So first of all, I did get out right away and photograph this quilt. It was a beautiful day and not windy...
And then I realized I should probably share a few things I learned while making this quilt. First of all, if you ever decide to use the Moda Bake Shop instructions for the petals...cut your background squares at 5-1/2, center your petal, stitch it down, and then square up your block. There isn't enough fabric if you for some reason miss on centering your petal with a 5 inch block...and honestly, a 1/2 inch isn't something to worry about as far as waste goes.
Next, yes you can add a small strip of fabric to a 27-1/2 inch quilt to make it 28-1/2 which is much easier to divide by 2-1/2 inches, and leads me to my discovery.
I love charm squares, I love the fact that every single color of a line of fabric is in there, I love that I feel like I get a huge amount of fabric for not a lot of money when I purchase one or two; what I hate about them is those pinked edges! I don't know why I never realized this before, but if you do these few things with your charm squares when cutting them, they come out perfect every time!
And then I realized I should probably share a few things I learned while making this quilt. First of all, if you ever decide to use the Moda Bake Shop instructions for the petals...cut your background squares at 5-1/2, center your petal, stitch it down, and then square up your block. There isn't enough fabric if you for some reason miss on centering your petal with a 5 inch block...and honestly, a 1/2 inch isn't something to worry about as far as waste goes.
Next, yes you can add a small strip of fabric to a 27-1/2 inch quilt to make it 28-1/2 which is much easier to divide by 2-1/2 inches, and leads me to my discovery.
I love charm squares, I love the fact that every single color of a line of fabric is in there, I love that I feel like I get a huge amount of fabric for not a lot of money when I purchase one or two; what I hate about them is those pinked edges! I don't know why I never realized this before, but if you do these few things with your charm squares when cutting them, they come out perfect every time!
I've used the lines on my cutting mat before to cut angles, but I guess I never paid attention to the 1-inch lines on there. If you line the charm up perfectly using five of the 1-inch lines you don't have to worry about those pinked edges.
You can just line up the marks on your ruler with the lines on your mat and cut. Many of you probably already knew this, but for me it was one of those "oh my gosh, this is so easy and my cuts are straight" moments. I had my 2-1/2 inch squares cut in no time, sewn together, and on the quilt. I seriously think this is one of the reasons I get so far with a quilt using charms and I quit working on it as cutting the charms and getting them straight has always been frustrating to me. Well, not anymore!! Happy Stitching!! --Kristen
3 comments:
lots of needed info Kristen, thank you. your quilt is gorgeous...love the colors
gorgeous quilt, so bright and colourful. I'm doing an Orange Peel Along and the host suggested cutting the squares oversized to avoid worrying about centring the peels perfectly.
Your point about cutting charms makes sense, but I'd still have an issue sewing them, or do you measure out from the cut line and cut again?
Oh my. Thanks for the hint on those pinked edges. I realize they are a necessary evil to keep the edges from fraying but I detest those pesky things.
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