Plaid Patches
12-22-2013, 09:58 AM
#15
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Small town in Northeast Oregon close to Washington and Idaho
Posts: 2,795
I have a lot of plaids and didn't know what to do with all of them until...I saw your quilt. So, is it a pattern or a pattern in your brain? I love it and would like to do that with my plaids!!
12-23-2013, 01:47 PM
#19
Super Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Upstate NY, north of Syracuse Area
Posts: 6,003
It's actually an adaptation of the popular stack and whack crazy 9 patch.... there are several names. I am happy to give you a brief tutorial here. Mine is made from deconstructed shirts and other cotton clothing items, so the size of starting blocks is determined by the smallest large piece I could get from the chosen items.
To explain further: For the twin size I chose, I needed to make 18 blocks. In designing my layout on graph paper, I wanted to go with the rectangular block so that I could add the long rectangle to fill in the spaces left when I rotated the blocks. This gave me the opportunity to add a few more plaids.
Because DGD wanted large pieces of fabric, I took most of my pieces from shirt backs, etc. I think each piece started out at about 17 x 26". I chose two piles of 9 different plaids each. Normally, one would make a total of 4 random cuts thru the 9 pieces of stacked fabric and end up with nine 9Patch blocks with 9 different fabrics in each. I DID NOT follow that procedure. What I did instead, was to make only two random cuts thru the 9 layers of fabric.
This way, I ended up with 9 blocks with only 3 colors of fabric in each block. Granted, this gave some long bias edges to sew together. I was just careful to not pull or stretch them and did pin the center and end of each piece to help prevent stretch.
For the second stack of 9 different plaids, I repeated the process, making sure my 2 random cuts resulted in different shapes than in the first stack.
Once the blocks were sewn back together, I trimmed them to all the same size and squared the corners.
Next I cut the rectangles to fill in the spaces left from rotating the blocks. These ended up being 5.5" x 25".
I played with the layout on my design wall (say flannel backed tablecloth) until I was happy, then sewed the strips to the blocks that needed them. Then sewed the blocks together in rows; the rows together, etc.
It was a little short to suit me, so I added a 5.5" border at top and bottom.
Quilting is a simple quarter inch outline stitch around each section.
If this is only as clear as mud, please feel free to ask here or PM me with any questions and I'll do my best to help. I'll be away for a few days during Christmas, but will try to keep an eye out.
To explain further: For the twin size I chose, I needed to make 18 blocks. In designing my layout on graph paper, I wanted to go with the rectangular block so that I could add the long rectangle to fill in the spaces left when I rotated the blocks. This gave me the opportunity to add a few more plaids.
Because DGD wanted large pieces of fabric, I took most of my pieces from shirt backs, etc. I think each piece started out at about 17 x 26". I chose two piles of 9 different plaids each. Normally, one would make a total of 4 random cuts thru the 9 pieces of stacked fabric and end up with nine 9Patch blocks with 9 different fabrics in each. I DID NOT follow that procedure. What I did instead, was to make only two random cuts thru the 9 layers of fabric.
This way, I ended up with 9 blocks with only 3 colors of fabric in each block. Granted, this gave some long bias edges to sew together. I was just careful to not pull or stretch them and did pin the center and end of each piece to help prevent stretch.
For the second stack of 9 different plaids, I repeated the process, making sure my 2 random cuts resulted in different shapes than in the first stack.
Once the blocks were sewn back together, I trimmed them to all the same size and squared the corners.
Next I cut the rectangles to fill in the spaces left from rotating the blocks. These ended up being 5.5" x 25".
I played with the layout on my design wall (say flannel backed tablecloth) until I was happy, then sewed the strips to the blocks that needed them. Then sewed the blocks together in rows; the rows together, etc.
It was a little short to suit me, so I added a 5.5" border at top and bottom.
Quilting is a simple quarter inch outline stitch around each section.
If this is only as clear as mud, please feel free to ask here or PM me with any questions and I'll do my best to help. I'll be away for a few days during Christmas, but will try to keep an eye out.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
