Monthly Archives: May 2013

charm pack quilt, charm pack sewing, free-motion, improv patchwork, quilting, tutorial

Semi improv 9-patch quilt tutorial – cutting the blocks – blocks 2 and 8

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Check the past tutorials on this quilt.

Materials

  • One 12 1/2 in square in the background fabric
  • Block 2

Cutting the blocks

Block 2

Place the 12 1/2 in square background fabric square on the mat and the first block you made on top.

Align all sides well.

Now make 2 cuts as per diagram above.

After cutting rearrange pieces to obtain the first block as per diagram above.

After rearranging, stitch all pieces together.

Block 2 is nearly complete.

Put it aside.

Block 8

Arrange the left over “inverted” pieces.

Sometimes you may want to align two seams like below.

I often iron my seams open (shock and horror!) to avoid bulk. When you open your seams it is easier to make them align as per picture below.

Stitch together.

You now have 2 more blocks. Or almost. We’ll be trimming and adding some interest later.

charm pack quilt, charm pack sewing, free-motion, improv patchwork, quilting, tutorial

Semi improv 9-patch quilt tutorial – cutting the blocks – blocks 1 and 7

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So far we have made 6 traditional wrench or churn daisy blocks.

For the next few posts, each post will have the cutting instructions that will make for 2 “inverted” blocks out of one traditional block so we will end up with 12 blocks.

When referring to blocks numbering is from 1 to 6 for the starting block and from 7 to 12 for the inverted block that result from the cutting and rearranging.

I’ll be suggesting you cut the blocks in a particular way but feel free to modify the cutting lines to your liking.

The first random cut is the first improv patchwork iteration.

After putting the blocks back together the sides will be uneven but we’ll fix that later.

Materials

  • One 12 1/2 in square in the background fabric
  • Block 1

Cutting the blocks

Block 1

Place the 12 1/2 in square background fabric square on the mat and the first block you made on top.

Align all sides well.

Now make 2 cuts as per diagram above.

After cutting rearrange pieces to obtain the first block as per diagram above.

After rearranging, stitch all pieces together.

This is done for now.

Put it aside.

Block 7

Arrange the other pieces to produce the block below and stitch together.

This is done for now.

Put the block aside.

acolchado, charm pack quilt, charm pack sewing, free-motion, improv patchwork, quilting, stippling, tutorial

Semi improv 9-patch quilt tutorial – block 6

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Do you want to make this quilt?

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This is the sixth block in a series of 12 that make the Semi-improv 9-patch quilt.

Materials

  • 1 charm pack (a charm pack is typically a 42 x 5 in squares)
  • cream cotton fabric for the background
  • cotton solids scraps in matching colours

All blocks are a variation of churn dash or monkey wrench, a 9-patch block.

The finished block size is 12 1/2 inches. The finished size will be obtained after 2 improv patchwork iterations.

Block 6

Red = pattern charm square

Black = contrasting fabric

White = background fabric

Cut

  • one charm square to 4 1/2 in for the centre of pattern fabric
  • four 4 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in of the background fabric
  • four 4 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in of the contrasting fabric
  • two 4 7/8 inches for the corners in the background fabric
  • trim two charm squares to  4 7/8 in squares for the corners in the pattern fabric

Important: Keep the tiny bits when trimming the charm squares to 4 1/2 inches. They’ll be used later.

Making the corner triangles

Place both pattern 4 7/8 square and background square with right sides together.

Pin.

Mark a diagonal as per picture.

Stitch 1/4 in from the line on both sides of the diagonal.

Cut through the diagonal.

Open and press.

Place the cut pieces as per diagram above.

Stitch together on rows and then the rows together.

The sixth block is done.

All 6 blocks are finished.

The fun starts in the next post!

acolchado, charm pack quilt, charm pack sewing, free-motion, improv patchwork, quilting, stippling, tutorial

Semi improv 9-patch quilt tutorial – block 5

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This is the fifth block in a series of 12 that make the Semi-improv 9-patch quilt.

Materials

  • 1 charm pack (a charm pack is typically a 42 x 5 in squares)
  • cream cotton fabric for the background
  • cotton solids scraps in matching colours

All blocks are a variation of churn dash or monkey wrench, a 9-patch block.

The finished block size is 12 1/2 inches. The finished size will be obtained after 2 improv patchwork iterations.

Block 5

Red = pattern charm square

White = background fabric

Cut

  • trim one charm square to 4 1/2 in for the centre of pattern fabric
  • four 4 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in of the pattern fabric
  • four 4 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in of the background fabric
  • two 4 7/8 inches for the corners in the background fabric
  • trim two charm squares to  4 7/8 in squares for the corners in the pattern fabric


Important: Keep the tiny bits when trimming the charm squares to 4 1/2 inches. They’ll be used later.

Making the corner triangles

Place both pattern 4 7/8 square and background square with right sides together.

Pin.

Mark a diagonal as per picture.

Stitch 1/4 in from the line on both sides of the diagonal.

Cut through the diagonal.

Open and press.

Place the cut pieces as per diagram above.

Stitch together on rows and then the rows together.

The fifth block is done.

acolchado, charm pack quilt, charm pack sewing, free-motion, improv patchwork, quilting, stippling, tutorial

Semi improv 9-patch quilt tutorial – block 4

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Do you want to make this quilt?

Follow the tutorials

This is the fourth block in a series of 12 that make the Semi-improv 9-patch quilt.

Materials

  • 1 charm pack (a charm pack is typically a 42 x 5 in squares)
  • cream cotton fabric for the background
  • cotton solids scraps in matching colours

All blocks are a variation of churn dash or monkey wrench, a 9-patch block.

The finished block size is 12 1/2 inches. The finished size will be obtained after 2 improv patchwork iterations.

Block 4

Red = pattern charm square

Black = contrasting fabric

White = background fabric

Cut

  • one charm square to 4 1/2 in for the centre of contrasting fabric
  • four 4 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in of the pattern fabric
  • four 4 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in of the contrasting fabric
  • two 4 7/8 inches for the corners in the background fabric
  • trim two charm squares to  4 7/8 in squares for the corners in the pattern fabric

Important: Keep the tiny bits when trimming the charm squares to 4 1/2 inches. They’ll be used later.

Making the corner triangles

Place both pattern 4 7/8 square and background square with right sides together.

Pin.

Mark a diagonal as per picture.

Stitch 1/4 in from the line on both sides of the diagonal.

Cut through the diagonal.

Open and press.

Place the cut pieces as per diagram above.

Stitch together on rows and then the rows together.

The fourth block is done.