Quilt Block – French Braid

Intermediate level 2

French Braid is one of my favorite patchwork designs to make and to look at. The look is meant to mimic the French Braid hairstyle, in which sections of hair are woven together from the crown of the head to the nape of the neck. This is one of those techniques that is easier to make than it looks.

Jelly roll strips (2-1/2 inches wide by width of fabric) are great for making French Braids. They are, of course, precut, and they also come in coordinating colors and designs.

Here are the parts in a French Braid quilt. I won’t use all these parts for my block but I think it’s useful to see what they are first.

Prepare Fabric

  1. Pick 6 different strips from your jelly roll or cut a strip, 2-1/2 inches wide by width of fabric from 6 different fabric colors and/or designs.
  2. Cut 4 pieces from each jelly roll strip, each 10-1/2 inches long by 2-1/2 inches wide.
  3. Lay the strips out in the order in which you want them to be in your braid. We will build the braid from the bottom up so lay the strips out accordingly.
  4. I decided to use the same fabric for my bottom triangle and my accent squares but you can use different colors. 
    1. Cut one 11-1/2 inch by 11-1/2 inch square from your bottom triangle fabric.
    2. Cut the square on the diagonal to make 2 half square triangles.
  5. Cut one piece, 2-1/2 inches wide by width of fabric for the accent squares.
  6. Cut the accent square strip into 2-1/2 inch by 2-1/2 inch squares.

Make Braid

  1. Right sides together, sew a side piece to the top left side of the bottom triangle.

2. Press towards the strips you just added.

3. Using another piece of the same fabric strip, sew an accent square to the end of the strip, with right sides together.

4. Press towards the strip you just added.

5. Right sides together, nest your seam and sew the accent piece/side piece combination to the right side of the bottom triangle.

6. Press towards the strip you just added.

7. Repeat steps 1 through 6 to add rows to the braid segment until you have 7 rows total.

Note: It may seem tedious to press each time you add a strip and pin the seam on the accent square but the tidy results seem worth it to me.

Trim to Size and Add Borders

  1. Line a ruler up to as shown here and trim the edges from the right side of the block.

2. Flip and do the same for the other side of the block.

3. Trim across the top of the block as shown.

4. Trim across the bottom of the block so the block ends up 14-1/2 inches by 14-1/2 inches.

  1. Cut two pieces, each 1-1/2 inches wide by 14-1/2 inches long for side borders.
  2. Cut two pieces, each 1-1/2 inches wide by 16-1/2 inches wide for top and bottom borders.
  3. Add side borders first and then top and bottom borders. You end up with a 16-1/2 inch by 16-1/2 inch block.

I made a second block, using the remaining pieces from the strips I cut for the first block. Then I made a tote bag! A full tutorial on how to construct the tote bag from the blocks you create is available at https://www.etsy.com/listing/1061546252/quilted-tote-bag-tutorial-pdf

Quilt Blocks – Pick Your Own Image

Intermediate level

If you’ve ever looked at one of your own images (photos or artwork) or one you saw online and thought, “I wish I could print that and use it in a quilt block,” then this post is for you.

My friend Kristy Zgoda is an amazing artist in several mediums. She sent me two fabulous pieces of artwork and said I could print them onto fabric and use them to make a tote bag. Thank you Kristy! You can see her wonderful beadwork designs at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Kristyz.

I know of two methods for printing on fabric using a home printer. If you know of other methods, please tell me about them in the comments for this post. I will be using an inkjet printer.

  1. Use a commercially available product, such as Colorfast White Printer Fabric by June Tailor, which is what I am going to try out for this project.
  2. Use freezer paper and your own fabric. Search for “how to print on fabric” to find videos that show how to do this. I will try that technique out as well.

Use a Commercial Product

Note: The product I am using from June Tailor comes in 8-1/2 by 11 inch sheets.

You want to get the highest quality version of the image you can to get the best results for printing. Decide how big you want the printed image to be. For my tote bags, I’m aiming at a 16-1/2 inch square block. Since my images are not square, I know I will be adding one or more borders to pad out the size to make a 16-1/2 inch square block.

