Blog | Bonjour Quilts

Scrap Fabric Embroidery Tutorial

September 5, 2017 By Kirsty 2 Comments

This Scrap Fabric Embroidery Tutorial was first published on the Liberty of London Craft Blog in 2014. As it’s no longer available there, I’m republishing here at Bonjour Quilts. Enjoy!

This appliqué-and-embroidery project offers a way showcase your favourite fabric scraps so that you can see and enjoy them every day.

Project Requirements (affiliate links*):

8 inch Embroidery Hoop
Linen
Fabric Scraps, pressed
Embroidery Needle
Embroidery floss
Doube-sided fusible adhesive
Water soluble pen
Paper and Pencil

Take your pencil and trace the inner circumference of your embroidery hoop onto paper. Using this template and your recurring shape of choice (in this case, one inspired by Moroccan tiles), sketch how you intend to fill your hoop space.

Once you’ve settled on a design, use your pencil to trace the required number of shapes onto the paper backing of your fusible adhesive. Be sure to use pencil as pen will melt and run under the iron. Once complete, cut the shapes apart into rough squares and then iron them onto the reverse side of your wrinkle-free fabric scraps, according to the adhesive’s instructions. Once cool, you can cut the shapes out as per your pencil marks.

Use the water soluble pen to trace the inner circumference of your hoop onto your ironed linen. Remove the paper from your fabric shapes and arrange them on the linen as per your paper design.

Once you’re happy with the layout iron them in place.

Embellish your fabric shapes with the embroidery stitches of your choice. This is not only decorative but helps to further secure your shapes to the linen. In this case I sewed along several of the edges of my shapes, and for my single red tile I carried the stitches out further onto the linen.

Once your stitching is complete, clean away the soluble pen circumference (I used a damp kitchen sponge). Give your piece an iron face-down on top of a towel (to prevent flattening your embroidery stitches). Then mount your linen in your hoop.

Your piece is ready for display as is, but if you’d like to wrap your frame as I have, you can find instructions for that over in this post (as well as how I like to finish the back of my hoops).

And there you have it – a beautiful piece of handwork to show off your favourite pieces of scrap fabric.

Happy sewing!

*These are affiliate links, which means if you purchase through the link I receive a small, but much appreciated, commission. This is at no cost to you – Amazon pays for it (thanks, Amazon :). These commissions help keep Bonjour Quilts’ website expenses paid, so thank you!

Peta Peace – A Piece of Cake

August 18, 2017 By Kirsty 7 Comments

It’s always fun when someone you follow writes a book. It’s even more fun when someone you actually know writes one.

I’m so happy that my real-life friend Peta’s book is now available! Welcome to my stop on her book tour.

A Piece of Cake has 14 beautiful and easy-to-sew projects that use layer cake (10″) squares.

My 11 yr old was in need of a table-topper for her bedside table, to match her yellow log-cabin quilt. I handed her the book and told her to choose her favourite pattern (I was planning to adapt it to mini-size if she chose one of the full-size quilts). Lucky for me, she loved the Spin Pillow pattern, which meant very little size adjustment was required.

Together we chose some yellow (Karen Lewis) and light grey (Alison Glass) fabrics to match her quilt, and then she left me to it.

I love these Karen Lewis Blueberry Park fabrics – so saturated and with just enough pattern to keep them interesting, but not overpowered.

I sewed up the block very quickly, and swirled the centre seam to help it sit nicely.

I kept the border the same as the background fabric and reduced the width by about half an inch so the panel would fit my daughter’s bedside table.

I quilted this one with wavy lines using my walking foot and with only the seam lines as my guide. It’s such a therapeutic pattern to quilt – very relaxing!

And finally, I used a thin binding (my binding strips are only 2″ wide) in the darker mustard yellow.

I love how it turned out – very cheery and pretty, but understated as well. And best of all, my daughter loves it too. Phew.

The book tour is only just getting started – don’t forget to check in with all these lovely quilters to see more goodness from Peta:

