Archive | November, 2010

I finally finished the Tiffany Diamonds Quilt! Thanks again, Sarah at Fabric Crush, for the fabulous name 🙂 This is the first quilt that I’ve tied instead of machine quilting (click the image below for a close-up). Finished Quilt size is 76″x57″. Check out the 6-Step Tiffany Diamonds tutorial below!

I love the simplicity of this quilt. Working backwards, it is made up of 12 of the following finished blocks:

And the above finished block is made up of 4 of these guys pieced together:
Basically, to make this quilt all you need to learn is how to make the above block. Step 1 (below) will get you started!

Materials:

• Total of 48 ten inch squares (1 layer cake pack which has 42 squares + 3/4 yard of fabric cut into 6 squares)
• Total of 96 five inch squares, same print (2 charm packs + 1 fat quarter cut into 6 squares)
• 65”x90” of backing fabric (about 4 yards)
• Batting

Note: 1 yard of fabric = 12 ten inch or 48 five inch squares

Step 1: Sort all 48 of your ten inch squares into 12 piles of 4 squares each. As shown below, have each pile match with similar colors/prints.

Step 2: For each ten inch square (all 48), do the following Steps A-E:

A) Take 2 five inch squares, and on each square mark a diagonal line from corner to corner. As shown below, I used a Hera marker which is a plastic tool that creates a crease on the fabric when pressed with a firm hand. With a Hera marker, you can layer the fabric (~2 layers), and the crease will show through both layers.
If you don’t have a Hera marker, simply draw a line using a ruler and pen, or fold the square diagonal and press with an iron and then unfold.

B) Align 1 five inch square along the top left corner of a ten inch square. Make sure the placement of the diagonal line is the same as below.

Pin in place, and then sew directly along the diagonal line:

C) As shown below, cut a ¼” seam along the left outer part of the diagonal line that so that the corner comes off.

Up-close photo (be sure to cut a 1/4″ allowance from the stitched line):

D) Press open with an iron:

E) Repeat steps B through D, but on the bottom right corner of the ten inch square.

Step 3: After completing Step 2 for all 48 ten inch squares, you can assemble the piles of 4 that you sorted in Step 1. First, arrange the 4 blocks as shown below. Sew the top 2 blocks together and then the bottom 2 blocks together to create 2 units.

Last, sew the top and bottom units together.

(Note for Newbies: when I refer to sewing, sew with the right sides facing together, sew a ¼” seam, and then press open with an iron). Step 4: Arrange your finished blocks in 4 rows of 3 blocks each.
Start by sewing each of the 3 blocks in each row together. And then sew each row together to create the pieced quilt top.

Step 5: Baste and quilt it! For this one, I decided to tie it (shown below) rather than machine quilt. Click the following for a tutorial on How to Tie a Quilt. If you’ve never done it before, you’ll love it because it’s quick and you don’t have to worry about the fabric layers puckering like you do when machine quilting. It looks great too, and makes for a much fluffier quilt.

Step 6: Bind it! Click the following for a Quick Quilt Binding Tutorial.

>Tip!: Save the corners you cut from Step 2c. You can use them for an easy half square triangle scrap quilt project down the road!

That’s it! Let me know if you have any questions.
Click HERE for a printer friendly version of this tutorial. =)