1. hobbies and interests
2. needlework

How
H to make
m eaT
T-Shiirt Quilt
Part 1
Seamstob
beyouandme..com
Got T--Shirts???
T-shirt qu
uilts aren’t hard to make
e, especially when
you pre-s
sash the blocks. Prepara
ation is key to
t ease
of constrruction. A t-s
shirt quilt may be hung on
o a wall,
used as a bedspread
d or loved to
o death in a college
c
dorm – and
a years latter. Preparattion is the ke
ey in
making these. Take your
y
time, enjoy the process.
Once you
u’ve finished
d the first one, you may find
f
they
make wo
onderful gifts
s for others. They’re fairly simple
and quick, and fun to
o give!
w you how I made mine. You
This tutorial will show
t
instruc
ctions to ma
ake your own
n.
can use these
Please note:
n
This tuttorial is gearred towards
beginnerrs!
Disclaimer & Copyrig
C
ht
There are many tutorials out there on t-shirt
quilts. Th
his is how I make
m
mine. It works for me.
m
Please read
r
through these instructions before
beginnin
ng.
This tutoria
al is the propertty of seamstob
beyouandme.co
om, all
rights reserved. Do not co
opy or redistrib
bute without prior
written con
nsent.
©22013 Seamstobeeyouandme.com
m
Basic
B
S
Suppliess
You will
w need few ssupplies other tthan your sewiing machine, irron
and irroning board too make a T-shiirt quilt.








Lightweighht Fusible Interrfacing (I use P
Pellon 906F,
which can be obtained at any fabric storre)
Posterboard
rd
Pencil
LongRulerr & Yardstick
Cutting boaard and rotary cutter
Scrap fabriic approx. 16” x 16”
Fabric for ssashing, bordeer and binding
Teflon presssing sheet (opptional, but verry helpful)
How
w big willl my quilt be?
This is to
otally dependen
nt on how big your
y
T-shirt blo
ocks are. A qui
uilt made
from baby
b
shirts willl be much smaaller than one made
m
from aduult shirts.
Once we
w determine how
h big your bllocks will be, you
y can do the math to
figure out how
h many shirts can fit into your
y
quilt. You
u also have to ddecide if
it will be a waall hanging, a lap
l quilt or a beed quilt.
Here’s the quilt I’m using for this
t sample. I’ll be demonstraating the
calcu
ulations from thhis quilt.
1.
1 Deterrmining Block S
Size
Go
o through your t-shirts and finnd the one thatt has the widestt logo,
and
d the one that hhas the longestt logo. You’ll uuse the largest length
or width to size aall the other shiirts, dependingg on which is bbigger.
For example, thee top picture to the left shows my widest loggo. It is
10” wide. Alwayys round up to tthe next inch w
when determiniing
blo
ock size.
Th
he bottom pictuure shows my llongest logo, w
which is 13” lonng.
Sin
nce 13” is the llarger number, this is the onee we’ll use. Wee will
add
d one-inch to ffactor in seam aallowance andd a buffer so thee letters
don
n’t get sewn innto the seam.
13 + 1 = 14. I willl cut my blockks 14” square.
Do
on’t cut the shirrts yet! We’ll ddo that later. First, we have too
preepare the shirtss for cutting.
©22013 Seamstobeeyouandme.com
m
2
Prepa
aring the
e shirts
Wash all the t-shirts.
t
No, I don’t
d
care if th
hey’re already clean.
c
Wash thhem
again! This tim
me, don’t add
d any fabric so
oftener in the washer,
w
or usee
fabric softener sheets. Fabrric softener is notorious
n
for preventing
p
totall
adhesion of th
he interfacing.
By the way, don’t
d
try to get those stains ou
ut of the t-shirtts either. They
add character, and remind you
y (or the recip
pient) of the tim
me they dropp ed
the paint can and ruined the carpet – or spiilled their marttini in front of
that really cutte guy!
Pre
ess the Shirts
No
otice I said preess, not iron. Thhere is a differrence!! When yyou iron, you
move the iron back aand forth acrosss the fabric. W
When you presss, you lift the
iron, move
m
it to anotther area, and llay the iron on the fabric. Preess the shirts.
Y
You want to avooid stretching tthe knit fabric out of shape.
