Bonjour Quilts

Quilting, Sewing & Crafts

  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
  • Shop
    • View Cart
    • Wholesale
    • Pattern Corrections
  • Blog
  • Subscribe
You are here: Home / Archives for tutorial

Self Binding Quilt Tutorial

December 1, 2018 By Kirsty 14 Comments

Not every quilt needs a frame – sometimes those edges just want to be left alone in peace! That’s where a self binding finishing method comes in handy.

What do you mean “self binding”?

It’s possible to finish your quilt without a binding. I’m going to show you how I used a “self binding” method to bind my Christmas mini quilt to give a more modern look. The method (in my opinion) is best suited to small items such as mini quilts, table toppers or baby quilts. I wouldn’t be prepared for the work required to implement this method with a large quilt. (But if you’re that way inclined, go for it!)

Self Binding quilt tutorial by Bonjour Quilts

 

I’ve seen this method referred to as self binding, no binding and the pillowcase method. You’ll go through basting and backing, just in a different configuration.

Baste your quilt top

First up, you need to baste your quilt top to your batting. Because I’ve just got a small mini quilt, I used poly batting and some basting spray.  You’ll want to add a few lines of quilting here to make sure your two layers are well secured. Stitching in the ditch along a couple of lines would be perfect.

I actually decided to go to town and do most of my quilting at this stage. Why? Because I’m lazy! I knew that quilting when the backing is on will require thread burying, which isn’t my idea of a fun night in.

Self Binding quilt tutorial by Bonjour Quilts

Using my walking foot I straight line quilted, using the seams as rough guides. I quilted it fairly densely as I like my mini quilts to have a fair bit of structure.

Once your batting and quilt top are secured (however you decide to go) trim off the excess batting and square it up.

Self Binding quilt tutorial by Bonjour Quilts

Attach your backing

You’ll now need a backing piece the same size as your quilt top/batting piece. Place the top and backing right sides together.

Self Binding quilt tutorial by Bonjour Quilts

Pin all around the edges, but remember to leave an open section to turn the work right side out after sewing. You can learn from my mistake here – locate your gap along one side so that only one fabric is involved.  I left my turning gap along the top of the quilt and it spanned several different coloured fabrics, which makes it harder to match the thread when hand sewing it closed.

Self Binding quilt tutorial by Bonjour Quilts

I’ve pinned my edges above. You’ll see I’ve put two pins in the one spot – that’s my little code to remind me where my turning gap is, so I remember not to sew the whole perimeter closed.

I used my walking foot and a 1/2″ seam as the seams are quite bulky with all the layers. If this were a larger quilt I would also zig zag the raw edges or use the “serger” stitch on my machine just to help it stand up to washing better.

Self Binding quilt tutorial by Bonjour Quilts

Once I’ve sewn the backing and top together around the edges I like to take the time to press back my turning gap seams. I find it easier to get them straight from the back side, rather than when the piece is right side out.

Self Binding quilt tutorial by Bonjour Quilts

I also like to trim my corners to make sure there’s less bulk (but be careful not to clip your stitching).

Self Binding quilt tutorial by Bonjour Quilts

Close the turning gap

Once you’ve pressed your turning gap seams you can turn the piece right side out.

Give the quilt another press. Focus on setting the seams around the edges and making sure your turning gap edges are still aligned and straight. I’ve pinned the turning gap closed below.

Self Binding quilt tutorial by Bonjour Quilts

Self Binding quilt tutorial by Bonjour Quilts

Now it’s time to whip stitch the turning gap closed with some hand sewing. I like to start with a nice long thread, which I double up. I put both cut ends through the eye of the needle and keep the thread loop at the other end. When you take your first stitch, pop the needle through the loop before pulling the stitch tight. This will make the loop close into a sturdy starting knot that will never come undone. It’s my favourite way to tie on a thread.

Self Binding quilt tutorial by Bonjour Quilts

Quilt, quilt, quilt!

Once your turning gap is closed you’re ready to quilt the piece so the backing is better fixed to the top. If you have a larger project, you may like to put some basting pins in to make sure you don’t get any bunching or tucks in your backing. And remember that you’ll have to bury your ends at the beginning/end of your seam lines. Your start/end points can’t be later secured by the binding. (This is why I did so much quilting earlier.)