14 Aug: Sedef – Down Grapevine Lane

15 Aug: Jemima – Tied with a Ribbon

16 Aug: Samantha – Aqua Paisley Studio

17 Aug: Andy – A Bright Corner

18 Aug: Kirsty – Bonjour Quilts <—- You are here 🙂

19 Aug: Lisa – A Spoonful of Sugar Designs

20 Aug: Alison – Cotton Factory

21 Aug: Carrie – Moda Fabrics

22 Aug :Nadra – Ellis and Higgs

23 Aug: Angie – Gnome Angel

24 Aug: Tara – Tara Sews

25 Aug: Jules – The Creative Retreat

26 Aug: Kristyne – Pretty by Hand

27 Aug: Kimberly – Fat Quarter Shop

28 Aug: Lissa – Moda Lissa

29 Aug: Amy – Diary of a Quilter

30 Aug: Kerry – Kid Giddy & Cat – Hello from Cat on Instagram

31 Aug: Jane – Modern Makers Retreat

1 Sept: Kate – Never Enough Hours

2 Sept: Jodie – Vintage Ric Rac

3 Sept: Sharon – Patches Indooroopilly (in store & online!)

4 Sept: Amanda – Material Girl Quilts

5 Sept: Amber – A Little Bit Biased

6 Sept: Xanthe – Wife Made

7 Sept: Rachel – Family Ever After

8 Sept: Jenny – Martingale

9 Sept: Amy – Nana Company

10 Sept: Peta – She Quilts A Lot

And don’t forget to buy yourself a copy of her book – available at all fine book and quilt stores!

10,000 subscribers! How I smashed my newsletter goal with ConvertKit.

July 24, 2017 By Kirsty 4 Comments

How’s that for a sensational headline 😉

This month I had my 10,000th reader sign up for my newsletter, thanks to ConvertKit*, the software I use to send my emails/newsletters. My first though when this happened was “Woah”. My second thought was “I’ve got to tell other crafters how they can do this, too!”

If you have a blog or are considering one, or if you’re thinking about starting an email newsletter then read on. I have plenty to tell you.

Like most people, I started my email list with Mailchimp. It was free, it was pretty and it was free. Did I mention it was free?

Mailchimp wasn’t as intuitive to use as I would’ve liked, but I muddled through and had an email sign-up box on the side bar of the blog by April 2014. I think it said “Sign Up for my Newsletter”. Rivetting stuff.

My very first email newsletter went out in June 2014 to 62 people, which seemed like a lot back then.

To encourage readers to sign up for my newsletter I had a free quilt pattern PDF linked to my Mailchimp sign-up email. Whenever someone confirmed their email address they received this free pattern automatically, which was pretty nifty. I didn’t have to sit by the computer and attach and email the file every time someone signed up.

In 2 years I managed to grow my list with this free pattern offer to well over 2000 subscribers.

The date was now April 2016 and I really needed a new email newsletter provider. Mailchimp was no longer free as I had over 2000 subscribers, plus it was starting to cramp my style.

I wanted to put an email sign-up box within a blog post, not just in my side bar. This was beyond my capabilities with Mailchimp (not to say it can’t be done, but I do not have coding skills).

And most importantly, I wanted to offer more than just one free pattern to my readers. I wanted to offer a free pattern or printable tutorial for EVERY blog post (or close to every post) that would send out automatically, with no action on my part. Again, I couldn’t do this with Mailchimp.

So I shopped around and made a PROs vs CONs list of all the email newsletter software out there. And, long story short, I chose ConvertKit*.

ConvertKit was created by a blogger who couldn’t find software to do what he wanted, so he made it himself.

The features I love in ConvertKit:

It’s easier (for me) to use than Mailchimp.
I can put sign-up boxes in my blog posts and have a different PDF attached to each one. Without a doubt, this has exploded my email list!
I can set up an automatic email series to send out based on different triggers. For instance, I have a 3-email “welcome series” that goes to everyone who signs up to my email list. This has really taken my understanding of my audience to a new level.
I can automatically have subscribers tagged according to an action they might take. For instance, if someone opts-in through my wholesale sign-up box, they get tagged with “Wholesale List”. Then, if I have an update just for wholesale customers, I can send it to only them. I can tag someone when they purchase one of my patterns (yes, ConvertKit “talks” to my SendOwl pattern purchase software, so cool) so I don’t have to send my “sale ending soon” emails to anyone who’s already purchased. Clever!
A really helpful FAQ/help section, with articles and videos. Their customer support (with real, live people!) is also well done and timely.
Statistics. Sometimes I like to get nerdy. I like to see how each of my individual sign-up boxes are performing:

And all my newsletter emails (called “Broadcasts” in ConvertKit):

And there are more layers to drill down into to see how things are performing, for those who like that sort of thing.