Here’s how
h I do it: Plaace the shirt wiith the logo sidde down. If there is printing
on the front
f
and back,, lay a scrap pieece of cotton ffabric on the toop of the logo
that will be directlyy under the iroon before presssing. Press withh med-low to
medium
m heat, and try tto avoid pressinng directly on any wording. Y
You can also
turn thee shirts inside-oout if desired. B
Be aware theree is a chance off melting any
letterin
ng onto the righht side of the sshirt if your do this. Be sure tto put a scrap
of fabric beetween any letttering if you goo this route!!
NOTE
E: Some logos are vinyl and w
will melt if preessed with an irron. You can
usually spott a vinyl-type loogo by the sligghtly raised, shhiny lettering.
Cut th
he shirts
s apart
Cut the shirt up
p the side seam
ms. Cut right allong the seam line
l around
the sleeve, across the top seaam and around the collar.
Do NOT throw
w away the porrtion of the shirrt you won’t bee using. They
may come in handy
h
later.
One good rulee when quilting
g: Never, EVER
R throw anythin
ng away until
you’ve compleeted your quilt. You’d be ama
azed at how ma
any times you
wish you had saved
s
that one little scrap of fabric
f
for those
“accidents” we
w all have (i.e. cutting a strip
p too short, usin
ng it for your
label, etc.).
Now
w, go have a ddrink. You’rre done withh the prep woork.
©22013 Seamstobeeyouandme.com
3
Let’s Calculat
C
te
Remeember in schoo
ol when you said, “I’ll never use
u this math!”” HA! You’re ggonna use it noow, so let’s hoppe you were
payin
ng attention at least
l
a little bitt in class. And hopefully you’’re not drunk aafter that martinni.
First off, how many
y shirts do you have? You’ll want
w at least 122 for a wall hannging,
more if you want a lap throw or beedspread. I ten
nd to make lap tthrows – they get used
more than bedspreaads, or wall han
ngings.
Here’’s a breakdown
n of standard siizes:
Wallh
hanging – usuaally less than 36”
Crib quilt – 36 x 54”
Lap quilt
q
– varies* – see below
Tw
win-sized quilt – 65 x 88”
Full-ssized quilt – 80
0 x 88”
Queen-sized quiltt – 86 x 93”
King--sized quilt – 104
1 x 93”
* Lap
p quilts can be any size you want,
w
typically between 52 x 552” to 68 x 78””. If you’re
makin
ng it for a child
d, make it smalller. For an adu
ult, make it largger.
Unlesss you have a penchant
p
for seelf-destruction, and have a lonngarmer who ccan quilt the top once it’s donne, I strongly
suggeest keeping thee quilt twin sizeed or smaller. Dragging
D
a hugge quilt under a domestic sew
wing machine iis murder.
We’v
ve calculated th
he size of block
ks you will usee when me meaasured them eaarlier. I’ll use m
my measuremennt of 14” as
an ex
xample.
Our sashing
s
(the fab
bric that will go
o around each square) will bee 1” wide. Ourr
wide..
If I usse 3 shirts acro
oss and
Widthwiise:
3 shirts x 14” = 60”
Sashing – 1” x 4 = 4”
Border – 3” x 2 = 6”
Total wiidth of quilt
bordder will be 3”
442
4
6
552”
Total wid
dth of quilt
Lengthw
wise:
5 shirts x 14” =
70
Sashing
g – 1” x 6 = 6””
6
Borderr - 3” x 2 = 6””
6 be 52x882”. You can ffigure any size quilt with thesse
My qu
uilt will
calculaations. Just rem
member to alwaays add one moore sashing thaan the number
of bloccks you’re usinng.
©2013 Seamstobeyyouandme.com
4
Ironing the Inte
erfacing
g on the T-Shirtts
First, you’ll need
n
to calcula
ate the amountt of interfacin
ng you’ll need::
Take the size block
b
you’ll bee using (in my case,
c
14 x 14”)), and add 1-innch (15 x 15”). Multiply this bby the number of shirts
you have (15 for
f me).
Interfacing sizze: 15”
Divide this amount
a
by 36 ((one yard): 2255 ÷ 36 = 6.25
x15
# of blocks:
(Round up to
o the nearest 1//8th yd if necesssary)
Amount:
225”
I’m going to
o need 6.25 yarrds of interfacinng.
D
Decimal to Y
Yardage Cha
art
Here’s a chart to show you yardage
y
conversions.