  1. If you are using artwork, like I am, scan or take a picture of the image. Use the highest resolution you can.
  2. If you don’t want the whole image, crop the image to include just the part you want.
  3. Since the fabric I’m printing on is 8-1/2 by 11 inches, I can’t print it any larger than that. I also can’t print all the way to the edges so I picked the widest I can print, 7-1/2 inches, keeping the resolution that I scanned with (600 DPI), and scaling proportionally.
  1. Save your file and make a note of where you saved it.
  2. Do a test print on paper to make sure your image looks the way you want it to and is the size you wanted.
    Note: Make sure you print at 100%.
  3. Read the instructions that came with your printable fabric!
  4. When you’re ready to print on fabric, make sure you know which side up the fabric sheet goes into your printer. There should be a symbol that shows which side up to put paper. I recommend that you take all paper out of your paper tray and only put one printable fabric sheet in the tray.
  5. Print!
    The June Tailor fabric sheets instructions say to use “normal quality, plain paper” setting. That worked great for one image I printed but it was a bit faded on the second image I tried. So I tried again using “photo on matte paper” setting and the results were much better for the second image.
  6. Let your printed fabric sit for at least the time designated in the product instructions.
  7. When you’re ready to use your printed image, remove the backing.

Use Freezer Paper

Note: The reason you cut the fabric and paper larger than the target size is because if there is even a slight difference in size between the fabric and paper, you will end up with smudging when you print. I’m sure you can guess how I figured that out. And even with trimming down, sometimes I got smudges using freezer paper.

Note: Make sure you use freezer paper and not wax paper. Freezer paper is only coated on one side whereas wax paper is coated on both sides and it will definitely stick to your iron if you use wax paper.

  1. Cut a piece of fabric that is 10 inches by 12-1/2 inches.
    Obviously you want a color that is light enough to allow the image you are printing to show well.
  2. Iron the fabric so there are no wrinkles or creases.
  3. Cut a piece of freezer paper to 9-1/2 by 12 inches.
  4. Place your fabric on your ironing board, right side down if there is a right side.
  5. Center the freezer paper on the fabric, shiny side down. The shiny side is where the adhesive is and it’s usually on the inner part of the roll.
  6. Using no steam, iron the fabric and freezer paper together. Pay special attention to the corners. If you are have a problem in printing, it’s often in the corners.
  7. Let your homemade printable fabric cool down for a minute or so.
  8. Trim your printable fabric to 8-1/2 by 11 inches.
  9. You have now created more or less the equivalent of the printable fabric you can purchase. Repeat steps 1 through 10 in the previous section (Use a Commercial Product) to print your image.

Results

Here are the results. Neither looks exactly like the original but they are both pretty good. In a pinch, I would use the freezer paper method but, truthfully, I prefer the convenience and results of the commercial product.

Treat the Fabric

If you plan to wash the project you make with your printed block, it may be a good idea to treat it with Retayne. A good video showing this is at https://youtu.be/o2UzbGLaBK4

The June Tailor commercial product I used says it is Colorfast, and in my previous experiences with the product, it mostly is colorfast. The images faded a bit but not much with washing.

Use the Printable Fabric

Trim your printed fabric to the size you want. Leave at least 1/2 inch around the edges of the image. I only left 3/8 inch and I ended up cutting off a bit of one edge of my image.

Time to make my tote bag! The borders around the images are going to be different sizes since the images themselves were not the same size (different width and height and not in the same proportions).

As I said earlier, I want my blocks to end up 16-1/2 inches square. I will write in detail in another blog post about how I calculate borders for a center block or panel when I want the finished piece to be a specific size. This is how the blocks came out.

This is how my tote bag came out. I love it!

My instructions for making the complete tote bag are available at https://www.etsy.com/listing/1061546252/quilted-tote-bag-tutorial-pdf .

Quilted Diamonds – Overcoming My Fear

Intermediate level 2

I have avoided making quilts with diamonds in them because they look hard to do! I can’t imagine how I will line up all those seams and points. I have seen three different techniques for creating diamond quilts.

  1. The first technique involves cutting out each diamond and sewing them together one by one. Obviously this works but I was looking for a less labor-intensive and error-prone technique.
  2. I saw the second technique in the “Make a Simple Diamond Quilt with Jenny Doan of Missouri Star” youtube video (https://youtu.be/ncBPCHzliRI). In this, Jenny creates the diamonds using two triangles, sewn along the shortest edge.
  3. The third technique involves sewing strips together and then cutting sets of diamonds, which are then sewn together. This is the technique I’m going to try out.

I’m sure there are other techniques and, if you know of them, I hope you’ll put information about them in the comments for this post.

For my experiment, I am going for the traditional harlequin design, which has horizontal rows that are the same color.

  1. Cut nine 2-1/2 inch strips by width of fabric of two or more different colors. Lay out the strips in whatever order you want the colors to be across the panel.

