fourth post on designing a quilt

Here is where I went to scribbling, comparing between what EQ6 printed out and my humble math skills. We got about the same answers. They were a little more generous than I was so I used their numbers.



If you enlarge the above photo you will notice I went through and marked where each solid block was in the pen-n-pencil drawing. That helped me keep track of the pattern I wanted to build.



I need 88 4 1/2" solid pink blocks. So how much fabric am I going to need? My finished size of block is 4". I will need to add 1/4" seam allowance on each side, so my block ends up 4 1/2" square. Divide the width of you fabric by 4.5 to get the number of blocks you can get out of a strip. I always use 40" for the width of the fabric because fabric varies from 40 to 45-inches wide. I want to have more than enough fabric in case I change my mind about how I want to use a piece of fabric. (Yes I do that, a lot!) So any way 4.5 divided in to 40 equals 8 and some change. Now divide 8 into 88 and that tells you, you will need 11 strips 4.5-inches deep. Multiply 11 by 4.5 and you have 49.5-inches of fabric. You also need 16 solid pink right triangles. Add 7/8" to the finished block size and that will give you the size of block you will need. In this case a 4 7/8" block will give you 2 right triangles when you cut the block in two. Once again divide 4.875 into 40 which equals 8 and some change. Since each block will give you 2 and I need 16 one strip 4 7/8" wide will do the trick. Add the two quantities together and you have the yardage you need for each fabric you will be using. Or you can buy a special calculator to do the math and I'm sure there is a computer program out there that will do the math also. The All-in-One Quilter's Reference Tool has the charts and explains the 'Magic Cutting Numbers'.

So what did EQ6 and my math skills come up with for fabric requirements?
104 pieces at 1 3/4 yards of pink solid
108 pieces at 1 7/8 yards of pink gingham
58 pieces at 1/8 yard or a fat quarter for the cornerstones (EDIT: Fuzzy math skills at work here, a fat quarter is twice the fabric as an eighth .)
96 pieces of sashing at 1 yard
4 pieces of border one or the most inside at 1/2 yard
4 pieces of border two at 3/4 yard
4 pieces of border three at 1 yard

EQ6 notes the fabric estimates for the borders are for pieced borders. Here another choice! Do you or do you not piece the borders? The answer 'it depends'! Borders that are not pieced look really nice and are easier to hand quilt but you have to buy fabric in the length of the border and understand you will have a big chunk left over. Border #3 needs a piece 90" long or 2 1/2 yards. Then you will cut off two strips 3 1/2" or 4 1/2" wide and then two strips 63" long same width. If you are into stash enhancement no big deal. If you are on a budget could be.



Here are some of the fabrics I picked out to use. This is what looked good to me at the time. As I continue to look at the fabrics and build the quilt I may change my mind as to placement or find something else that inspires me.



I was trying out two different fabrics for the cornerstones. I liked the very dark purple on the left the best. I was looking at the cornerstones and border #1 being the same fabric but I don't have enough of the purple and the black floral is questionable. So I am going to use both.



I am playing with borders and the fabric for the binding.



I will probably go with the lighter green. However I did find a 1/2" pink gingham that I am also contemplating. We'll see, I don't usually look for binding until the whole quilt is put together.



To figure how much binding I will need I measure the perimeter of the quilt and multiply that by the width of the binding and that gives me the square inches of fabric I need. Then I divide that by 40" to give me the length of the fabric I need. This is also helpful when you have scraps and fat quarters, if you know your square inches you need for your binding, you can figure the square inches of the pieces you have and find out if you will have enough fabric. Always add some to your guess estimate of fabric you have for seams.



This is the fabric I cannibalized from Mother's stack of blocks. Did you know that there are at least a half-dozen different shades of pink not to mention sizes of gingham?



I was short solid pink blocks in the color I wanted to use. So I went through the solid pink I have from her stash and found a piece. This is all I have leftover. That was too close for comfort! The quilting muses must have been smiling on me when I pick that shade of pink to use.



These are the blocks completed and ready to go.



This is the fabric I choose for the backing. I will need 5 1/4 yards with a center seam and leftovers. If you are going to hand quilt I recommend you look at getting special fabric for backing in widths up to 110". It saves a lot of wear-n-tear on your fingers.



Using my 'design bed' with a sheet laid on it to transport my layout. I arranged the blocks in a way that looked good to me. Folded it up and brought it into my sewing room to get started.



And a piece of eye candy! I have finished the first corner. I like how it looks. I will be tweaking the construction as I am trying something new and I let you know how it worked out.

Now for some recommended read:

The Quilting Coach Good info but be forewarned if you subscribe you will get 2 or 3 e-mails a day.
About.com Quilting
Ludlow Quilt and Sew She has some great videos for the beginning quilter.
Crazy Shortcut Quilts I really love her videos.
Quilt University Great place to take classes and I loved their sample class 'Border Crossings'.

Plus 2,670,000 results if you type into Google Search “free tutorials for quilting”. Happy reading! (Insert maniacal laugh!)

Have a good day!

Judy

quilt designing third post

Gardening was rather short lived! It is rainy and cool again today.

