Quilt Tutorial

This is going to be my first quilt tutorial. It is a simple quilt that goes together quickly. It took me about 2 1/2 hours for the 60 inch square quilt and that includes pictures. Here is the finished quilt, which you can see Darth Baby has already claimed. I believe this quilt top is simple enough that a beginner could sew it and I'm thinking about testing it on the neighbor as her first sewing project.

You need 53 x 40 1/2 inches of color A for the stripes and the longs sides of the border, 21 1/2 x 40 1/2 inches of the color B for the stripes and the corner squares, and 11 inches x 40 1/2 inches for colors C and D. If you are purchasing it, you will want to ask for 1 1/2 yards (or 1 5/8 if you don't trust the straightness of the cut) of color A, 5/8 yard (or 3/4) of color B, and 1/3 yard (3/8) of colors C and D.

Start by cutting two strips 5 1/2" in all four colors. I did not bother to measure the 40 1/2 inch lengths yet.

Cut 4 strips of 10 1/2 inches by 40 1/2 inches of fabric A. For these I did measure both directions. Make sure to trim off the selvages.

Cut 4 squares of 10 1/2 inches x 10 1/2 inches.

All seams will be sewn with a scant 1/4 inch seam. This means that as close to you can get to 1/4 inch, but just a line under. On my sewing machine foot, I use the inside edge of the 1/4 inch mark.

1. Sew the long strip of fabric A to the long strip of fabric B. First press with the right sides facing.

2. Then press open. Pressing is different than ironing in that you use the weight of the iron to do the work and do not move the iron back and forth too much which can stretch out your seam and distort your block.

3. Next sew fabric C to fabric B. Then repeat the pressing process.

4. Sew fabric D to fabric C. Press again.

5. Trim the selvages from one end.

6. Cut into 20 1/2" blocks.

7. Repeat steps 1 - 6 for the second set of 5 1/2 inch strips. Then arrange 20 1/2" blocks into the pattern.

8. Sew the top two blocks together and the bottom two blocks together. Press again.

9. Sew the top and bottom pieces shown together. Press again (notice a theme here?).

10. Sew the squares of fabric B to both sides of two of the 10 1/2 inch strips of fabric A, and press.

11. Sew the other two 10 1/2 strips of fabric to the center piece you finished in step 9, and press.

12. Sew the sections you sewed in step 10 to the top and bottom of the main piece.

13. Press and you have finished your quilt top.

If you make a quilt using this tutorial, I'd love to see it. I think it would make a great baby quilt or donation quilt, too.