Because this is just a mini quilt I felt that two lines, about a third in from each edge, would work a treat. They’re a bit hard to see below.

Self Binding quilt tutorial by Bonjour Quilts

And again, because it’s a wall decoration and won’t be washed, I just did a few backstitches at the start and end of each line. No thread burying for me!

Self Binding quilt tutorial by Bonjour Quilts

Another good press, and there you have it.

If this was a larger quilt, I would have also done a perimeter of “top stitching” around the edge. This would add some extra strength and to help keep the edge seams where they should be.

So there you have it – one way of creating a no binding finish, or a self binding quilt.

If you like this pattern and would like to make a Christmas mini quilt of your own, you can find the pattern in my shop here.

Candy Christmas, an easy holiday themed mini quilt to sew by Bonjour Quilts

Have you tried the self binding method before? Do you have any tips for young players? I’d love to hear them below.

Filed Under: Christmas, tutorial

Fish Quilt Block (and some Scrap Quilt Ideas)

September 18, 2018 By Kirsty 30 Comments

I’m always on the lookout for scrap quilt ideas – how about you? To me, a good scrap quilt pattern has simple repetitive blocks that let me have fun mixing and matching all of my most loved scrap fabrics.

Last week I wrote a post about Quarter Square Triangles and this scrappy fish quilt block uses a QST variant called the Hourglass block. It’s a simple but really fun block for a baby quilt, and I’ll give you some layout ideas at the end of the post. So let’s have a look, shall we?

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

This fish quilt block has three parts: a flying geese head, a square body and a Quarter Square Triangle tail.

The block is 3-1/2″ x 8″ unfinished (with seam allowance) and will be 3″ x 7-1/2″ when sewn into a quilt.

We’ll make the fish 2 at a time (as the method for making Hourglass blocks creates 2 at a time).

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

Scrap Fabric Requirements

If you’re using directional print fabric, read all the instructions first before you cut so you can see how to align the print all the way across your fish block.

For each pair of fish blocks you’ll need the following fabric pieces:

Scrap:

4-1/2″ square

Two 3-1/2″ squares

Two 2-1/4″ x 3-3/4″ rectangles

Background:

4-1/2″ square

Four 2-1/4″ squares

Sew the Hourglass Block Tail

Take a 4-1/2” background and a 4-1/2″ scrap square. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the background square and pair right sides together with the scrap square. Sew a scant 1⁄4” from either side of the marked line. Cut on the drawn line to yield 2 HST units. Press seams toward the darker fabric.

Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of one of the HST units, perpendicular to the HST centre seam. Place the two HSTs right sides together, making sure different fabrics are facing each other.

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

Sew a scant 1⁄4” from either side of the marked line. Cut on the drawn line to yield 2 Hourglass units and trim them to 3-1/2” square (I like this ruler* for QST trimming because the extra lines make centring the block easier).

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

For tips on how to accurately trim Quarter Square Triangle blocks, make sure you check out this post here.

Sew the Flying Geese Head Block

Take two 2-1/4″ background squares and draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of each one. Align one square on one corner of the 2-1/4″ x 3-3/4″ scrap rectangle as shown, then sew on the diagonal line.

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

Press the corner of the background square away from the unit. Repeat the process with the second background square on the opposite corner of the scrap rectangle. You’ve just made a flying geese unit. Repeat so you have 2 in total.

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

Trim the flying geese units to 2″ x 3-1/2”, making sure to keep the points centred. I use these Bloc_loc rulers* to trim my flying geese. They’re pricey (as they’re made in the US) but I couldn’t go back to life without them.

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

Sew the Fish Together

Now you have your fish components it’s time to sew them all together.

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

I like to press my seams inward. They just sit better for me that way.

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

A note on directional fabrics. When you sew your Hourglass blocks you’ll get one block in each fabric orientation:

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

You can see above that it’s easy to rotate your tummy square to match the tail, but it will take a bit of forethought to match the head. If you just remember to cut one flying geese rectangle in each direction of the fabric you’ll be fine.

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

So, what do we do with these fishies? How can we turn a school of these blocks into a fabulous scrap quilt?

Scrap quilt ideas

The easiest layout would be a lovely ordered layout of fish. I’ve put them all facing the one direction below, but you could alternate directions in the rows, too, for a bit of variation. A colour gradation would also be very pretty.

