Quilting in the Rain

Remember these fabrics I bought last month when I went on my business trip? Well, I finally used them! Living in Seattle, this Rainy Days quilt seemed very appropriate. 🙂 I wanted to share this pattern with you in case you wanted to make one. It’s a super-duper easy pattern (seriously, only 3 steps below!). If you want to use the same fabric collection that I used, I recommend buying them here (Rainy Days and Mondays is an older collection so most places don’t sell them anymore).

Finished quilt top size: 47.5″ x 57″

Materials:

• Eight 1/4 yard cuts of varying prints (fat quarters work too)
• 1 1/4 yards solid white fabric (I used white muslin)
• 1/3 yard binding
• 3 yards backing

Step 1 (Cutting) – From each 1/4 yard print of fabric, cut four 6″x10″ rectangles. You will need a total of 30 rectangles, so choose one print where you will only cut two rectangles from it.

Next, from your 1 1/4 yards of white fabric, cut (70) 2.5″x10″ rectangles.

The quickest way to cut all 70 rectangles is to fold your 1.25 yards of fabric in half lengthwise so that it measures roughly 22″x45″ (it should already be folded like this when you buy it from the bolt). And then fold it in half lengthwise again so that it measures roughly 11″x45″. With a ruler and rotary cutter, cut 2.5″ strips along the length as shown below, until you have a total of (18) 2.5″x44″ strips. Then, sub-cut each strip into four 2.5″x10″ rectangles.

Step 2 (Piece together your blocks) – One block is made up of one 6″x 10″ rectangle, and two 2.5″x 10″ rectangles.

Using a 1/4″ seam allowance, sew each 2.5″x 10″ strip to the 6″x 10″ rectangle as shown below. (Sew with the correct sides facing each other, and then press open with an iron).

Repeat the above until you have a total of 30 finished blocks.

Step 3 (assemble the quilt top) – As shown below, arrange all 30 blocks into 6 rows of 5 blocks each, making sure to alternate the position of each block. Click image below to enlarge.

Lastly, sew all 5 blocks together in each row, and then sew each row together. (Using a 1/4″ seam allowance, sew with the correct sides facing each other, and then press open with an iron).

I told you it was easy 😉 If you end up making this quilt, I’d love to see it! (quiltingintherain@gmail.com)

Happy Quilting!

If basting and binding a quilt isn’t really your thing, and if you don’t particularly like quilting large quilt tops, then a rag quilt is the perfect quilt project for you. 🙂 With a rag quilt, you create smaller (therefore easier to handle) quilt sandwiches, quilt them while they’re still small, and then piece them together to form your quilt. If that sounds confusing, check out my 8-step rag quilt tutorial below.

(Click picture to enlarge)

This quilt measures 23″ x 23″ which works perfectly for throwing in a stroller, or as a wall hanging quilt. Speaking of strollers, rag quilts are great for little ones as they offer a textured material for them to touch and explore.

I have a similar tutorial called Frayed Seams Quilt which uses fleece material as the entire quilt backing. You can check it out for an alternate rag quilt design.

Materials for a 23″x23″ rag quilt:

• 10 quarter yards of varying prints
• 1 yard of fleece (or batting, see note in step 1).
• Coordinating thread

Step 1 – Cut fifty 6.5″ squares from your quarter yard cuts (note: 1 quarter yard = six 6.5″ squares). From your 1 yard of fleece, cut twenty-five 6.5″ squares*.

*If you prefer to not have the fleece show at the seams as it does in this tutorial (see step 4), or if you prefer to use batting instead of fleece, cut twenty-five 5.5″ squares instead. Then, when you make your mini quilt sandwich as described in step 2 (below), make sure the fleece/batting is centered in between the fabric pieces.

Step 2 – Make a mini quilt sandwich: take one fleece square and sandwich it in between two fabric squares. The wrong sides of the fabric should be facing the fleece. Repeat until you have 25 mini quilt sandwiches. When putting these together, plan for how the front and back of your quilt will look.

Step 3 – Quilt all 25 of the mini quilt sandwiches you made from the previous step. For this quilt, I quilted a simple X. Start and end your stitch with a back stitch.

Note: For Steps 4 through 6, use a walking foot if possible (to prevent puckering).

Step 4 – Sew the quilt sandwiches together: Sew 5 rows of 5 quilt sandwiches each, using a 1/2″ seam allowance. The front of your quilt will have the 1/2″ seam, as shown below.

The back will look like this:

Step 5 – Then, sew your five rows together the same way, so that the 1/2″ seam allowance will be at the front of your quilt.

Step 6 – After you’ve sewn all five rows together, sew a 1/2″ seam allowance around the perimeter of the quilt. This quilt requires no binding!

Step 7 – Snip little frays (roughly ¼” apart) along all of the ½” seams including the perimeter seam. Do not cut outside of the seam. Use scissors that have really sharp tips (I used applique scissors). I was able to cut through two fabric layers per snip.

Step 8 – Lastly, throw the quilt in the wash (cold water, gently cycle) and dryer (tumble dry low). Washing and drying the quilt will make the fringes you cut from the previous step soft and fluffy.

That’s it! As always, let me know if you have any questions and I’d be happy to help you out.

Happy Quilting!