Simple Four Patch Block Quilt using 2 1/2 inch STRIPS! 9th in our series to use leftover strips!

hi Quilters welcome to the ninth video in our series to use leftover 2 and 1/2 in strips or jelly rolls for this pattern you will need 36 strips that are 2 1/2 in x 21 in of a dark and 36 strips that are 2 1/2 in by 21 in of a light I've measured out some painters tape to 21 1/2 in so I can easily see if my leftover strips are long enough if I have a full strip of fabric I can simply cut it on the fold to get two strips that are 2 and 1/2 in by 21 1/2 in and yes my rotary cutter is open I better close that so I don't cut myself or leave it in a place where it can cut somebody else of course you can just use the measurements on the mat instead of the tape I just find it easier to use the center of the mat instead of the very edge now that I found all the dark strips I'm going to work on the light strips for both the light and dark I'm trying to find a variety of patterns shades of color and size of prints you need variety to give the eye more to see or what I like to call Sparkle in a quilt we did a survey in our Facebook group page on which color combo to do for this video the choices were green and cream or black and hot pink the winner was obviously green and cream next month's video will feature the black and hot pink we will put out more surveys so check the group to see what kind of questions we have for you the name of this pattern is quadrangle the link to the pattern is in the description below I have some great tips and tricks for you in this video so keep on watching two other Fabrics are needed for this quilt top one is an accent Cornerstone Fabric and the other is a background fabric I've chosen a dark green for my accent cornerstones and I will need a fat eighth of this fabric I'm using two scrap pieces that equal a fat e of fabric you need to cut five strips that are 1 1/2 in by 21 1/2 in from these strips you will need to subcut 36 squares 1 1/2 in x 1 and 1/2 in for the block centers and 25 squares 1 and 1/2 in by 1 and 1/2 in for the cornerstones for a total of 61 squares I've chosen to use the same fabric for all of my cornerstones but these could also be cut from scraps for my cornerstones I have chosen the same color as I used for the dark fabric although if you wanted to you could use a totally different fabric for a little Papa color I think this pattern is perfect for a two-color quilt it could work with any combination I could also see it in red and cream blue and white purple and white lime green with a black background so many different possibilities just pick two colors with a lot of contrast the other fabric you need is a background fabric you will need 2 and 1/2 yards and it will be used for all of the setting sashing pieces and for the outer border I do recommend just using one fabric for the background to give the quilt some continuity from the background fabric you need to cut three strips that are 9 1/2 in by the width of fabric if you're enjoying our series of quilts using 2 and 1/2 in strips that are left over from other projects make sure to hit the like button and subscribe to see more videos in the future you also need to cut five strips that are 4 1/2 in by the width of fabric these five strips will be used for the block sashing you will also need to cut seven strips that are 4 and 1/2 in by the width of fabric these will be used used for the Border I usually wait to cut the Border pieces until I'm ready to sew them on it allows me to make the Border smaller or larger if needed and gives me a chance to make quilt larger or smaller with pieced blocks if I want to change a size from the three strips that are 9 1/2 in by the width of fabric subcut a total of 60 rectangles that are 1 and 1/2 in by 9 1/2 in these will be used for the sashing between the blocks from the remainder of this fabric you need to cut as many one and A2 in by 4 and 1/2 in rectangles as you can from The Leftovers these will be used when you're piecing the blocks make sure to double check that you have cut 60 rectangles 1 and 1/2 by 9 and 1/2 I'm always double-checking my work because I don't want to make any mistakes the other bonus part about cutting the Border strips later is that if I've made a mistake in cutting these pieces I can always cut from that to get the pieces I need from the strips that are four and 1/2 in by the width of fabric you need to subcut rectangles that measure 1 1/2 by 4 1/2 in when you have an odd number of strips to cut through instead of having three strips in one pile and two strips in the other pile split the last strip on the fold and put half in each pile that way the ruler will lay flat and not be slightly tilted when you're cutting and the cuts will be more accurate for the quilt top you will need a total of 144 rectangles that are 1 and 1/2 in by 4 1/2 in I like to use my large Square ruler to make these Cuts because then I can start at the 12-in marking and then cut backwards so I've got the 12in marking 10 and 1/2 9 in 7 and 1/2 6 6 in 4 and 1/2 3 in and 1 and 1/2 that way I don't have to mve the fabric or the ruler as much as usual once the cutting is done it's time to move to the sewing machine to start piecing we're going to be using quarter inch seam allowances throughout the quilt top most of my strips are pretty flat but I'm going to iron the ones that need a little help otherwise I'm just going to start sewing my strips together each dark strip gets sewn to a light strip you have 36 dark strips and 36 light strips and we'll end up with 36 strip sets that are light and dark this is the kind of mindless sewing that I love to do where I just pick up two different strips and sew them together I didn't really pay too much attention to which two Fabrics I was sewing together as long as one was light and one was Green once you've sewn all 36 strip sets it's time to cut them apart and then take them to the ironing board the blade saver thread cutter makes quick work of cutting those threads between the strips this little tool has become one of my favorites and it has saved me a lot of time now it's time to press I will usually put two strips sets on the ironing board at the same time kind of an easy way for me to set things up I press them flat first and then I open them up and press towards the dark fabric pressing them