Cut this chart out and keep itt somewhere.
Trust me, you’’re going to usee it a lot.
Fraction
.125
.25
.375
.5
.625
.75
.8755
1
Yarda
age
1/8
1/4
3/8
1/2
5/8
3/4
7/8
1
Yard
C
Cut Yourr Interfa
acing
Unlless you’re an extreme scrap saver, don’t boother cutting thhe
inteerfacing into bllocks. Interfaciing normally ccomes in 22” w
widths, so I
prefer to just cut m
mine directly ffrom the bolt thhe width of thee shirt. A
littlle waste, but beetter too much interfacing thaan not enough!! If you
wan
nt to cut it, cut the interfacingg the size of yoour block + 1”.. It’s
bettter to cut the innterfacing a bitt larger than yoour block to alllow for
slig
ght adjustmentss when cutting your blocks ouut.
Press Interfacing to Shirts
Once again
n, I said press, not iron. The iron is not a sccrub brush. If yyou look like
you’re scrubb
bing a pan whille you’re doing
g this, you’re going
g
to end upp with a shirt
that is all balled up and useless. If possible, use a Teflon
n pressing sheeet. These sheetss
help keep
p vinyl logos from
fr
melting on
nto the ironing
g board (ask mee how I know!))
Lay the shirt, face down, on
n the ironing bo
oard. DO NOT STRETCH TH
HE SHIRT. If the
loogo looks skew
wed, gently adju
ust the shirt to straighten. Exaamine the backk for stray threaads
and rem
move them. Thhreads, especiaally on
light coloored shirts willl show
thorough once the interf
rfacing is
irroned on.
Place the rough, dottty side of the
interrfacing down oonto the shirt. A
Align it so the
interfaciing is just toucching the bottom
m of the shirt
collar. Toucch down with a warm iron in several spots
just to tempoorarily adhere iit to the shirt.
©2013 Seamstobeyyouandme.com
5
The Secret to
t Good
d Adhession
Iron-on interfaacing is as finiccky as a cat at his
h litterbox. Fusing isn’t diff
fficult,
bbut done incorrrectly will resu
ult in the interffacing pulling away
a
from the shirt
th
he first time yo
our wash it. Noot a
good
g
thing.
Get a big pot filled with watter.
Take your scrrap fabric, dip it and wring
it out so it is damp, not soaaking wet. Lay over the
interfacing. With a medium
m-hot iron, preess down firmlyy in the center
of the scrap
p for 10 secondds. Lift your iroon, slightly oveerlap where youu just
pressed, and
d repeat until thhe entire sectioon of interfacinng is fused. Lett the fabric
cool for a mo
oment, and thenn check the bond. If you can see the “dots”,, or it lifts
up, repeat
r
the presss-lift-repeat proocess until all aareas are fusedd. Typically, iff the scrap
fabric is dry, th
he interfacing has
h fused. Rem
member – do no
ot slide the ironn. Lift and presss. Repeat for aall shirts.
Creatin
ng a tem
mplate
Theree are templates out on the marrket that have m
markings to
enablee your to centeer and cut your shirts quickly,, but they’re
expensivve. Personally, I feel this monney is better speent on more
importantt necessities, suuch as putting a kid through college – or
buying m
more fabric! I m
make my own ttemplate. First,, cut a piece
of postterboard exactlly 4” larger thaan your block. M
My block is
14”, so I cut mine 18” ssquare. Draw lines with a fine marker 2”
in onn the top and boottom. Then filll in the entire square with
one” liines. These willl help with cenntering the loggo when you
cut it out.
With a sharp blade,
b
carefully
y cut along the 2” mark
and remove the center section
n.
Mark the size in the corner. These
T
can be used
u
many
times, and I’vee got one for ab
bout every sizee you can
imagine!
©2013 Seamstobeyyouandme.com
6
Cuttting Ou
ut the Sh
hirts
Take a shirt and
a lay it on yo
our cutting tablle. Place the
template you just made on the
t shirt, with the
t top inside edge
e
just below thee collar stitchin
ng on the shirt.. Take your lon
ng
ruler and lay it across the bo
ottom line of printing. Match
h it
to the lines yo
ou’ve got draw
wn on your tem
mplate. This willl
ensure the log
go is straight across.
