .5 FQ
42 Snow: .5 yd

For the Lap quilt you will need 558 triangles. Remember to keep 8 FQ intact for the backing.
120 Black: 5 FQ
120 Grey: 5 FQ
60 Green: 2.5 FQ
48 Orange: 2 FQ
60 Yellow: 2.5 FQ
150 Snow: 1 2/3 yd

Step 2: Press your fabrics. I laid mine out 4 layers deep to save time. Square up your edge and cut fabrics into 4.5” strips.

Step 3: Line up your triangle ruler or template close to the edge of your strip. If using the template, align your cutting ruler with the edge of the template to help you cut a straight edge.

Step 4: Cut both sides of the template to complete your triangle.

Step 5: Remove 1/4″ from each tip to get rid of the “dog ears” and make the triangles easy to align when piecing.

Step 6: Flip the template and align it with the cut edge of the strip to begin your next triangle. Repeat Steps 2-6 until you have the correct number of triangles from Step 1.

Step 7: If you have a design wall, lay out your triangles according to the diagram. I do not have a design wall, so I laid out a few rows at a time.

Stroller blanket: 10 rows of 15 triangles

Lap quilt: 18 rows of 31 triangles

Step 8: Stitch your triangles into rows using 1/4″ seam. Be sure to keep them in order when chain piecing. Press seams open, being careful not to stretch the triangles out of shape.

Step 9: Piece rows together in groups of 2 to form complete hexagons. Stitch rows together to complete top.

Step 10: Trim the 2 uneven sides 1/4″ beyond the first whole triangle in the row, making the top rectangular.

Step 11: Choose fabrics for the back, cut and layout according to the diagram. The Stroller blanket requires 7 fat quarters and the lap quilt requires 8 fat quarters plus 2 1/4 yd for the center panel. Piece together using 1/4″ seams.