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

Or how about a single, rebel fish? (We all know a red fish, right?)

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

Perhaps you could add a pair of kissing fish in the middle:

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

Then there’s this one, which I’m calling The Party Starters:

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

So lots of scrap quilt fun to be had with this block, to be sure.

I hope this gives you some ideas to help reduce your scrap pile. Do know a someone (a Pisces?) who’d like a fish quilt of their own?

Which is your favourite quilt layout – let me know in the comments.

Happy sewing!

Kirsty

Sew a scrap quilt from these fun fish quilt blocks at Bonjour Quilts

*affiliate link

Filed Under: Blog, tutorial

Quarter Square Triangles

September 8, 2018 By Kirsty 26 Comments

Quarter Square Triangles – what a handy block! Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs) can come in a few forms. You might know them as hourglass blocks or perhaps the hybrid Split Quarter Square Triangle. Let’s take a look at them all, with a downloadable Quarter Square Triangle chart thrown in for good measure!

Learn to sew Quarter Square Triangle, Hourglass and Split Quarter Square Triangle blocks

Quarter Square Triangle Variations

Just so we’re all on the same sheet of music, this is what I mean by QST, hourglass and Split QST blocks (see photo below).

Hourglass blocks are Quarter Square Triangle blocks made with only two fabrics, which creates the hourglass silhouette. Or a bow tie if you read it from side to side instead of up and down. (A)

Quarter Square Triangles have four different colour fabrics in the block. (B)

Split Quarter Square Triangles are made with 3 fabrics and consist of one large triangle and two smaller triangles. (C)

Quarter Square Triangle, Hourglass and Split Quarter Square Triangle quilt blocks

How to sew Quarter Square Triangles

As the name suggests, the QST block is simply four triangles sewn together to give a square.

You could by all means cut four separate triangles and then sew them together to form the Quarter Square Triangle block.

Quarter Square Triangle format and split quarter square triangles

This method is handy if you need an exact layout (you want to know the position of all the fabrics). It’s important to remember to cut your individual triangles such that the straight grains of the fabric are on the outer edge of the block. If the bias grain is on the outside you run the risk of stretching. If you cut your triangles from each fabric like this, you’ll be fine:

Sewing quarter square triangles

This method makes it easy to sew a specific unit but it can be a pain to sew bias edges together. Also, if you need a small block the tiny individual triangles will be a bit tricky to handle. For these reasons I prefer to make my Quarter Square Triangles from Half Square Triangle blocks, and that’s what I’m going to show you today.

Hourglass blocks

To make the Hourglass variant of a Quarter Square Triangle you’ll start with 2 oversized squares which you’ll use to make 2 identical HSTs. You will then sew the 2 HSTs together and cut them apart to yield 2 identical hourglass blocks.

Hourglass quilt blocks (quarter square triangles)

When you’ve made your 2 HSTs it helps to press the seams both toward the same fabric. Then put them right sides together, but with different colours opposite each other (the seam will nest). You can see the purple faces the mauve below, and the seam is nested.

How to sew quarter square triangle blocks

Draw a diagonal perpendicular to the direction of the seam, as seen below. Make sure it is at 90 degrees to your seam, otherwise you’ll have trouble maintaining your points in the corner.

How to make quarter square triangle quilt blocks

Sew a seam a quarter inch either side of the drawn line. Cut the units apart along the drawn line and press your hourglass units open.

Hourglass block (how to sew this quarter square triangle variant)

So 2 squares make 2 HSTs, which are then used to make 2 hourglass blocks. Don’t worry, I’ll talk about starting square size and trimming a bit further on.

Quarter Square Triangles

This “true” Quarter Square Triangle is made from 2 different HSTs blocks, instead of 2 identical HSTs.

Quarter Square Triangle quilt blocks

The process is the same – the HSTs are placed right sides together, seams nesting, with a diagonal drawn perpendicular to the HST seams. Two HSTs will yield two QSTs.

Quarter square triangle diagram

One thing to note here is that the 2 Quarter Square Triangles produced will NOT be identical – so keep that in mind when you’re planning your design.

Split Quarter Square Triangles

This nifty little unit is made by replacing one of the HST units with a solid square.

Split Quarter Square triangle blocks

The HST unit is placed right sides together with the square and a diagonal is again drawn perpendicular to the HST seam. One HST and one square will yield 2 SQSTs.