flat first will set the seam and of course straighten the fabric if your fabric needs some help to lay flat you can always use a little bit of best press spray once your you're done pressing it's time to head to the cutting mat to sub cut the strip sets I'm going to guide you through three different ways that you could cut these strip sets use the method that works the best for the way that you sew the first method I'm going to show you is to cut one strip set at a time you're going to cut this in half so you have two pieces of the same strip set you're going to lay one strip set on top of the other so that light to dark on both sides so the seam will kind of Nest there in the middle and then you're going to cut sections that are 2 and 1/2 in wide from this piece I like to use my Square ruler so I can cut at the 10in Mark the 7 and 1/2 in Mark the 5in mark and the 2 and 1/2 in Mark and then my four patch units are all ready to sew seam is nested together and all I have to do is take them to the sewing machine the only downside is I just have to do one at a time so it takes a little longer the way I really like to cut though is to line up several strip sets at once and cut through all of the layers at once two things you need to remember if you're going to use this method is to line those up as squarely as you can to get accurate cuts and then make sure your rotary cutter is very sharp to go through all the layers and lastly double check every time you cut to make sure that you have the right measurement because if you make one mistake you're going to make a lot of mistakes for this one you're sub cutting eight sections that are 2 and 1/2 in wide you will match these up later when you get to the sewing machine you'll match up your four patches to each other the bonus of doing this method is the cutting can go so much faster than doing one strip set at a time the final method for cutting strip sets is just to do one strip set at a time and and for beginners this might be the best method because if you make a mistake you're only going to ruin one strip set and if you are uncomfortable with cutting through many layers this makes it much easier to get your strip sets cut each method has its benefits and you need to use the one that is best for you once all your strip sets are cut apart it's time to head to the sewing machine to make four patch units from each strip set you cut eight 2 and 1/2 in wide segments you will join two segments to make a four patch unit from each strip set you should have four matching four patches if you use the first method for cutting all you have to do is pick up your units and sew them together if you use the last method to cut your sections out put four in one pile and four in another pile match them up so that the seams will Nest together and then send them through the machine I usually put the pile on the left right side up and the pile on the right right side down then I just have to Nest them together at the center and send them through the machine if you use the cutting method me where you cut multiple layers at a time you just have to match your pieces before you send them through the machine I'm pretty careful about keeping my stacks together so it's usually not hard I just have one side that I have the light up and the other side where I have the dark up that way they're easier to grab and I just go down through the stack I think it's really fun to watch the pile behind the sewing machine getting higher and higher looks pretty cool once you've sewn all the four patch units it's time to get the blade saer thread cutter out and make quick work of cutting them all apart if your blade saer seems to be getting dull don't forget to turn the petal to find a new spot to do the cutting now it's time to head to the ironing board to press all the four patch units I pressed all of my four patch units to one side but you could also press the seam open from the back so back to when we cut and sew these together if you have all four of your pieces together it's easy to match up the four matching four patches but if you did the part where you sew Stacks at a time then it'll be a little trickier to get all of these four patch units matched up to each other I just spread them out on my ironing board and then when I had a stack of four I moved it to a different area so it wouldn't distract me from finding my other matches once you're all done with the pressing it's time to head back to the sewing machine to make the blocks you will need all of the background 1 and 1/2 in by 4 and 1/2 in rectangles and 36 of the 1 and 1/2 in by 1 and 1/2 in Cornerstone squares lay out four matching four patches four sashing strips the 1 and 1/2 by 4 and 1/2 in rectangles and one Square 1 and 1/2 by 1 and 1/2 in the center make sure that the dark squares of four patch units form an X piece these units together to make three rows when I was putting these blocks together together I usually worked on one or two at a time just to keep things together and so I didn't have pieces spread out and have to match them later on I send the parts through the machine and then I would cut them off on the backs side lay them out where they're supposed to be and then I would attach the next piece that goes on to them until I had the whole row sewn across once I have the whole row sewn all the way across I lay out the next block and then I start sewing on that one when I'm sewing the three rows through the machine I keep them together so I won't break the thread in between so that the three rows are still attached to each other when I take them off the machine once you get two or three blocks sewn then it's time to head to the ironing board to press for all three rows of each block press towards the sashing fabric you can press from the front side or the back side whichever you prefer once the rows are pressed head back to the sewing machine to put the rows together into a block the seams in the center with the Cornerstone will Nest together and that will help you piece your block as you're sewing the rows together make sure that the dark fabric is closest to that Cornerstone in the middle to make sure that the block will still look like an X when you're done if you want to you can press before you add the second half of the block to the sashing center just make sure that the