This quilt along took place in 2021, but all of the blog posts have been compiled into this one for you to follow along at your own pace anytime. Use this post along with the Scrappy Lines quilt pattern to create your own!
WEEK 1 – Choosing and Prepping Fabric
This week is all about fabric selection. First, let’s talk size. You have many options for what kind of fabric to use. If your scrap bins are overflowing, you’ll likely be using some small pieces. You can also use yardage if you want to get more specific with your fabric choices. Fat quarters, jelly rolls, charm packs, and jolly bars are all good options. While the accent strips are 1.5″ wide, if you want to use 2.5″ wide strips from a jelly roll, I will discuss altering the pattern for wider accent strips next week. If you have a bit of several size options, I think that is a great choice also. Using all small scraps can become tedious, so throwing in a 1/4 yard strip or fat quarter is a good idea. My scraps range in size from 2″ x 5″ to 1/4 yard strips.
Next, you’ll want to consider the color and pattern of your fabrics. I am using mostly solids with a few low-volume prints mixed in. So far, I have chosen a light greyish blue for the background. I really want to use white, but I am making this for my four-year-old, so white is probably not the best. As for accent colors, I have a very rough idea for a color theme. In an attempt to branch out from my usual selection of dusty and muted colors, I am going for classic colors a bit on the bright side. You can see below a checked shirting fabric I used for inspiration. If you are struggling to decide, find a printed fabric or picture online that catches your eye and use it as your color inspiration.
This pattern has a lot of accent strips in it. Using an abundance of variety works well for that reason. Usually, I spend way too much time picking and rethinking fabrics for a quilt. Don’t stress about it with this one. I suggest collecting ones you like to begin, and as you cut out your accent strips, you can remove any pieces from the cutting pile that you feel don’t seem to fit. With my first scrappy lines quilt, all scraps in my bin started in the quilt. I eventually removed white, black, and really bright colors from the pile, but I didn’t worry about how the other colors complimented each other. This is only week 1, so if you are not sure, you have time to think it over. Remember to get your background fabric this week also, especially if you will need to wait for it to be delivered.
Last thing, you may need to prep your fabric this week. If you are using scraps and your scrap bin looks like mine, those scraps need to be ironed. It will save you time next week if your scraps lay flat, perfect for cutting.
Week 2 – Cutting Fabric
This week we work on cutting all our fabric in preparation for sewing.
For this week, you will cut the accent strips, the background strips and the sashing and border. Sashing is the fabric that goes between your blocks and border is the fabric around the edge of the quilt. It is very likely that your border, sashing and background are all the same color. Every time I have made this pattern, I have used the same fabric for all three of these. It is separated in the pattern for those of you who want to add more variety in color. Either way works, but make sure you have all the fabric you need.
Sometimes, I cut everything at once and sometimes I cut and sew as I go when I quilt. Since we are planning to cut everything this week, I suggest you find a basket, bin or large ziploc bag to store your pieces in. You will see I use a small basket. If you are new to quilting, you may be surprised how tedious and time consuming this step is. You will want to be sure you are cutting your strips as close to exact as possible. Even 1/8″ error can be frustrating while sewing a quilt. Having your fabric well pressed helps with this. You will see below I use my cutting ruler by placing it over the fabric so I can cut exactly at the 1.5″ width. If you have a good blade on your rotary cutter or scissors, try cutting several fabrics at once. Just layer the fabrics one on top of the other. It’s a huge time saver.
I have one last tip. If you are using many different fabrics or you are uncertain you love your choices, only cut about 80% of your accent strips. I do not have the complete amount I need for my finished size cut. However, I know as I piece together my blocks that I may want to add in or remove a color. With the variety in this quilt you can leave some wiggle room for indecision or new directions. As I sew my blocks up next week, I will decide what colors I need more of and cut them for blocks.
Using Jelly Rolls
Some quilters have expressed interest in using jelly roll fabrics for this pattern. Jelly rolls are cut to 2.5″ width and the accent strips in this pattern are 1.5″ width. This is possible, however. You can use fabric at a 2.5″ width by making a few adjustments. First, I would suggest increasing the background strips in between the accent strips to 1.5″. Since your block will have a wider finished width, you will need to increase the length also. The length of your strips should be 8.5″. So, if you are using jelly rolls, your accent strips should be 2.5″ x 8.5″ and your background strips should be 1.5″ x 8.5″. Your block will be a 8.5″ square. When you put your blocks together with sashing in week 4, you will not need as many blocks as the regular pattern. You would need 6 blocks in each row and column for a roughly 60″ throw quilt.
Week 3 – Sewing Your Blocks
Finally, this week we start to sew, and there will be a lot of it! Our goal this week is to sew all of our blocks. Depending on what size you are making, this could be over 100 blocks which seems daunting, I know. I’ll talk through some tips for this process here.
The goal this week is to sew all of our blocks. There are 3 main points I think will help you: fabric placement, chain piecing, and seam allowance.
Fabric Placement:
What colors go where? How do I know if I am arranging fabrics correctly?