The benefits of ConvertKit for me have been:

Greater interaction with my readers. We all know blog commenting is dwindling – it’s hard to know if what you’re writing is striking a chord. My 3-email welcome series has been so good for introducing myself and the blog, and making sure readers find all the interesting stuff hiding in my archives. It also gives me the chance to ask if they have any quilty dilemmas I could help them with. From this I can gauge the topics and the level of detail my posts should have. I’ve also had some wonderful email replies from people just saying hello, telling me about themselves and showing me what they’re currently working on (always so much fun to see). Nancy, the truck driving quilter (she quilts in her truck!!) is amazing.
Better service for my readers. As I mentioned above, I can tag readers according to an action they may take. I don’t have to annoy people with further sales emails if they have already purchased. If you’ve already been through my welcome series, you shouldn’t ever see it again. If you haven’t opened an email in 90 days, I can send you an email asking if you’d like to be removed from the list so your inbox isn’t filled with email you don’t want to read. In the future, I could send out an email asking which of 2 subjects interests you the most, and based on the link you click you’ll receive an automatic email series on that subject and the option to purchase a pattern. Nice!
Achieving my email list goal 5 months early. As I mentioned, it took me 2 years to gather 2600ish subscribers with Mailchimp. I signed up for ConvertKit in April 2016 and doubled my list by the end of that year (5500 subscribers). For 2017 I decided to set a big goal – to reach 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year. By crikey, I did it by July 21st, 2017.

Now, I would like to point out that I am not a Super Blogger. If you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know that I tend to put out blog posts every 2 weeks at best, every 2 months at worst. But the posts I do put out, more often than not, have a free download offer. People come to that post via Google or Pinterest or a link, and if they like what they see they pop in their email address and get the free PDF. Then they automatically get my welcome email series and we go from there. Every one of these posts collects email subscribers for me every day (and night), on autopilot. They don’t gather huge amounts of people, but because I have quite a few of them, which I’ve just built up over time (which anyone could do), the outcome is 4,500 subscribers in 7 months. In fact, today (3 days later) I’m already up to:

10, 106 – Wheeeeee! As an aside, when you hover your mouse over the bars (see below), they show you which sign-up is responsible for those subscribers. Cool.

I’m not doing anything very different since leaving Mailchimp except using ConvertKit* to offer multiple free PDFs. Remember those lessons on compounding interest in Economics class? Well, this is the same principle. If you put out a new post every 2 weeks or so with a sign-up box in it, they will start to bring in more and more subscribers. Every one of those posts lives on at your blog and continues to bring you new readers, who if you are lucky, will share their inbox with you.

I also went back to my old posts and updated all of them with free downloads. In some cases, the PDF was just a copy of the blog post itself, so not much work was required. I routinely have people ask if I have PDF versions of my posts as they like to save and print them to use at the sewing machine. This solves that need and brings in more subscribers at the same time. Win, win 🙂 If you’ve already got free patterns or tutorials on your blog, you could easily spend a few hours and add a free PDF download offer to those posts and get the compound interest effect working for you.

Email is where the party’s happening. People are spending less time reading blogs (unless your email directs them to your post) and only a small percentage of your Facebook or Instagram audience will see your posts. I don’t know about you, but I check my email every day. And I read every single thing I get. If you want to connect with your readers, their inbox is where you want to be. They will appreciate being up to date with everything you’re up to!

So, if you’re a quilter/sewist/crafter who is struggling to build your email list, you would benefit from having ConvertKit as your email software. We crafters already, naturally, have plenty of posts that are perfectly suited to having PDF download accompaniments – so why not take advantage of that to build your list?

I’m very happy to be an affiliate for ConvertKit* as it’s a product I use myself. If you think it might be a good fit for you, too, feel free to shoot me any questions you have via email. I’ve got plenty of experience using ConvertKit in a craft blog scenario and should be able to help.

ETA: I’ve got a screencast video here that shows you inside my ConvertKit account (the “back end” inside the software) and exactly how I use it.

Happy blogging, and may your lists be large 🙂

P.S. If you’re not already on my list and would like to see ConvertKit in action from a reader’s point of view, sign up via the boxes below (you can easily unsubscribe once you’ve seen how it works):

* As mentioned above, I’m an affiliate for ConvertKit, so these links are affiliate links. If you decide to use ConvertKit via one of these links, you will be helping to support this blog (thank you!) and my door will always be open for any questions you may have.

Facebook vs Instagram

July 5, 2017 By Kirsty 23 Comments

Is Instagram your jam? Or maybe Facebook is where you spend your social media time?

I’d love to know either way so that I’m putting my efforts toward the one you all prefer!

Please know that I have no intention of changing my focus on blog posts or my newsletter – they are still the most important methods of communication in my book.

But social media…boy, I’m finding it hard to stay on top of that one at the moment. I think I could be more productive if I only had one channel to focus on.