There are other ways of designing a quilt than a computer program. I don't recommend buying a design program unless you are really, really going to use it. I have the gold standard of design programs that I don't use in nine out of ten quilts I make. There are less expensive design programs and I would have been just as happy with them. One issue I do have with EQ6 is that I can not attach a quilt design to an e-mail unless the other person also has EQ without some fancy footwork outside the program.

So how do I design a quilt? I use my 'design bed' or 'design floor' and paper-n-pencil. A design wall could be a nice item to have if you have the wall space for one and don't make king-size quilts. The first quilt was designed on a floor and the other on a bed.





This is the way I was taught to make or design a quilt. Pick a block pattern you wanted and make a mountain of blocks.



Do this until you are sick of making that block pattern or run out of fabric. Or at least that is the way it looks to me! :>) This is the way my mother and her mother made quilts. Then you lay out your blocks on a bed trying to find a design that appeals.

Most of us put more thought than that into making a quilt. First, you need to know how large a quilt you want to make. Here is a chart for figuring the size of your quilt or type in Google ‘quilt sizing charts’. This is how to figure quilt sizes; take the size of the mattress and adding say a 12-inch drop on 3 sides times the 3% shrinkage in the quilting and that is the size of quilt you are making. If you make a quilt for a bunk bed measure the depth of the mattress and only make it that deep on three sides. Example: I have a standard king bed, the mattress is 76” by 80”. So (76+12+12) times 1.03 will equal the width of the quilt; and (80+12) times 1.03 equals the length. The size of quilt I want to make is 103” by 94.76”.

Okay, here is where I will do some fudging from practical experience. For king and queen size quilts I will make them square so that all four sides can be used at the top to keep the wear and soiling down of the top edge. With that in mind I also design quilts that aren’t directional, any edge looks good at the top. (See the embroidered quilt above.) My king quilts are 103” by 103” or 100” by 100”. I also don’t design in tucks for pillows because I don’t like the look but you can.

Now you have the size of the quilt and the finished size of the block you want to make. Some simple math will tell you how many blocks you will need to make. The quilt we have been designing is 63" by 87" the 9-patches in the photos are 12" square. 63 divided by 12 is 5 with 3 left over. 87 divided by 12 is 7 with 3 left over. So we need 7 x5=35 blocks with 1.5-inches on all four sides for a border. I'd probably make each border 3 or 4 inches for a more balanced look or eliminate it if you want. So you would only make 35 blocks and then start laying them out to see what you get.



One of the beauties of laying a quilt out on a bed is you get to see the dynamics of what the drop or drape as I call it looks like. It really helps with decisions like where you want the break for borders or sashings to be. You also can go from squared up to on point trying out color placement all at the same time.



We use to stack up our blocks in a pile, in order after deciding the layout. I have also numbered the blocks to keep them in order.



A better way is to lay down a sheet before you begin arranging your quilt. Then when you are done, fold or roll up your sheet until you get a chance to sew it up.

One of the other areas that the 'design wall' process shines in is auditioning different fabrics for sashings, borders or cornerstones. You can lay, say your sashing fabric out next to your blocks, step away and see how you like it. If you don't, keep changing it out until you get something you like. This works real well in a fabric shop if you take in 3 or 4 blocks lay them out and start playing with bolts of fabric. (If the store you go into won't let you do this find a different store!)

I now couple the 'design wall' with paper-n-pencil. I get more accurate sashing, cornerstones and borders. I can change the sizes until I have something that fits into the size of quilt I am making as well as number of borders or sashings.



This is what I used to draw the paper-n-pencil version of the quilt I designed in EQ6. When I want to color my quilts I don't normally use markers. What I usually use are colored pencils. Mine have disappeared! A search and recover mission is in my future: >)



I had to tape two pieces of 1/4" graph paper end-to-end to get a piece the size I wanted to work with in the scale I wanted to use which was 1/8" equals 1". One of the things I do is find center, place it where two lines intersect and measure out from there. I also mark the perimeter of the quilt in ink and then number every 10" around two sides. It helps me to stay within scale and I don't lose the perimeter of my quilt with any wild erasing I might do.



I label my design and write down the dimensions of the over-all quilt. In the space leftover I will list the number of sashing strips, size and how much fabric I need to make it. I do the same thing with each component of the quilt. Except for the blocks because I usually have a stack to work from! : >)



On some quilts I will draw and cut up a batch of blocks to peel and stick to the paper framework I have drawn.



Note that in this pile of blocks is the blocks are smaller than the one below. I messed up on the scale of the blocks!



Now with the proper size blocks I started sticking them on the framework looking at design possibilities.





The next photo is both possibilities at the same time.



I then removed the paper blocks and started to draw in the blocks with sashings from the center of the quilt.



The next two shots show a comparison between the EQ6 version and paper-n-pencil sketch.





Obviously the EQ6 one is prettier but where, in my opinion, the low tech one shines above the computer generated one is as you were drawing the lines you were doing a trial construction of the quilt. Every line you drew is a seam line!



Here is a close-up. I drew in each seam line. When I get to the actual construction I will know how each unit fits into the bigger picture.

Next up is figuring the yardage of each fabric and finding the fabrics I want to use to make this quilt. But first I need to roll the laundry over, feed and water animals since it has stopped raining for a bit. So I will hit the publish button and get back with you.

Have a good day!

Judy