Friday 3 October 2014

Cotton Bars

I wanted to show bigger pieces from the Cotton and Steel fabrics, so I came up with this design.


Since some of the fabrics are retro, I decided to go retro with the quilting.



Diagonal lines and orange peel.  Oldies but goodies!  The Fireside on the back REALLY shows the quilting.

To make this quilt you need nine fat quarters and 2.2 metres or about 2 1/2 yards, of background fabric.


Cut each fat quarter into three 6 1/2" squares and three strips 2 1/2" wide.  You will have a bit left for binding or your scrap bin.

From the background cut twenty-one 6 1/2" squares and nine 2 1/2" strips.  Cut the strips in half to match the length of the strips from the fat quarters.  You will have enough left for binding if you so choose.


Sew together strip sets as shown above.  You will need eight sets of the top set and 9 sets of the bottom set.  Press all seam allowances towards the feature fabric.


Cut into 6 1/2" squares.


Lay out the quilt in vertical rows working from the top down.  The first row consists of a 6 1/2" square of feature fabric followed by a strata block of background/feature/background.  Repeat till you have eleven blocks down ending with a feature square.
For the second row, start with a strata of feature/background/feature, but drop it down two inches from the first row.  This creates an offset.  Follow with a background 6 1/2" square and repeat till you have eleven blocks ending with a strata block.  Remove the last 2 1/2" strip from this block so it is even with the first row.
The third row repeats the first row, but once again drops down two inches.  Instead of a block at the bottom, use the strip removed from the last block of row two.
The fourth row drops the feature/background/feature strata down two inches, leaving room for a background square above it.
I hope by now you have figured out the pattern of dropping down by two inches for each new row and alternating between feature blocks and background blocks for each row.


When you have all nine rows across, remove strips from the bottom to make it even with the first row, and use these strips to fill in where needed at the top.  Refer to the picture at the top of the post for placement if you are confused.
Sew each row together pressing seams towards the feature fabric.  Sew the rows together, quilt, bind and enjoy.

If you want to work from scraps, rather than fat quarters, go for it.  Below is a scrappy version, downsized a little.


This was some REALLY old fabric I had hanging around, supplemented with a little hockey fabric from a friend.  It will make a great community quilt.

Linking up with Finish it up Friday!

6 comments:

  1. Wonderful quilt and tutorial---thanks for sharing it with us.

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  2. Looks great Linda and looks even better in person

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  3. Susan G
    Great simple design,Maithili enough of a twist to keep the eye moving. What is the finished size, please?

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  4. I love the Retro colours the quilting looks so good too! Fab!

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