Vintage Quilt Tutorial: Paper Pieced Star

 Happy Thursday and welcome to another tutorial inspired by a vintage quilt. You can see the inspiration for today's tutorial here.

This tutorial is similar to another paper piecing tutorial (hexagons) and you can check it out here

For this block you will need 6 paper diamonds, 6 fabric rectangles (5"X2.5"), and either a glue pen or a needle and thread

Using the paper diamond as a template cut your rectangles leaving a generous 1/4" bigger than the paper. This will cut down on bulk.
Dot a bit of glue in the center of the paper and press to the wrong side of the fabric. This will help keep the paper from sliding around.

Glue basting method:
trace a line of glue down one side of the paper, fold the fabric over and press.

Do the same for all 4 sides. Voila.

Hand sewing method:
Fold over the fabric on the side point and stitch 2 small stitches through all fabric layers.
Go up to the top corner and do the same

I like to heat press my hand sewn diamonds.
Here are 5 hand sewn and 1 glue based diamond

Now to join the diamonds. Place 2 diamonds, right sides together, and sew a whip stitch from point to point. I like to start and stop each end with 2 stitches to add reinforcement.

Ta-da. Matching thread will help make the stitches less noticeable on the other side.

Here is the first unit

Continue adding diamonds the same way. Here is half of the star untit

Stitch the last side by  folding the unit in half and sew from the middle out.

We did it. You can fussy cut your fabric and create a nice spinning effect with the fabric.

After all the diamonds are sewn I iron the center points in a fan to reduce bulk.

You can make add the spacers in the same way as the star pieces. Sew from the outside point to the middle, make a few extra stitches int he center for reinforcement and back up the other side to the outer point.

All stitched up.

And the back.
Next time I will show you a few ways to join your stars and spacers. I will aslo be adding the Sewline glue pens to our Etsy shop if you want to give that a try too.

Reversible Tote

I started this awesome reversible tote over a month ago and never finished it. The instructions had me finish the raw edges around the handles by turning under the front and back edges and sewing them together. At the time I thought a bias binding would be easier. I should just follow the instructions.

The binding didn't work. I sewed around the edge thinking that would be ok. Hmmm... not so much. I should have followed the instructions. I think its a great tote and have been using it as a catch all on my sewing table and will probably leave it as is.

Here is a peek of the inside. I fussy cut the pocket with a fun sewing machine fabric.

This is a free pattern and I would recommend it. But follow the directions, lol.

 

Sewing Machine fabric

Texty main fabric

Teal Grunge

Free Pattern

Christmas Pillowcases

This sweet Christmas fabric by Alexander Henry has been calling my name. It's Santa's Village and Santa's Slippers.

This time of year many of us are making pillow cases to give as gifts and decorate our beds so what better (and seriously fast) project for this fabric.

I used Twiddletail's free Magic Burrito tutorial.

The stripe accent piece is from Moda's Winter Wonderland and the teeny aqua accent piece is a Moda Bella Solid (9900 132).

I made a few kits for the shop and the Etsy store.
You can find the fabrics here

Vintage Quilt Thursday: 6 Pointed Star

 Happy Thursday! Today I am sharing a vintage quilt from Heather's collection. It is an english paper pieced 6 pointed star made with the most amazing variety of vintage feedsack fabrics.

Heather basted the quilt on her long arm machine and it hand quilting it.

Next week I am going to share a tutorial on making this block. You don't have to make a whole quilt like this one but a block or two would be fun to make into baby quilt, a pillow, or a pouch.

I think this pink block with the blue flowers is my favorite.
Be sure to come back next Thursday and check out our tutorial!! Happy Sewing.

Happy Birthday Quilty Fun!

Happy, Happy Birthday Quilty Fun!

We are so excited to join Lori Holt and Fat Quarter Shop to celebrate the 1 year birthday of Quilty Fun and share with you this adorable FREE Quilty Fun Birthday Block! 

Quilty Fun features Lori's incredibly popular Bee In My Bonnet Row-A-Long with 10 amazing projects to use around your home.  You can purchase your own copy HERE at the Fat Quarter Shop!

As I pulled fabrics for my Birthday Cake Mini Quilt, my 10 year old daughter wanted to join in the fun and make a block of her own.  We each made a stack and I decided I would sew them both at the same time - just for fun!  So often, we only show the best of our finished projects - so here's to keeping it real...

My Block:

Her Block:

I have been out color schemed by my 10 year old this time.  Her block wins - hands down!  So I'm offering a FREE Kit to make this adorable mini with every $50 order in our WebStore or ETSY store today only!  Thanks for blog hopping today - have a Quilty Fun Day!