For this pattern, I really think you can relax on fabric placement. Keep in mind your accent strips are small and there are many of them. Unlike in some patterns, you will not notice the placement of color as much in this quilt. With that being said, I make sure I do not repeat fabrics in one block and I try to have some diversity of light/dark or bright/muted. Since I am using mostly bright accent fabrics this time, I am finding this a bit tricky. However, you can see below on the top colors, my blue is a bit lighter while the yellow is very bright. Next, I have paired a muted yellow with a deep, dark green.
To begin on my blocks, I simply stack a large pile of accent strips and background fabrics next to my machine. I piece roughly half of them without paying attention to fabrics. After I sew half of my accent strips with a background strip, I look over what I have. I match up colors that can go together well in a block and leave ones out that could use a different color. Next, I sew the two coordinating accent colors together so all I am missing is the last accent strip in my block. Last, I choose the final accent strip and sew it onto my block. These steps are repeated until I have enough blocks. Make sure you do not sew a background strip to every single accent strip. The third accent strip in the block will not need the background strip.
So, with that advice on arranging fabrics, it brings us to sewing so many pieces together.
Chain Piecing
Chain piecing is my answer to this frequent question: “How do you sew so many quilts?”
I am not sure who first came up with this idea, but it is pretty genius. I will give you brief instructions for chain piecing below, but if you want a more thorough tutorial there are several tutorials or videos online.
I already mentioned how I make two large piles of strips next to my machine and then piece many before planning any blocks. Well, I piece these strips one after in a “chain” without stopping to cut my thread and start again.
Start by sewing together your first accent strip and background strip how you normally would. When you get to the end of the strip, stop, but do not pull out the fabrics. Instead, place your next accent strip and background strip down right after the first strips. Begin sewing again. You will have 1 or 2 stitches in between the strips which will be a thread connecting your strips. Continue on like this for as many as 30 strips. Usually, at some point the chain of fabrics is bunching up on my table so I start a new chain.
After you have sewn all the pieces you want to, you will cut apart the strips in your chain. Make sure to press your strips. At this point, you should have a large stack of pieces that are one accent piece and one background piece sewn together. When you attach these together, you can chain piece them again. Follow the same directions as above.
Chain piecing is a great way to save time and also cuts down on all the threads dangling from your sewn pieces.
Seam Allowance
The seam allowance for all your piecing is 1/4″. This is really important and also really difficult for new quilters. Make sure you find the 1/4″ line or mark on your sewing machine. You will see in the picture above, I have blue tape on my machine. Clearly, it is worn from use, but it still is very helpful. I use the tape to guide exactly where my fabrics should be to ensure a 1/4″ seam allowance. If you make sure your seam allowance is correct, you will have no problem sewing your blocks to the correct size.
Week 4 – Assemble Your Top
This week you will be sewing all of your blocks together to complete your quilt top. In between each block, you will be placing a piece of sashing. Once you have made a row, you will add long sashing strips in between your rows.
Sashing
The first time I read a quilt pattern, I had no idea what the pattern designer was talking about. I had made a couple quilts on my own with no pattern, so I was unfamiliar with quilt language. Sashing refers to the fabric that goes in between your blocks. You will see this on many block-based patterns. This pattern uses a lot of sashing and I think it is what turns this quilt from looking scrappy to clean.
To start, your sashing will go in between your blocks in your rows. Create each row one at a time and set it aside. Once you have all your rows, sew sashing strips onto the bottom of each row except your last one. You will need to sew 2 or more strips together for this sashing strip in most instances for this. Once you have sewn on your sashing, you can sew all the rows together and finish off your quilt with your border strips.
Layout
Last week, I discussed a bit how to plan the placement of your strips in each block. If you remember, my main advice was not too stress to heavily, but try to spread out the color throughout your quilt. This advice holds true for this week as well. I do not overthink my layout too much, but I balance color representation throughout the quilt. In the picture above, I have too much of the same orange fabric clustered together. It wouldn’t ruin my quilt to keep it like this, but I will rearrange these blocks to bring in more variety here.
Snapping a quick picture of your layout may help you also. Often seeing my quilt through a picture helps me to step away and find problem areas. After looking at your photo in color, change it to black and white. The color will be represented as a variety of shades of grey with some black and white. It is easier to see how well the gradients of grey are dispersed through your quilt this way.
As I am planning my layout, I place all my blocks into rows and columns just as I plan to sew. Once I have decided on the best layout, I will pick up my blocks row by row. This way when I am ready to sew, I have all my pieces for each row ready and in order.
Finishing Your Quilt
Our quilt along will end with assembling our quilt top. Once you have a quilt top, you still need to baste it, quilt through all the layers, and add the binding. If you are new to quilting this is overwhelming, and too much information to cover in one blog post. Don’t worry, I learned all of these steps through youtube. If you have never done any of these steps, I highly suggest looking for videos online. They are very helpful in detailing how to finish a quilt.
My Finished Quilt
This 5-year-old themed quilt was perfect for my son. I love the bright, primary colors and how they pop against the gray. He picked out an airplane-themed fabric for the back. When he showed me the one he wanted, it was not at all what I had in mind. But allowing others to help me with my quilts brings more joy to them. This backing fits him better than anything I would have picked and truly makes it his own.
If you make your own, please share the finished quilt with me. I love seeing them! You can email me at sidelakestitch@gmail.com to ask questions, share pictures, or just chat sewing.