So, please let me know by checking the answer that best applies to you below:

Red, White and Blue

June 2, 2017 By Kirsty 11 Comments

Although I’m in Australia and it’s the first day of winter here, it’s hard not to know what is happening all the way over in the US of A.

Every day Pinterest shows me images that tell me American schools are letting out, the northern hemisphere summer is coming and occasions such as Memorial Day are being observed. Then there’s the big one – 4th of July. The time for BBQs, fireworks and flag-based, patriotic quilts.

Now would be the moment to tell you that when it comes to the US, I have serious flag envy.

Look at the US flag compared to ours:

It looks like someone actually spent some time planning the US flag. It’s very orderly and organised and professional looking. Ours looks more like an improv exercise; “let’s take one of these, and throw in a bit of that and see how it goes”.

The main reason I like the US flag is that it has great quilt-adaptability. A blue rectangle and some stripes and everyone knows what you’re referring to.

And even though both flags are made from the same colours, what country does everyone think of when you mention red, white and blue? Sure as sunshine it’s not Australia or any of the other 36 countries with solely red, white and blue in their national emblems (yes, I had to google that. I was surprised there were so many.)

Whenever I hear red, white and blue I immediately think of the US (and sing You’re a Grand Old Flag in my head). This is why it’s easy to make a quilt feel American just through the use of colour, even if not a single star or stripe is included.

Pondering the intricacies of the Australian flag layout and the kind of paper piecing it would require, I decided that there was no rule that said I couldn’t try my hand at a 4th of July quilt. Globalisation, right? Once I gave myself permission I had some fun Americanising (ahem, Americanizing) some of my patterns.

First up, I made a few colour tweaks to my Off the Rails quilt pattern. This is a free pattern that I’ve had for download for a couple of years now – perhaps some of you already have it?

My first version swapped out the dark neutral for blue, the light neutral for off white and the yellow for red.

Then I tried reversing the colours so that the dark neutral was red, the light neutral was off white and the yellow was blue.

Which version do you think has a more American feel? I really like the blue (my favourite colour) but maybe that feels more French?

If you’d like to download the free Off the Rails quilt pattern, you can do so below. Just substitute the colours as explained above to make your preferred 4th of July version.

Next up I had a look at my The Plus Side quilt pattern which is always a lot of fun to play around with due to the contrast between the opposite sides of the blocks.

Here’s an alternate version of the lap-sized quilt layout:

Fabric requirements for a scrappy version of this quilt would be 8 red FQs, 8 blue FQs and 15 white/low-volume FQs. Make 15 blue/white blocks and 15 red/white blocks as per the pattern and join them in the diagonal stripe layout seen above.

A smaller, crib sized version would be cute for a summer baby. This version needs 5 blue FQs, 5 red FQs and 10 white FQs.

If you want a more literal translation of the flag you could try this layout:

3 blue FQs, 11 FQs red and 14 FQs white/light will provide enough blocks for this layout (48″ x 84″).

Phew, all that editing has me tired and I haven’t even sewn a stitch. I think I’ll go have a nice glass of iced tea, lie down and think of summer. Only 6 months to go!

Scrappy Kites Mini Quilt Pattern

May 22, 2017 By Kirsty 11 Comments

If you’re looking for a mini quilt pattern then you’re in the right place. This quick mini quilt project will let you practice your half rectangle triangle (HRT) blocks and use up some scraps as well. Bonus!

This free mini quilt pattern is called Scrappy Kites.

It was known around our house as Star Destroyers (à la Star Wars) for a while, but the kites won out in the end.

I’ve used a variety of yellow fabrics, some Kona Snow and Aqua and 3 Carolyn Friedlander low-volumes to make this version.

For some fun, I decided to make one of the kites aqua and frame another with aqua on the opposite side.

I kept the quilting nice and breezy which is what kites prefer, I suppose. Wavy line quilting with my walking foot is one of my favourites. I just use the block seams as the basic grid and I fill in from there. The best part of quilting a mini quilt is that it’s so very quick to do.

The binding was also a fast affair. I used a yellow zigzag fabric and machine sewed it with a zigzag stitch in yellow thread.

There are plenty of opportunities to play with colour in this mini quilt design.

Here’s a ready-to-colour-in picture if you’d like to experiment (just right click and “Open Image in New Tab” – you can then print it from there.)

Here’s a rainbow mini quilt version I was playing around with. Within each kite there are two fabrics, one light and one dark.

I think the inverted blocks add a bit of interest, but if you prefer straight up and down colour how about this one:

Which do you prefer?

If you’d like to make your own version of this mini quilt, you can download the pattern below.