dark parts of the four patches are closest to that Center Square when you're done sewing the block the dark parts of the four patches should form an X to complete the block press the seam towards the sashing row in the center the block should measure 9 and2 in by 9 and 1/2 in make 36 blocks for this step I found it easiest to start from the backside and press the seams first from The Backs side and then I used a little bit of Mary Ellen's best press spray to make sure the block laid extra flat I'm glad that I picked every shade of green to use and used a bunch of different backgrounds on here just to give the quilt a little bit of movement make your eye go all around the quilt to see all the different colors split the blocks into six piles of six blocks I tried to make sure that each pile had light greens and dark greens and of course different backgrounds each pile of six blocks will need five of the sashing rectangles that measure 1 and 1/2 in by 9 and 1/2 half in now that everything is sorted out I'm just going to sew on one pile at a time first you will piece the sashing rectangles to five of the blocks and then as you sewing through the machine cut them off on the back side and then start sewing them together so that the sashing rectangles are between the six blocks I didn't really pay much attention to which blocks I were sewing together I just wanted to have six blocks with five sashing pieces in between when I sewed the blocks to each other after I got the sashing piece on the first one the only thing I wish I would have paid more attention to was making sure that when I matched up the block to the next one that the sashing From the Block matched up with the one that it was going into sometimes they were a little bit off and while I didn't notice it until I was putting the rows together I wish I would have pinned at this point to make sure they lined up a little bit more perfectly since this quilt is just for fun I decided to not let it bother me and just to keep sewing instead of starting to rip things out but if you have something you want to watch for that would be the thing to pin I have noticed one thing that as Quilters we like to point our mistakes out to other people and sometimes I will notice a mistake in someone else's quilt but I'm certainly not going to tell them about it unless they're asking my opinion and there's the galloping horse rule if you wouldn't notice a mistake if you run by the quilt on a galloping horse then the mistake doesn't exist so you can use that to your advantage today on this quilt the galloping horse rule lives once you have all five of the sashing strips sewn between the six blocks then it's time to press you want to press towards the sashing fabric I found it easiest just to work on one row at a time the rows should measure 59 1/2 in long this is the point where I wish I would have pinned to make sure those matched up but again I'm just going to be on that galloping horse and not even notice put together six rows of six blocks now that all the rows are made we can make the sashing rows each of the sashing rows are made with six of the 1 and 1/2 in by 9 and 1/2 in rectangles of the background Fabric and five of the squares that are 1 and 1/2 in by 1 and 1/2 in I made one row at a time and pressed away from the cornerstones or towards the sashing and added it to the quilt top on the floor as I got them done these rows will also measure 59 and 1/2 inch long make five of these sashing rows to go between the six block rows once all the rows are made start sewing them together in pairs a sashing row to a block row press after every time you sew always press towards the sashing row when you're finished putting your quilt top together it should measure 59 1/2 by 59 1/2 piece all your border strips that are 4 and 1/2 in wide end to end and then cut your border strips from those measure your quilt top cut two of the Border strips to make that same measurement and sew them to the top and bottom of the quilt measure your quilt length and cut two strips of your border fabric that are the same as that measurement and sew them onto the sides of the quilt find a batting and a backing piece that's big enough for your Quil top layer them together and quilt as desired I put mine on my long arm quilting machine and quilted it in a simple Loop pattern with a soft colored cream thread the pattern calls for 5/8 of a yard for a binding fabric but of course since I'm trying to get rid of all my 2 and 1/2 in strips I piece strips together in all sorts of different lengths to get a strip long enough that would go all the way around the quilt I used my diagonal seam tape to help me sew the line from corner to corner to get that diagonal line on the binding strips the diagonal seam tape has been a game Cher for me to get these binding strips to lay nice and flat trim away the excess fabric you want to have a/ quinch seam allowance the diagonal seam on The Binding will help spread out the bulk of the seam for a flatter bump free binding when pressing your binding always press with the seams open that will also help spread the bulk of the seam attach The Binding to the quilt top and you're done the simple four patch block is stunning it makes me think of a single Irish chain black quilt the different darks and lights really make the quilt Sparkle simple Loop quilting and a scrappy binding finish it off perfectly now I just need to find my blint brush so I can get all the loose threads off of there for the backing I just used a soft pale green fabric that had little tiny cows and pigs on it the perfect fabric for an Iowa farm girl while I didn't use all of the greens and creams that I started out with I made a serious dent in the pile the before and after pictures of my scrap bins don't look too different from each other but I can definitely tell a little bit of a difference I'll take it that's for sure if it would probably go down faster if I didn't keep adding about this many strips every week or so we hope you want to hit that like button leave us a comment share with your quilting friends and subscribe thanks for watching and happy quilting

Channel: The Quilted Forest

Views: 178,252

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Id: CFyJHTGEtz8

Length: 28min 17sec (1697 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 01 2024