Split Quarter Square Triangles

Again, the 2 Split Quarter Square Triangles produced will NOT be identical – they are mirror images.

Quarter Square Triangle Chart

Let’s talk about the size of the starting squares needed to make Quarter Square Triangle blocks.

I make my Quarter Square Triangles the same way I make my Half Square Triangles – oversized. I prefer to make them a little on the large size and then trim them back to give really accurate blocks.

If however you’ve perfected your quarter inch seam and really don’t like trimming, then you can create your Quarter Square Triangles with this formula:

Starting square size = finished QST size + 1-1/4″

So if you want a 4″ QST when it’s sewn into a quilt, you’ll need to start with four 5-1/4″ squares.

If you’re like me and want a bit of breathing room so you can trim your QSTs back to size, then use this formula instead:

Starting square size = finished QST size + 1-1/2″

So if you want that 4″ QST then with the oversizing method you’ll need to start with four 5-1/2″ squares.

Here’s a handy Quarter Square Triangle Chart that lists the starting square sizes for various QST sizes (for the oversized method).

Quarter Square Triangle Chart with cutting and trimming sizes

If you’d like a printable version of this chart you can fill in the boxes below and I’ll email it to you. You’ll also get some handy extra emails that will show you where to find some of my other tutorials and downloadable quilting projects.

Quarter Square Triangle Trimming

Firstly, I recommend using a square ruler when trimming your Quarter Square Triangles. I have this one* (below) and it’s fantastic for blocks 6″ and less because of that high density area of lines which makes it easier to pinpoint the centre of your block.

Best quarter square triangle ruler

There are two important things to look for when you trim your blocks:

1. Correctly measuring your centre point, and

2. Making sure the diagonals are 45 degrees at the corners of the block.

The centre point of the block will be at the half of the measurement of the unfinished block. So back to our 4″ QSTs:

A 4″ finished QST is 4-1/2″ unfinished. Half of that is 2-1/4″. So you’ll want to put the centre point of your block under the intersection of the lines 2-1/4″ from the edge of the ruler.

The red arrow, below, show the block centre point at 2-1/4″. The black arrows show where the diagonals hit the block corners (remembering the block will be trimmed to 4-1/2″).

Quarter Square Triangle trimming tips and Trimming Chart

It’s important the diagonals are bisecting the corners and you may have to wriggle/rotate your ruler a bit to make this happen. It’s not always possible to get all four corners spot on, but do your best to make them all as accurate as you can.

Quarter square triangle trimming tips

Having trouble with your triangle diagonals not meeting at the corners? You might need to pay more attention to when you draw your diagonal line on the back of your HSTs. Remember how I mentioned it needs to be perpendicular to the HST seam? Even if it means your line isn’t exactly from corner to corner when you draw it, you want to make sure the line is 90 degrees to the HST seam to create four even quadrants in your block.

I’ve also included the trimming size (unfinished size) on the downloadable chart, as well as the centre point location. It’s good to have all the info in the one place.

What to make with Quarter Square Triangles

I’m biased, but I think you should make my Fleur Queen or Fleur Mini pattern! They both use SQST blocks.

Fleur Mini:

Fleur mini quilt pattern PDF - by Kirsty of Bonjour Quilts

Fleur Queen:

Fleur queen sized quilt pattern PDF - by Kirsty of Bonjour Quilts

Peta of She Quilts A lot adapted the queen to a crib quilt (below) by only using 4 of the Fleur blocks – isn’t it fantastic!

Peta of She Quilts A lot made this version of my Fleur quilt pattern

I hope you get the chance to experiment with Quarter Square Triangles soon. Be sure to drop me an email and show me what you’ve made!

Cheers,

Kirsty

*affiliate link

Filed Under: Blog, tutorial

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 12
  • Next Page »

Don’t Miss A Thing!

Keep up to date with all my tutorials and patterns.

Your email will be safe and never shared, and it's easy to unsubscribe at any time.

  • Home
  • Shop
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 Bonjour Quilts

Unless stated otherwise, all content (text and photographs) belongs to Bonjour Quilts, so please do not use without permission. The use of a single photograph and a link back to the site is fine, for educational or informational purposes, but please don’t republish more than this in any form (digital or paper). Do not take my photographs and offer them for download (free or paid) on your website.