The HRTs in this pattern are compatible with Bloc_Loc rulers, but they are by no means necessary to make this mini quilt. In fact I have a tutorial that shows you how to trim half rectangle triangles with just a standard quilting ruler, easy peasy.

I hope you have some fun with this! I always love to see your work so let me know if you make one of these mini quilts.

Find me on Instagram here or Facebook here.

Happy sewing!

Kirsty x

Half Rectangle Triangle Tutorial

May 12, 2017 By Kirsty 28 Comments

Ever wondered how to sew and trim half rectangle triangle (HRT) blocks? Well you’ve come to the right place! Let me show you how I like to do them.

Half Rectangle Triangles add another fun shape to your quilt designing arsenal. You can make cool, elongated diamonds and zigzags and parallelograms and…long spikey things. The list goes on and on.

What exactly is a Half Rectangle Triangle (or a half square rectangle as I often accidentally call them)?

If you’ve made half square triangles (HSTs) before you might be thinking, no sweat, an HRT is just a stretched out HST. And you’d be right. After all, a square is just a rectangle with 4 equal sides.

Being square, you can rotate an HST 90 degrees and still have an identical shape but with the diagonal seam reversed.

Above: An HST block rotated 90 degrees each time – every diagonal option and colour placement option can be achieved with the one block. Oh yeah.

If you rotate a half rectangle triangle 90 degrees to change the direction of the diagonal you will NOT have the same shape. Your long, tall rectangle will now be short and wide, or vice versa.

Above: The HRT’s diagonal direction will determine the layouts. Here the 2 possible HRT blocks are rotated through 90 degrees. You can’t get every layout from only one HRT block.

All that to say – when making half rectangle triangles you have to pay attention to the direction you need your diagonal to face. This isn’t tricky, but something to keep in mind before you race out and make a whole bunch.

I have a couple of half rectangle triangle quilt patterns (this one and this one). You can see that this block can be used for some really fun shapes (especially in this one).

How I like to sew Half Rectangle Triangles

My preferred half rectangle triangle method goes something like this:

1. Take two rectangles

2. Cut the rectangles in half diagonally to give triangles

3. Sew triangles together

4. Trim to size.

I’ve seen other ways that are more HST-like in their process. Two rectangles have quarter inch offset diagonals drawn on them in opposite orientations, and these are then matched right sides together, opposite corners together. Much like an HST, a seam is sewn a quarter inch each side of the diagonal and the units are cut apart and pressed open. It’s very clever because what you’re sewing doesn’t look like an HRT until the last step. (Added benefit: no requirement to handle any bias cut edges while sewing.)

The downside, for me, is that the set up is quite finicky (offsetting the diagonal and matching the lines). Given the sewing time I have usually coincides with my wine drinking time, I like to keep my sewing methods as straight forward as possible so I have fewer opportunities to make mistakes. The method I follow is very “make it like you see it” and it suits me better. Feel free to choose whatever suits you!

One other thing I like about this method is that it produces the half rectangle triangles one unit at a time – so I can mix and match halves as needed, I don’t have to make 2 of each same fabric pairing. I can also lay out my triangles on my design wall and swap around as needed, which I can’t do if I use the HST-like method.

That’s a big plus when making a quilt like my Slip Stitch quilt. I laid it all out on my design wall before I sewed my HRTs together, then took a step back and considered my colour placement. I could move the rows up and down as I wanted because the triangles hadn’t yet been joined to their partners.

So let’s get on with the sewing, shall we?

How to sew Half Rectangle Triangles in any size

The longer and skinnier the half rectangle triangle, the trickier it is to trim. The squat, wider types are easier. I thought I’d go with a harder example, so it can only get better from there!

Above: the guy on the left is easier to trim than the guy on the right.

I’ll make a unit with each diagonal orientation so you can see how they both work.

I’ve taken two sets of low-volume and purple rectangles that are 2-1/2″ x 7″ (more on initial rectangle size later).

Each pair of rectangles has a diagonal cut in the direction required (as determined by your design).

Each pair of rectangles can made 2 HRT units, but I’ve set aside the the extra triangles for the time being.

First sew the halves together – the important thing to remember here is to offset the halves by a quarter inch.

The easy way to remember this is that the pointiest points need to point over the edge. Silly, I know, but it’s how I remember these things (perhaps explained by my wine comment, above).

You can see below the triangles have been matched right sides together, but offset from their halves by a quarter inch (I do this by eye, I don’t measure it). The pointier points (i.e. the more acute or sharp angles) are past the edge of the wider (more blunt) angles, both top and bottom.

