Nine Patch Quilt Guide: Quilting

Lay your backing material, cut a smidge larger than your finished quilt top, face down.

Next top this with the batting.

Then place your pieced quilt top (face up) on top. Be very careful that all of these pieces are perfectly flat. This helps to keep your quilt from puckering.

You then pin your quilt with quilting pins--huge safety pins that can pass through the three layers easily.

You can machine quilt (long straight lines are easiest, but you can get as fancy as you imagination allows

or that your machine will do for you),

followed by knotting the loose ends: sew the loose threads through to the back and knot with it's match on the back side.

Alternatively, you can knot the quilt. To do this, thread your hand stitching needle with several pieces of embroidery floss (not standard thread) in a coordinating color. Tie a knot on the top of the quilt and trim it, allowing an inch and a half of the floss to remain, as decoration and to keep the knot taut.

The very last step is to finish those edges.

The first option is to use bias tape (choose wide double folded tape in a color that coodinates with your quilt). Cut all of the edges of the three layered quilt to be exactly the same. Turn the end of the tape under to cover the raw edge. Fold the tape over the edge of the quilt and pin it with straight pins. When you get to the end of one piece of tape, just repeat the steps.

At corners, tuck the tape to help it form the turn. A simple straight stitch will secure the tape and close up your edges.

The other way to handle this it to fold the backing fabric over the batting

and then fold the front of the quilt in.

Again, use straight pins to hold it in place, then stitch over the edges with a machine or by hand.

Finished!

Nine Patch Quilt Guide: Piecing

This is the second in the series of three posts in making a Nine Patch Quilt:

(click here for planning)

Stitch with the right (pretty sides together).

(Stitching 2 three square tall strips)

I piece the nine patches in strips of three blocks and then piece the three strips together, making a 9 patch block.

After all my blocks are made, I put all of the blocks in piles according to the columns in my plan.

I make each column.

Then, I piece each strip together to make up the widths of the quilt.

The final part of the quilt top is to add the border (which is totally optional).

After the top is finished, be sure to trim up all the loose threads and be sure all the strips are fully attached.

Nine Patch Quilt Guide: Planning

Making quilt can be as simple or complicated as you want. This is a simple 9 patch.

First choose the size of the quilt you wish to make--you can measure the bed you wish to cover, remember to allow if you want to tuck it in.

The next step is to plan the quilt. For example, will a border take up part of the widths or are your squares going to the edge? Will you use biased tape or do you intend to turn the edges under (requiring a few extra inches) to make the edges?

Let's say we're making a 35" square baby quilt. There will be 12 nine patch blocks and 13 solid blocks (some of mine were printed marked 'r' and others where white, hence the markings on my paper). I decided on one 5" border, rather than the two I originally had planned.

I sketch it out on quadrille paper so I can decide upon a pattern.

I decide my finished squares will be 5". I add 1/4" per side (not per width or height), so I will cut 5 1/2" squares. For my 9 patch blocks, I divide 5 (from the size of my finished squares) by 3 (as the patch will be 3 blocks wide by three blocks high) and then add 1/4" per side, for 2 1/16" square. (These sizes are totally arbitrary, just pick the size that works for you--smaller squares require more sewing, but allow for smaller pieces of fabric and more designs.)

large block = x = 5" squared

block for 9 patch = y = x/3" squared + .25" squared + .25" squared

And maybe you thought you'd never have any use at all for basic algebra and geometry after high school!

** I'll post about more steps next week! **