Sqquare up the loggo by measurinng in
on all sides. Findd an area on thee right and left sides,
scooti
ting the templaate and leaving the same amouunt of
distaance on the lefft and right. Aggain, use the linnes you’ve draawn to
maake sure the shhirt is straight. T
The top and boottom measurem
ments
are usually not thee same because the logos areen’t the same siize on
all the sshirts.
Mark each co
orner of the blo
ock with a penccil. Carefully reemove the
template. Do not move the shirt.
s
Line yourr long ruler alo
ong the
pencil marks and cut out wiith a rotary cuttter. Repeat for all blocks.
Caution! This is what happens
h
when
n
you don’t fuse the interfacing
completeely. See how th
he seam has
started to
o “wave”? This will cause
the shirt to stretch and
d bunch when
you try to
o apply the sa
ashings. Take
your timee and ensure good
g
©2013 Seamstobeyyouandme.com
7
Uh-oh, my shirt is too small!
It’s bound to happen with at least one of your
shirts. After you cut off the sleeves, you find the
corners don’t fit the template. It happens to me at
least once a quilt. It’s easily fixed. (Of course,
mine would be a beer t-shirt!)
PS: You can’t shortcut this by leaving the sleeves
on before cutting the blocks. Because they’re
sewn in an arc, the sleeve fabric will bunch when
you try to iron on the interfacing.
Here’s how to do it:
1. Lay the ruler across the top of the shirt just
above the collar line
2. Cut off the area above the collar
3. Fold the shirt in half
4. Align your ruler at the edge of the sleeve
hole
5. Cut off the excess fabric
6. Open the shirt
7. Take the shirt back (which you did save,
didn’t you?) and interface a 7” section. Cut
it out.
8. Lay the interfaced section along the cut
section of your shirt block
9. Sew it to the shirt
10. Fold the new section out to be sure you
added enough fabric. If not, rip it out and try
again.
11. Trim off the excess fabric
12. Press the seam towards the sleeve. Repeat
on other sleeve.
©2013 Seamstobeyouandme.com
8
How
H To
T Make
M eAT
T-Shhirt Quiltt
Part 2
www.seams
stobeyouandm
me.com
Tips on Fabric
c Choic
ces
This quilt willl have two colors of fabric to
o buy – one collor for
the sashing an
nd binding, one color for the border. The co
olors
you choose arre totally up to
o you. Here are a few ideas:




If it’’s a graduation quilt, use scho
ool colors
For a baby quilt usse the colors off the nursery, or
o
brigh
ht colors for a floor quilt thatt the baby can play
p
on
Use the décor colo
ors for a quilt th
hat will be used
d in a
certaain room
Takee two colors fro
om the t-shirt logos
l
Here’s a coup
ple of tips:



Try not to
t match the saashing fabric to
o the shirts
themselv
ves. This will reesult in blocks that will look as
though th
here is no sashiing around them at all.
Solid or mottled
m
tone-o
on-tone prints work
w
best. Lou
ud
prints or colors can be fun,
f but be awaare that they caan
also be distracting.
d
You
ur eye will insttinctively go to
o
those insstead of the t-sh
hirt blocks you
u’ve worked so hard
to cut ou
ut. These would
d be great for th
he back of the quilt
though!
h
to
Don’t freet too much over these choicees. It’s pretty hard
mess thiss up. Just pick two colors you
u like! Think sp
pring
or fall co
olors. The colorrs of your gard
den. There are so
s
many cho
oices. Have fun
n with it! You can see from my
m
samples above that I’vee used all different kinds of solids
and patteerns.
How
H
mu
uch fabrric do I b
buy?
I’m goin
ng to make this easy for you. N
No math invollved.
Buy 1.5 yards
y
of fabricc for the sashinng and binding,, and 1 yard forr the border forr a quilt
twin-sizeed or smaller. Yes,
Y you may hhave some leftt over, but theree’s no harm in that.
You’ll haave a little extrra in case of thhat “oops” cut, and you can addd it to your sttash! Or
use it to make
m
a pillow to match yourr quilt. Besidess, you saved lotts of money ussing t-shirts
instead of
o buying fabricc for your bloccks.