You can pin (or not) and then sew a quarter inch seam to join the two halves.

Press the units as your design requires (you may want to nest seams, or prefer the flexibility that open seams give).

Now we’re ready to trim up. These rectangles will yield un-finished HRT units that are 2″ x 5″. Once finished (sewn together), they will measure 1.5″ x 4.5″ (a ratio of 1:3).

First the unit needs to have the longest edges trimmed to give the required width. Here I’ve trimmed the first unit to 2″ wide:

Grab your ruler – preferably one which has a corner with quarter inch markings that intersect (such as this Creative Grids* one):

Start at one of the corners with a diagonal. Line up one edge of the ruler with the long edge of the HRT. Then slowly slide the ruler (keeping the ruler/block edges lined up) until you find the spot where the diagonal is exactly a quarter inch from the long edge.

Taking a closer look at the diagonal, below, you can see it falls directly under the intersecting quarter inch marks on the ruler. And if the diagonal is exactly a quarter inch from each side then it will make a nice point when it is sewn to its neighbouring blocks. So we trim here.

Now the half rectangle triangle unit is rotated around to trim the opposite end. Again, the ruler is kept flush with the long edge of the HRT and the diagonal must fall under the intersection of the quarter inch ruler marks. We can also see that the HRT is 5″ long, as required.

The process is the same for the other type of half rectangle triangle unit (the one with its diagonal sloping in the other direction):

First, trim the long edges:

Then find the spot where the diagonal matches the quarter inch marks and trim:

Then flip the HRT around to the other side and…oh no: I’ve measured my block to be 5″ long, but the diagonal isn’t falling right under the intersection of the quarter inch marks.

This is why the longer, skinnier blocks can be trickier to trim. Because that angle is so much sharper than the fatter units, it’s easier for it to be a touch off.

An additional, trouble-shooting step I like to include before trimming long HRTs is to centre the unit on my cutting board such that it spans the length I need. Below you can see my scissor tips are marking out 5″ and I’ve centred the unit on this, eyeballing the ends so even amounts of “point” overhang the 5″. Then you can quickly check the diagonal at each end before trimming and move the unit a little if a bit of fudging is required.

Half Rectangle Triangle Calculator

A note on calculating the starting size of your rectangles for your half rectangle triangles.

HRTs with a side ratio of 1:2 are not only easier to trim, they are also easier to calculate starting rectangle sizes for.

Above: finished HRT blocks with ratios of 1:2

The dimensions of the oversized starting rectangles are:

(Finished Width + 1″) by (Finished Length + 2″).

So if you want a half rectangle triangle that is 2″ x 4″ when it is sewn into a quilt, you will need two starting rectangles that are (2 + 1) by (4 +2) or 3″ x 6″. Easy peasy. Thank you, half rectangle triangle calculator.

If you’re allergic to math then pop your email in the box below and I will send you a PDF chart with the sizes needed to create 1:2 ratio HRTs from teeny weeny to big and bold. I promise I didn’t drink any wine while I did these calculations. 😉

That will also sign you up to my newsletter, which means you won’t miss out on new tutorials or pattern releases. Yay!

When making non-1:2 HRTs, you’ll need to make a guess as to the size of the starting rectangles and go from there. I usually apply the same formula (add 1″ to the finished width and 2″ to the finished length) and make a test block.

Then it’s just a matter of testing and adjusting. If the block is too long when you trim, reduce the length and try again. This was exactly how I tested for the starting rectangles for my 1-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ (finished) block.

Alright, if you’re still reading then you are definitely ready to get out there and sew up some half rectangle triangle quilt patterns. As well as the patterns in my shop, I also have a free scrappy half rectangle triangle quilt pattern over in this post here, if you’re interested.

Hopefully this post has helped start you on a half rectangle triangle journey. Be sure to send me an email if the 1:2 HRT size you need isn’t included on the PDF download – I’ll be happy to help you with that.

Happy sewing!

Kirsty

*affiliate link

Zigzag Quilt Binding Tutorial

May 1, 2017 By Kirsty 11 Comments

I used my sewing machine to sew a zigzag quilt binding on my latest quilt and thought I’d write a tutorial on how I like to do it.

First up let me say if you’re a perfectionist when it comes to quilting and must have everything just so, then zigzag binding is probably not for you. This method of quilt binding is easy and fast but isn’t as refined as a hand-stitched binding with invisible stitches.

