Tutorial

As promised I have prepared a tutorial for the Pieced Scrap Border Quilt that I started working on last week.

Not for one moment would I suggest that this is my original design. This quilt is made from two square blocks that alternate.  One block is a pieced block and the other is a solid blocks.  The pieced block is no more than a square center that has been given a pieced border.  Pieced borders made from small squares, such as in this design, have been added to quilts for many many years, the only difference here is that the pieced border has been added to each alternate block rather than the finished quilt.  My inspiration for this pieced border block came from the border in  this flickr image.

What follows is a step by step tutorial to make your own Pieced Border Scrap Quilt , a great scrap buster quilt and a fabulous way to celebrate the October Scrap Buster Contest at Sew, Mama Sew!

STEP 1

From cotton scrap fabric rotary cut pieces measuring 1 1/2 inches wide by 5 1/2 inches long.  For a great overall scrappy look I would suggest you might need 20 plus different fabrics in a range of bright colors.  You will need a total of 224 strips.

STEP 2

Using a 1/4 inch foot, sew together strips into sets of 3 and 5 strip blocks as shown above.  Mix colors/fabrics together at random.  You will need 28 sets of each strips set.  That is 28  5-strip and 28 3-strip sets.  Press seams to one side.  The only seams that are important in terms of direction are the outer seams of the 5 strip set - press in towards the center of the block.  This will become obvious when sewing the block together.

STEP 3

Cross-cut each strip set at 1 1/2 inch intervals. Discard the remainder.  You should easily be able to cross-cut in to three separate pieced strips.   You will now have a total of 84  strips of each pieced strip.

STEP 4

Cut a 3 1/2 inch center square from a solid fabric*.  I have used Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in white.

STEP 5

Sew two of the small strips to each side of the center square as shown in this picture.  Easy!  Press seams out towards the printed fabrics.

STEP 6

Sew the longer (5 pieced strips) to the remaining sides of the center square.  Press seams out towards the colored fabrics once again.  This ensures that no seams are visible in the white solid center square of the block.  And your pieced scrap border block is finished.  The finished block should now measure 5 1/2 inches, which includes your seam allowances.

You will have enough strips to complete 41 pieced blocks.

Once you have pieced 41 blocks you will need to cut  40 squares from a solid fabric each measuring 5 1/2 inches. A total of 81 blocks are required to make this quilt as pictured. 41 pieced blocks and 40 solid blocks.

Lay out your blocks according to the finished quilt as above.  I ensured that each outer corner of the quilt had a pieced block rather than a solid white block. Sew blocks in each row together.  Then sew rows together.  The finished quilt top will measure 45.5  inches x 45.5  inches.

I prepared my backing using two pieces of Kaffe Fassett fabric. They are Silhouette Rose and  Kirman which complement each other beautifully.

It is quilted it with my favorite and preferred style of straight line quilting.  I  first outlined all the blocks by stitching just 1/4 of an inch on either side of the block seams.  I then cross-hatched through all of the blocks.

And added binding using one of my favorite binding fabrics by Marcus Brothers.  This is Aunt Grace - Polka Dots in blue by Judi Rothermel. 

And of course, just in case you think it would be easier to get someone else to make a quilt just like this for you, my quilt is for sale in my Etsy Store.  SOLD.  Feel free to ask any question regarding the tutorial or  quilt by leaving a comment or email me.

*You will need a total of 1.5 yards of solid fabric to make the number of blocks required for this quilt.