Wash your fabrics
You may be tempted to skip
p this step, but consider this first:
fi
The t-shirtts you’re usingg have
probably
y been washed hundreds of times. They’re not
n going to shhrink. Howeverr, new
fabric WIILL shrink the first time it’s washed
w
becausse it’s 100% cootton – some coottons
shrink 10%
% or more! You
u don’t want to
o pull your new
w quilt out of thhe dryer and finnd the
sashings and borders have pulled
p
up, whille the t-shirt bllocks have stayyed the same siize. In
quilting, it’s
i either pre-sshrink everythiing or nothing at all.
ns. Many fabriccs (especially reeds and dark colors)
Another consiideration is collorfast concern
will bleed on
n their first wasshing. Better to
o find this out before
b
you sew
w them on yourr quilt,
than when yo
our white block
ks turn pink! To
T check that yo
our fabrics are colorfast and won’t
run, try this
t old quilterss trick: Rub a damp,
d
light-collored towel oveer your fabric. If the
color from yo
our fabric rubs off on it, trust me, it’s going to run in your quilt!
Prrepare yyour ma
achine
Wind at leastt 2-3 bobbins oof neutral threaad to use. There is nothing
worse thann having to stopp and rewind a bobbin in the middle of a
prroject! I normaally use a mediium grey for t-shirt quilts, as it is perfect
for light or ddark t-shirts.
The se
eam allo
owance
Quuilts are done using
u
a ¼” seam
m allowance. Iff you don’t hav
ve a ¼”
maachine foot, you
u can easily co
onfigure your needle
n
to the co
orrect gauge
by using an index
x card. I’ve gott instructions fo
or this on our blog.
b
Just go
herre:
httpp://www.seamsto
obeyouandme.co
om/2012/02/09/h
how-to-get-a-perrfect-14-seam/
Preecision-seaming is all-important when quilting. It
I can mean the difference
d
betw
ween a square quilt
q
or a skewed
d quilt. Be diligen
nt in sewing you
ur seams
corrrectly!!
©22013 Seamstobeeyouandme.com
m
2
C
Cutting the Sasshing Strips
We’ree going to pre-ssash the blockss. This makes iit much easier to match
up all your blocks w
when you sew them together.. We’ll be sewiing them
in an L shape, like thee block on the left. I’m using a grey mottledd fabric I
had in m
my stash.
All sashing
s
strips will be cut 1½
½ wide for thiss quilt. Only thhe length
willl differ. This w
will give you a 1” wide strip in-between eaach block
after it’s
i sewn. Of ccourse, you cann use whatever width you chooose. But
tthis is the meassurement we’lll be using for thhis quilt.
The H
Horizon
ntal Strip
ps
It’ll be best too cut the stripss as you need thhem. First, we’re going to
do the strips along the top aand bottom. I’ve colored them
m in yellow
in the picturee.
Look at the ppicture of the qquilt you took. Count the num
mber of
squares you have, and add the number off blocks on the bottom
row of yourr layout:
Number off blocks:
15
Bottom row
w:
3
Total # of sashing strips:: 18
Fabric is nnormally 42-45” wide. Minee is 44”. Let’s ffigure out
how manny strips of 1 ½ “ fabric I’ll neeed:
44 ÷ 14 = 3.1 So I cann get 3 14” sashhing strips from
m each 43”
strip of ffabric. How maany 44” strips do I need?
18 ÷ 3 = 6 I’ll need 6 strips of 44” ffabric.
So, I wiill cut 6 strips of fabric, and ccut 3-14” sashiings from
each strrip.
How many sttrips do YOU nneed?
Line up
u your strips on
o the cutting board.
b
Use yourr rotary
cutter and ruler to sliice the numberr of strips you’ll need.
©22013 Seamstobeeyouandme.com
m
3
Sew
wing the
e strips: The ho
orizonta
al rows
Sew one strip
s
along the TOP of each
t-shirt blo
ock.
Sew an addditional strip aalong the BOTTOM of each tt-shirt block
that you arre using on thee bottom row oonly.
Are you gettiing a “thread nest” or
jamming wh
hen you begin sewing?
Try holding the top and bobbin
threads with
h your finger aas you start
to sew. This keeps the top thread
bin case!
from pullingg into the bobb
Now, laay your blockss back out on th
he floor in theirr correct
order. Step
S back and take
t
a look. Heey! It’s starting
g to look
likee a quilt!
If you noticee your sashing
g
strips are strretching as yo
ou
sew, try puttting the strip on
o
the bottom and
a the shirt on
o
top when you sew.
