Quilt. Every Little Bit. Tutorial

Turn what may seem like trash into a quilt you truly will treasure. The design will have you saving the smallest of leftovers to create the scrappy Churn Dash blocks.

Materials

 42-12x21" pieces or 4 5/8 yards total assorted dark prints in red, blue, green, plum, black, brown, and gold (blocks, sashing)
 3 1/3 yards tan print (blocks, sashing, inner border)
 1 1/4 yards blue tone-on-tone (middle border, binding)
 1 1/4 yards red print (outer border)
 4 1/4 yards backing fabric
 Tracing paper or other foundation material
 75x83" batting

Finished quilt: 66 1/2x74 1/2"
Finished blocks: 6" square


Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width.
Measurements include 1/4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated.
Press seams in directions indicated by arrows on diagrams. If no direction is specified, press toward darker fabric.

Cut fabrics

Cut pieces in the following order.
From assorted dark prints, cut:
138—3 1/4" squares
84—2 7/8" squares
1,344—1 1/4x2" rectangles

From tan print, cut:
6—2 1/2x42" strips for inner border
97—2 1/2x6 1/2" sashing strips
84—2 7/8" squares
168—1 1/2x21/2" rectangles
328—1 1/2" squares

From blue tone-on-tone, cut:
15—2 1/2x42" strips for middle border and binding
From red print, cut:
7—4 1/2x42" strips for outer border

Assemble hourglass units

1. Use a pencil to mark a diagonal line on wrong side of 69 assorted dark print 3 1/4" squares.
2. Layer a marked dark print 3 1/4" square atop an unmarked dark print 3 1/4" square. Sew together with two seams, stitching 1/4" on each side of drawn line (Diagram 1). Cut pair apart on drawn line and press open to make two large triangle-squares. Each should be 2 7/8" square including seam allowances. Repeat to make 138 large triangle-squares total.
3. Mark a diagonal line perpendicular to seam line on wrong side of 69 large triangle-squares.
4. Layer a marked large trianglesquare atop an unmarked large triangle-square (Diagram 2).
Sew 1/4" from each side of drawn line. Cut pair apart on drawn line and press open to make two hourglass units. Each unit should be 2 1/2" square including seam allowances. Repeat to make 138 hourglass units total.

Assemble Square-in-a-Square units

1. Mark a diagonal line on wrong side of each tan print 1 1/2" square.
2. Align marked tan print 1 1/2" squares with opposite corners of an hourglass unit (Diagram 3; note direction of marked lines). Sew on marked lines. Trim excess fabric, leaving 1/4" seam allowances.
3. Align marked tan print 1 1/2" squares with remaining corners of hourglass unit (Diagram 4). Stitch and trim as before to make a Square-in-a-Square unit. The unit should be 2 1/2" square including seam allowances.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to make 82 Square-in-a-Square units total.

Make small triangle-squares

1. Mark a diagonal line on wrong side of each tan print 2 7/8" square.
2. Using marked tan print 2 7/8" squares and assorted dark print 2 7/8" squares, repeat Assemble Hourglass Units, Step 2, page 42, to make 168 small triangle-squares (Diagram 5). Each should be 2 1/2" square including seam allowances.

Make foundation papers

The Foundation Pattern is on Pattern Sheet 4. Make copies of the Foundation Pattern using one of the following methods, then cut out each pattern roughly 1/4" outside dashed lines to make 168 foundation papers:
Use a pencil to trace the Foundation Pattern 168 times onto lightweight tracing paper or other foundation material, tracing all lines and numerals.
Download a page of 12 Foundation Patterns from AllPeopleQuilt.com/097 and print it 14 times onto foundation material.

Assemble strip units

1. With right sides together, layer two assorted dark print 1 1/4x2" rectangles, aligning long edges. Referring to Diagram 6, place a foundation paper atop layered pieces, positioning it so aligned edges are 1/4" beyond stitching line between positions 1 and 2.

2. Working with marked side of foundation paper up, sew on stitching line through all layers, extending seamseveral stitches past dashed lines on pattern (Diagram 6). Trim seam allowances to 1/8" (Diagram 7).