Zigzag binding is a design element of its own and really adds a fun touch to a quilt. I especially love it on baby quilts as the zigzag adds a lively little detail and is very robust. With queen sized quilts you can’t go past a zigzag binding as it is just so fast! You can bind a quilt in an hour instead of days.

Because my Green Quilt design has a lot of angles and zigzags in it I felt this binding would be extra suitable.

I like to choose my thread to match my binding as closely as possible, although you could choose a different colour to accentuate the zigzag more. Whenever my binding is a print of various colours, I identify the dominant colour and base my thread choice on that.

I sew my binding on as per usual and then iron it away from the quilt top to make it easier to flip to the back of the quilt.

With larger quilts I like to pin the binding down on the back but with mini quilts I just fly by the seat of my pants and put the binding in place with my fingers as I go (rebel!).

You can either pin with your pins running along the binding (the most secure and best option if you’re new to this method):

Or perpendicular to the binding (easier to place and pull out as you sew, but more chance of your binding shifting as you remove the pins):

Your binding should wrap around the raw edges of your quilt and be pinned down so the outer binding edge is slightly past the line of stitches that join your binding to the quilt. When pinning along the binding on the back you need to keep in mind that you’ll sew with the quilt top uppermost. You want the pinheads to be facing you from underneath. If you have the pin points facing you then you will not have a very nice binding experience.

After pinning, you’ll need to attach your walking foot and choose a zigzag stitch length/width. This is what I used on my Janome:

Stitch width: 5.5; Stitch size: 0.9

Make sure you test your stitch on some scrap fabric to check it’s what you want:

As zigzag is a thread-hungry stitch, you might want to have a couple of bobbins pre-wound. I was able to complete my baby quilt with a single bobbin but if you’re binding a queen quilt, you’ll need more.

Choose midway on one of the sides of your quilt to start. Don’t start on a corner. Once your quilt is under your machine, quilt top facing up, you’ll want to position it under the walking foot so that the stitch will straddle the seam line of binding meeting the quilt top. Once that’s done, start sewing! I don’t backstitch when I start because I capture that starting spot under my final stitches once I’ve gone all the way around the quilt. Go slowly and remove your pins just before that area reaches the needle.

Here’s what the stitches look like coming out the back of your walking foot:

And this is what it will look like on the back of the quilt:

Right, on to the corners now.

I recommend pinning your corners in place before you sew up to them. You know how your needle stitches to the right, then to the left and back to the right, etc to form the zigzag? Well, try to get your needle to come down on the left-hand motion of the stitch, in the inner corner of the binding/quilt top:

Once the needle is down you can lift your walking foot and pivot the quilt 90 degrees so that the next side is in place, ready to sew. Your first stitch will stitch to the right, into the binding again, and you’ll be on your way. It can be tough going for the first few stitches as there isn’t a lot of fabric under the foot for the feed dogs to grab. Just go slow and if necessary help your machine out with a little fabric pulling.

I have also sewn corners by continuing past that inner corner until I’ve sewn across the diagonal fold. I’ve then pivoted right on the corner of the binding and continued on. As you can see below, it’s not as neat as the method above (the fabric is really thick there and plays havoc with stitch width) but it means the corner fold is secured:

When I use my first method, I go and hand finish those corners after.

To do that I’ll thread a needle with a short run of thread that’s been doubled over so that I get a loop at the end.

I take my first stitch under the fold (so it’s hidden) and thread the needle through the loop so there’s no need to knot to secure the thread.

I then take a stitch along the fold of the binding:

And then a little stitch into the binding underneath to secure:

I can usually fit two of these binding-then-secure pairs of stitches in that little corner, then I tie off my thread.

How I tie off (I’m sure there’s a million ways to do this) is by making two small stitches on top of each other, then I make a third stitch and pass the needle through it to catch the thread. I like to pull it all tight and secure and then have the needle exit about an inch from the stitch site:

I really don’t like trimming threads close to the tie-off knot – I feel like it’s more likely to unravel that way (I have no scientific proof to back this up, of course!) But I also don’t like the look of a thread tail. To solve this, I pull the finished thread out quite firmly and then I cut it off flush with the fabric.

Because it’s been pulled taut – once you cut it the thread retracts back into the fabric, conveniently hiding that little tail. Yay!

And so you continue going around your quilt….edge, corner, edge, corner, edge… and eventually you’ll get back to your starting point.

I like to sew a half-inch past my starting point, then backstitch back past the starting point just a wee bit and then tie off. I have a button on my machine that does this (oh joy!) but before I had this machine I would leave long threads when I took the quilt off the machine and then just hand sew and knot those threads to make sure it was all nice and secure.