©22013 Seamstobeeyouandme.com
4
The
T verttical striips
Your vertical strips sho
ould be the lenngth of your bloock (14” for m
me) plus 1” (forr the
u added, minus the seam allow
wance). This w
would be 15” foor me. What
horizonttal sashing you
are yourrs? We’re going
g to cut enoughh for all the bloocks EXCEPT
T the bottom row
w because
we addeed a horizontal top and bottom
m strip for thosse. We’ll do thoose later.
Since I’v
ve got 4 rows above
a
the bottoom row, I’m gooing to cut a tootal of 16 sashiing strips,
each 15”” long. Sew on
ne to the LEFT side of each b lock.
Your block should look llike this, with a
sashing sttrip on the top and on the left
ft.
Now add a strip to the
t RIGHT sidde of all the
block
ks on the far rig
ght-hand side oof your quilt.
The vertical
v
strips
s
– the botttom row
w
S
Since the block
ks on the bottom
m row have a sashing
s
strip on
n both the top aand
bbottom, the sasshing will be a different size. This sashing should
s
be the ssize
of your bllock (14” for me)
m plus 2” (forr the horizontaal sashings youu’ve
done). That’s 16” for me. What size
s do you neeed?
Add thesee sashing the saame way as abo
ove – one on th
he LEFT of evvery
block, an
nd one extra on
n the right to th
he far right bloock.
You’ree done with thee sashings!
Lay theem all out and it REALLY
looks liike a quilt now
w!!
Let’s cellebrate - we’’re in
the hhome stretchh!
5
©20113 Seamstobeyou
uandme.com
Sew
w the blocks to
ogether by row
We’re going to sew thhe blocks togeether row-by-roow, and then seew the rows
togetheer. Watch to bee sure you’re ssewing the corrrect sides of the blocks.
Make it easy on youurself – collect only one row aat a time to enssure you’re
sewin
ng the right bloocks together!
Take on
ne horizontal ro
ow of blocks too the sewing tab
able. Lay them
side-by--side in the finiished configuraation. Sew twoo blocks
togetherr, matching thee edges, and maake you’re sew
wing the
correct side.
s
Press the seam to set thee stitches (trustt me, this
makes a difference wh
hen pressing thee seam open), then open and
press thee seam towards the sashing. A
Add the next bblock, and
press in the same mann
ner, towards thhe sashing.
u’ve finished th
his row, collectt another row oof blocks and
Once you
continue until
u
all horizo
ontal rows are ssewn.
Sew th
he horizo
ontal ro
ows toge
ether
Sewing the row
ws together calls for attention
n to matching seams.
s
Becausse we’ve pressashed the bloccks, matching the seams will guarantee
g
the blocks
b
are straiight and true
overall. Takee the time to match
m
the seamss, and your quiilt will be perfeectly square!
M
Matching
g seams
On thee next page I will
w show you h
how to
match the two seam
ms you will enccounter
when sewing the row
ws together. P
Pin
each seam
s
as you match
m
it.
Remeember: Never,, ever, ever sew
w over
a pin
n! If your need
dle hits the pin
n, it will
not only
o
break you
ur needle, butt can
causse hundreds off dollars in daamage
to your
y
beloved sewing machin
ne. Pull
pins out as you come to them!
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6
There are two seams you willl encounter on
n each row that must be matchhed:
Seams thaat “butt” togeth
her:
You’ll nottice in this pictture that the seaams are pressed in opposite
directions. These seams will butt togeth
her nicely. Placce a pin on eacch side of
the butt to
o ensure the seaam will stay bu
utted and not move
m
when youu sew it.
Seams that lie on top
p of each
other:
These seams are both
h
pressed in the same
directiion. Lay the seams
directlly on top of eacch other.
Pin rig
ght along that
seamliine.
How I sew: I always
use a walkinng foot
when sewinng the rows
together. A walking
foot keeps tthe two
layers from
m shifting.
Although I don’t do it
anymore, piinning along
the seamlinne is a great
idea for begginners!
Sew the
t row
ws togeth
her
Y
Yikes! Look at that lint.
T
Time to clean it!
Put the fiirst row on top of the second row, right sidees together. Maatch all seams aand sew this
row. Presss the seam flatt, then open annd press the seaam towards thee sashing. Put thhe third row
on to
op of the second
d row, matchinng the seams, ssewing, and preessing as instruucted above.