Vintage Quilt Thursday: Baby Bow Tie Tutorial

Welcome to another Vintage Quilt Thursday!! Today I am sharing a tutorial for a bow tie block.
You can check out the vintage inspiration here.

The picture above shows 4 of the blocks put together. Since I am not making a full quilt with the blocks I put 4 together to make one bigger block. This 4 unit block is 7.5" unfinished.

First, CLICK HERE to print out our template. It has 2 pieces, A and B, that you will use to cut our your pieces. You can use the cut paper to trace (that's what I did) or you can trace it on to heavier card stock.

You will need (per block):
1 B piece of bow tie fabric
2 A pieces of bow tie fabric
2 A pieces of background fabric

Trace and cut out these pieces using the printed and cut templates.

This block uses Y seams, or partial seams, so I marked a few of the pieces to help me know when to stop my seam.

One the middle square draw a line on each side 1/4" from the edge. Do the same for the background A pieces. I used a Frixon pen. The drawn line disappears with the heat of an iron.

First we are going to sew the middle bow tie. With right sides together sew the middle B square to the A piece.

Sew your seam just on the drawn line.

Do the same for the other middle square and A piece. Can you see my seam, how it doesn't go all the way from one edge to the other?
Iron your seams

Now for the background pieces. With right sides together lay your background piece on the middle square. Sew a line following the drawn line, starting and stopping before each end.

This step is hard to photograph and will make more sense when you get to this step and can see it in person.
Fold the bow tie unit to the side and line up the background outside edge with the bow tie edge.
Sew your seam from the point (at the edge of my thumb) to the outside edge.
I had to unpick a few seams at this step to get a feel for how far the seam should go to the middle. It doesn't have to be perfect, ironing will help it lay flat.

Sew your seam the same way on the other side of the same piece.
Repeat for your opposite A background block.

Iron and trim. This block is 4" unfinished.

Here is the back.

If you are putting blocks together, like I did, without sashing, there are a few ways to orient the blocks.
This way I create a colorful 4 patch in the middle.

And if I sew them this way I get a different look and all the bow ties go in the same direction.

The 4 patch method will also give you a 4 patch of background fabrics. This would make a fun ring effect with the bow ties.

So, clear as mud? This was a bit more challenging block if you haven't tackled Y seams before.

Check out this new fabric I listed in our Etsy shop. I love the low volume effect with pops of teal. And it has a doily so you know I love it. It is also in our webstore.

See you next time for another Vintage Quilt Thursday inspiration quilt. You can check out our past Vintage Quilt inspirations and tutorials by clicking on the link at the top of the blog.

Modern Building Blocks: Part 4

Morning all. Here are my latest Moda Modern Building Blocks. I slowed down a bit last week.

I am starting on a few of the bigger blocks (I think this one is 18"). 

I am getting to use some of my favorite prints. This is another 18" block. The biggest is 36. I am going to have to put a bit more thought in to the fabric choices for that one since it will really stand out.

This is the smallest for the week, 12".

We are still waiting for our back order of these patterns from Moda. Hurry up Moda!
How is everyone else doing with their blocks?

Come back Thursday for our latest Vintage Quilt Thursday. This week is the tutorial for the Baby Bow Tie quilt

Vintage Quilt Thursday: Baby Bowties

I found this little gem for Vintage Quilt Thursday stuffed in a box I was sorting through for our next Vintage Yard Sale (October 11 at 8am. Its a Part 2 since we are gathering more stuff that didn't make it last time).

I am guessing I bought it at a thrift store years and years ago. Its a baby size quilt, very soft from washing and wear, and is just as sweet as it can be.

Oh, hello big jugs of Best Press and Miss Kate flannel charm squares. I really need to get one of those jugs.

 

I love the variety of fabrics. Did they come from clothes? Scraps swapped with neighbors?

I think this block is my favorite block, those sweet yellow flowers. And can you see the "make do" piecing? The pink sashing above the square is pieced to fit. I know I have done that before (my reason was cutting errors)

Recreating this block and writing up a tutorial should be my most challenging block. Its has Y seams. Y seams, or partials seams, aren't difficult, its just a different way of  piecing. This tutorial with Y seams will be good practice for a pattern and sew a long (its a quilt!) that Heather and I are plotting.

 And one more early morning picture. This shows how loved this quilt was and now how thin it has become. I hope the quilts I have made and gifted are used and loved too.

I  added a few new newsprint low volume fabrics to the shop. They are kind of awesome.

See you next Thursday when I will post a Baby Bowtie tutorial for you. I am thinking it will include a pdf printout. Is anyone out there trying out some of these blocks? Happy Sewing