Need Help Lengthening a Quilt
 

My ex-husband is next on my quilt list (he’s already been on my other list which is why he’s my ex but we’re good friends). As I said before, I have a lot of patriotic fabric but I’ve decided against using it for a rag quilt. Instead, I’d like to make him the quilt in the picture below. It’s a simple quilt but the fabric I have is not so I think a simple pattern with complex fabrics would work well.

The problem is the quilt is only 53” x 53” finished. I don’t think I need to widen it but I’d like to make it longer and I’m not sure how I’d do that with this pattern. Any suggestions? It’s a free pattern so I’m including a link to the site that has the download instructions if that might help.

http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/quilt-...colorful-steps

Can you make more squares and add to the top and/or bottom?
Or maybe add a white border then a couple of colored ones to top and bottom.

Just add another stair/step on either or both ends.

Easier if you put it on graph paper. If you are adding another row or
two at the bottom, use the blocks just above but skip the first one.
In other words the next row would start with the turquoise, white,
yellow. Then you will have to add another block at the end.
Maybe repeat with the orange/white/purple like in the top corner.
Hope this helps.

Yes! That helps and makes sense. It might be clearer, too, once I start putting it together. Thank you Peezy!

when you draw it on the graph paper, dont forget to color your blocks to match your fabric choices so it will turn out the way you want yours to look. Its a great pattern, good luck!

When I need to widen or lengthen a quilt I tend to use what scraps I have leftover. Here's a pic or two how I did some. I like to add colored squares between the neutral squares, diamonds along added sashing/borders or just add extra sashings and borders before the last border. On one scrappy quilt you can see I just stitched a bunch of the scraps and then cut them to go along the top and bottom to lengthen the quilt. Anything to uses up the scraps. Sometimes I'll even add them to the backing if I have to piece it anyway.

Suz, all great examples!

Snooze2978 - those are all great looking!

When I lengthened a quilt for a friend I just added a row of pinwheels (what ever pattern you choose) to the top and bottom and it worked out well.

I add either another border, blocks top and bottom, pinwheel blocks, 4 patch blocks, a strip top and bottom of piano key borders, whatever to make it the length or width I want it to be.

Very pretty quilts Snooze.

Snooze, your quilts are beautiful!!!

Suz, all lovely quilts and so creative in using different methods of extension. Think most of us are very impressed!

Thanks all for your kind words. I tend to try to use up all the scraps from the quilt so I try to come up with different ideas. On the blue/yellow log cabin quilt I took more of the diamond blocks and added them to the backing to use them up. We all know how scraps multiply so quickly so any ways I can use them up, I do.

This gave me a good chuckle to start out my day. :-). On a side note, :-). the Colorful-steps is a rail fence pattern. All you need to do is make more blocks and add them to the bottom until you get the desired length. Even though you think it is wide enough, I might add to the side also so the quilt it is in proportion to the length.

The blocks are really simple. They finish at 9 inches square and have 3 finished 3x9 inch pieces to each block, with the neutral being the center strip. I drew the quilt out in EQ7 and added a 1" sashing, just as a blank area so you can see how the blocks go together and which colors go where. There is no sashing in the quilt as shown for free on the website. If I were making this quilt, I would count all the similar colored blocks and make them as per the count.

I am with Ellen 1 and Barb in Louisiana, just make extra rows. I did one with just 4 colors, 4 strips in each block turning them as pictured. Depending on the size I either made it with 1 yard of each fabric or 1.25 yards of fabric. Usually able to have enough left over for the binding which was a combination of all 4 fabrics in the quilt.