Repeat for all remaaining rows.
Two rows sewn
s
Three rows seewn
Four rows sewn
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7
Done!
Adding
A
the
t bord
der
This is th
he final step in creating your quilt! We will add a border aaround all 4 siddes of the
quilt. Th
he strips for thee border will bee cut 3½” from
m your border fa
fabric for this qquilt. Once
again, yo
ou can make it any size you w
want, but this iss the size used for this quilt.
How to measure forr the bo
orders
You will meeasure your quiilt both verticaally and horizon
ntally the samee way. We’ll puut the
vertical bord
ders on first. Laay your quilt ou
ut flat, carefullly smoothing (w
without stretchhing!)
and
a making surre it lays perfeectly flat and sqquare.
Take your measuring
m
tape and measure the
t length of yo
our quilt, from
m top to bottom,, in at
least two places.. Hopefully thee measurementts are pretty darrn close to the same in both aareas!
What happens if they’re not?? Well, you’ve learn
l
the lesso
on on why we’rre so adamant aabout
¼ seams. In thee end, it’s impo
ortant. Even a little thing likee failing to presss the
ussing precise ¼”
seams flat before you press them open caan cause this. To
T get your quiilt “back to squuare”,
ddivide the diffeerence and thiss is the measureement you’ll use. For examplle, if one side iis 74”
and the otherr side is 75”, yo
ou’ll use 74.5”. You’ll have to
t work in eachh side so they m
match
that 74.5” border ppiece.
Minne was 74 vertiically.
Miter your b
border p
pieces
Chances aree your borders are going to bbe longer than tthe standard sizze of fabric.
This meanss you’ll have too piece your boorders to get thhe correct lengtth. Since mine
is 74” long I will require ttwo lengths off 3.5” fabric x tthe width of thee fabric
(normally about
a
44”) for eeach side, so I’’ll cut four stripps 3.5” wide bby 44” long.
We’re goin
ng to miter thesse pieces togethher for a strongger seamline.
1. Take onee length and plaace it horizonttally face-up onn the cutting m
mat. Take
another length and place iit vertically, faace-down over that fabric. Yoou might want
to cut off th
hose white “sellvage” ends so they don’t endd up showing inn your border.
If you don’t cut them off, make sure youur ends overlapp enough (as shhown in the
picture) so the selvages arren’t sewn intoo the seamline.
2. Draw a liine from the boottom left to thhe top right of tthe fabric. Thee line should
create an in
nvisible “A” onn the fabric.
3. Pin along
g the line and ttake to the sew
wing machine.
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m
8
4. Sew along the line
m ¼” from the lline
5. Trim
6. Pres s the line
7. Openn and press flaat
Now triim this piece too the length you need. I trimm
med mine to
the lenggth I measured - 74”. From m
my picture, youu can see
why usiing a non-direcctional fabric ccan be helpful. My seam
didn’t liine up well witth the pattern iin the fabric. Siince this
quilt is for me, I’m noot worried abouut it. But were I making it
for som
meone else, I woould have corrected this!
Sew
S
the
e borde
er on the
e quilt to
op
Place the bo
order, face dow
wn, on your quiilt. Pin it well, matching
edges and co
orners. Sew thiis border on. P
Press it flat, theen open
and press th
he seam toward
ds the border. R
Repeat for the oother side.
Sew the bo
order with you
ur walking foott, again using a ¼” seam.
The waalking foot willl help keep youur top and botttom layers
from
m shifting.
Addin
ng the h
horizonta
al borde
er
You’re going to do thee exact same thhing as the verrtical border:




Measure the width of the quuilt in two placces (including tthe
border) to deetermine the lenngth of the verttical border.
Cut your stripps, miter them and cut them tto the correct llength.
Lay them, facce down, on thhe quilt top, pinn, and sew.
Press seam ttowards the boorder.
YOU
U’RE DON
NE!! Pat yyourself onn the back!!!
Now
N you’ll neeed to put a battiing, backing annd binding on iit. There
are
a many great tutorials out thhere that will shhow you how tto do this.:
http://www.allpeo
h
oplequilt.com/teechniques/finishiing/quilt-layers__1.html
http://www.quiltu
h
university.com/bbatting_a_quilt.hhtm
We
W hope you’vve enjoyed this tutorial and would love to heear your
opinions
o
and seee your picturess if you do makke one!
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