If you have to change bobbins along the way, you’ll also want to do this or you might choose to hand secure the ends if you don’t like the look of the overlap.

Phew, that was a long one! I hope this is helpful if you’re considering trying a zigzag binding. They are a fun and speedy way to finish up those WIPs you’ve had languishing in the cupboard for years – give it a try!

Have a great week,

Kirsty x

Green Quilt – 2017 Pantone Quilt Challenge

April 27, 2017 By Kirsty 15 Comments

A Green Quilt for the 2017 Pantone Quilt Challenge (opening soon – see Bryan House Quilts and No Hats in the House for all the details).

The 2017 Pantone Colour of the Year is Greenery – an insufferably cheerful shade of green. Aw, okay, I don’t mind it (much better than Marsala – 2015’s colour), but I’m still sulking it wasn’t a shade of teal.

Anyway, I do love a challenge because I love constraints. I feel like they make me try all sorts of new things I might not necessarily try. Like sewing an insufferably and cheerfully green quilt 🙂

The pattern for this quilt was sketched out last year as a way to use up the leftover fabric from my Colour Explosion quilt. Here is my original drawing:

I thought it would be interesting to see how it looked when reduced down to two main colours: green and grey.

The blocks are all flying geese and HSTs, many with a little stitch-and-flip corner of another colour.

There were a lot of points and nesting seams to consider, but it all came together quite well in the end.

Quilting was a straight line affair, using the central diamonds as base lines which I then extended out to the edges of the quilt. I filled in extra lines here and there, just to make sure I didn’t have any large areas unquilted. But overall, the quilting was a lot less dense then what I usually do.

The backing was a fun children’s fabric that I bought at IKEA in France, all those years ago.

I made a scrappy binding, using the solids from in the quilt (Kona Grass Green and Lime).

I zigzag-stitched the binding down this time. It was super quick and I think it looks fab given the quilt design is full of angles as well.

The finished quilt is 36.5″ x 49.5″ – a great baby quilt size.

Have you been tempted to sew with Greenery this year? If so, why not enter your quilt in the 2017 Quilt Challenge?

Happy sewing,

Kirsty

Scrappy Cross Patchwork Block Tutorial

April 18, 2017 By Kirsty 9 Comments

I love a good scrappy patchwork block. They’re so satisfying – almost like getting something for nothing.

This block was born out of wanting to use up some of my Friedlander scraps and two of these adorable mini-charm packs.

After some playing around this layout stood out the most to me. I really love the contrast of the hot orange against the greens and blues.

This scrappy cross patchwork block is 9″ square when complete, 8.5″ when finished (i.e sewn to other blocks).

You can grab a printable PDF version of this block pattern by putting your email address in below:

You’ll need the following scraps to make one block:

Fire up your trusty sewing machine and then sew these components:

Pop the short arms of the cross between the quarters to form halves. Then sew your two halves together, either side of the long cross arm, to get the final product:

Trim up your block to be 9″ square and you’re ready to make the next one.

Wait – a quick note on pressing. Feel free to press the blue/green subunits however you like, as they won’t need to be sewn across from another seam when joining the blocks. However, when pressing the central cross seams, I’d recommend pressing half your blocks with seams outward:

And the other half of your blocks with seams inward:

So that when you sew your blocks together the seams of your crosses will nest like so:

Mmmm, snuggly.

One other point regarding fabric selection and making sure your fabrics are discernible from each other (i.e. there is enough contrast between the three fabric groups). I think this block below might have done better with a more “solid-like” fabric for the centre cross. The print I used was a little too patterned and so my cross doesn’t stand out from the background as much as I’d like. A learning point for next time!

I made 4 blocks for a mini quilt.

I think this block could also look good laid out on point:

It also looked pretty cool with some bright skinny sashing:

I wanted to use this layout but woe, I only had enough orange left for either sashing or binding. These are the perils of working with scraps 🙂

I think this block would make a fun modern baby quilt as well.

If I had a better supply of orange scraps I would cut some 1 inch strips and put some sashing in between the four-squares rows, as per this mock-up:

Hmm, maybe I’d put another column in there and make it a little wider. This quilt would come in at 34″ x 52″. If I added another column that would make it 42.5″ x 52″. What do you think?

Although, at only 34″ wide it’s easier to back with a single stretch of yardage, which I must say is a BIG plus! That is my favourite thing about sewing baby quilts!

Am I the only one who would rather not piece a backing? 😉

Happy sewing!

Kirsty x

P.S. If you’d like this tutorial is an easily printed PDF format, pop your email address in below and I’ll send it to you:

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