3. Press position 2 rectangle open, and trim it to about 1/4" beyond stitching line between positions 2 and 3 (Diagram 8).
4. With right sides together, align a third dark print 1 1/4x2" rectangle withtrimmed edge of position 2 rectangle. Sew on stitching line between positions 2 and 3 (Diagram 9). Trim seam allowances to 1/8". Press position 3 rectangle open and trim it 1/4" beyond stitching lines between positions 3 and 4.

5. Continue adding dark print rectangles, stitching and trimming in same manner, until you have pieced entire foundation paper. Trim pieced unit and foundation paper on dashed lines to make a strip unit (Diagram 10). The unit should be 2 1/2x1 1/2" including seam allowances Remove foundation paper with tweezers or the blunt edge of a seam ripper. If desired, stay-stitch 1/8" from outer edges of unit to prevent distortion.
6. Repeat steps 1–5 to make 168 strip units total.

Assemble blocks

1. Sew together a strip unit and a tan print 1 1/2x2 1/2" rectangle to make a side unit (Diagram 11). The unit should be 2 1/2" square including seam allowances. Repeat to make 168 side units total.
2. Referring to Diagram 12, lay out one Square-in-a-Square unit, four small triangle-squares, and four side units in three rows. Sew together pieces in each row. Join rows to make a Churn Dash block. The block should be 6 1/2" square including seam allowances. Repeat to make 42 Churn Dash blocks total.

3. Referring to Diagram 13, lay out six hourglass units and three Square-in-a-Square units in three rows. Sew together pieces in each row. Join rows to make a border block. The block should be 6 1/2" square including seam allowances. Repeat to make four border blocks total.

 Assemble quilt center

Referring to Quilt Assembly Diagram, lay out 28 hourglass units, 28 Square-in-a-Square units, tan print 2 1/2x6 1/2" sashing strips, and Churn Dash blocks in 15 horizontal rows. Sew together pieces in each row. Press seams toward sashing strips. Join rows to make quilt center. Press seams away from block rows. The quilt center should be 50 1/2x58 1/2" including seam allowances.

Assemble and  add inner border

1. Cut and piece tan print 2 1/2x42" strips to make:
2-2 1/2x58 1/2" inner border strips
2-2 1/2x50 1/2" inner border strips
2. Sew long inner border strips to long edges of quilt center. Press seams toward inner border.

3. Sew remaining hourglass units to ends of short inner border strips to make pieced strips. Sew pieced strips to remaining edges of quilt center. Press seams toward inner border. The quilt center now should be 54 1/2x62 1/2" including seam allowances.

Assemble and add middle and outer borders

1. Cut and piece blue tone-on-tone 2 1/2x42" strips to make:
2-2 1/2x62 1/2" middle border strips
2-2 1/2x54 1/2" middle border strips

2. Cut and piece red print 4 1/2x42" strips to make:
2-4 1/2x62 1/2" outer border strips
2-4 1/2x54 1/2" outer border strips

3. Sew together a long middle border strip and a long outer border strip to make a side border unit (Quilt Assembly Diagram). Press seam toward outer border strip. The unit should be 6 1/2x62 1/2" including seam allowances. Repeat to make a second side border unit.
4. Sew together a short middle border strip and a short outer border strip; press seam toward outer border strip. Join a border block to each end of joined strips to make a top border unit (Quilt Assembly Diagram; note orientation of blocks). Press seams away from blocks. The unit should be 6 1/2x66 1/2" including seam allowances. Repeat to make a bottom border unit. (Refer to photo, to see orientation of blocks on bottom border unit.)
5. Sew side border units to long edges of quilt center. Add top and bottom border units to remaining edges to complete quilt top. Press all seams toward border units.

Finish quilt

1. Layer quilt top, batting, and backing; baste.
2. Quilt as desired. Machine-quilted arcs, parallel lines, and dense ribbon designs in the Churn Dash blocks (Quilting Diagram). She stitched arced pinwheel patterns in the sashing, continuous swirls in the inner border, and a feathered vine in the outer border.
3. Bind with remaining blue tone-ontone 2 1/2x42" strips.