2. Sew the strips together, along the long edges, in that same order. Press the seams open, either as you go or all at once.

3. Line up and make a cut along a 60 degree angle, ending at the lower left corner of the strip set. I don’t have a ruler that has a 60 degree line and is long enough so I put a longer ruler underneath it and lined up the edges. You only need to do this once for the panel. (The blue tape is to remind me where the 60 degree line is.)

4. Since the strips are 2-1/2 inches wide, make your next cut 2-1/2 inches wide, parallel to the 60 degree cut you already made.

5. Repeat to cut 10 strip sets total.

6. Stitch the first two cut strip sets as follows, making sure you line up the edges as shown in the diagram.

Here is a closer view.

7. Press seam towards the strip you just added.

8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you have sewn together all 10 strips sets.

9. Trim the overhanging points on both sides, leaving 1/4 inch from the point of the next row of diamonds.

10. Trim the the side on the right, lining up 1/4 inch to the right of the last point on the upper edge and the corresponding point on the bottom edge. Keep the part you cut off!

11. Flip around the piece you cut off and line up the color rows on the other end of your panel.

12. Flip the extra piece over to be right sides together with your panel. Stitch a 1/4 inch seam along the edge. Press towards the piece you just added.

13. You now have a panel that is about 16-1/2 by 22-1/2 inches in size.

14. For my tote bag, I want my panel to be 16-1/2 by 16-1/2 so I will trim this panel to that size, paying attention to the edges of the diamonds I am cutting through.

I created a second panel, the same design as the first with different orange fabric selections, and used the two panels to create a tote bag.

If you, like me, have been afraid of working with diamonds in quilting, fear no more! Give this technique a try. I think you’ll like it. I hope so!

My instructions for making the complete tote bag are available at https://www.etsy.com/listing/1061546252/quilted-tote-bag-tutorial-pdf .

Jelly Roll Race — Experiments and Variations

Intermediate level 4

When I first saw one of the Jelly Roll Race designs (original, 2, and 3) from Missouri Star Quilt Company (MSQC), I was intrigued. When I saw the video of how it goes together, I was even more intrigued. So I knew I had to try it out.

MSQC patterns are available from https://www.missouriquiltco.com/

MSQC videos are available at https://www.youtube.com/user/MissouriQuiltCo

The first Jelly Roll Race quilt I made was Jelly Roll Race 3. I was pretty pleased with how it came out. I like the blue and orange together. I didn’t use a jelly roll but instead cut strips from different blue prints and solids from my stash. Sewing on the triangles took a bit of time but overall it was a quick quilt to make.

The second quilt I made from this series was Jelly Roll Race 2. I was pretty pleased with how this one came out too. I like the aqua and magenta together. Once again, I didn’t use a jelly roll but instead cut strips from different aqua prints and solids from my stash. Sewing on the squares was much quicker than sewing on the triangles and it was a quick quilt to make.

The third quilt I made from this series was also Jelly Roll Race 2. This time I did use a jelly roll,“Kashmir” by Dan Morris. I like the feel of this quilt but it seems too busy to me. I’m thinking now I wonder what it would have been like if I had alternated cream solid strips with the print strips.

I did a bunch of experiments to see if you could control color placement by how you sew the sections together after you have sewn all the strips together. The construction of this design makes it really hard to figure out what is going to end up where. Unfortunately I didn’t save the photos from those experiments and I didn’t end up with any definitive answer. Now it occurs to me that I can do those experiments on a smaller scale for tote bag panels so here we go.

Experiment 1 — Tote Bag Panel Sizing

For my first experiment, I decided to do Jelly Roll Race 2, with colors from my stash. My goal is a panel that is 20 inches wide by 32 inches high.

Version 1: 6 jelly roll strips with 2-1/2 inch divider squares. It ended up 17 by 32 inches. I like the strips vertical. I could manually add a strip on each side to make it 20 inches wide but that would kind of defeat the purpose of the Jelly Roll Race technique.

Version 2: 7 jelly roll strips with 2-1/2 inch divider squares. It ended up 18 by 32 inches. Because of the additional fold from 8 to 16 strips across, the strips ended up horizontal, which is fine for quilts but I think I prefer vertical for tote bags.

Version 3: 8 jelly roll strips with 2-1/2 inch divider squares. It ended up 21 by 32 inches so the size is good but again with the horizontal strips. If you like the strips horizontal, this would be a great way to make a tote bag panel.

Version 4: 10 jelly roll strips with 2-1/2 inch divider squares. It ended up 25 by 32 inches. Definitely more horizontal than vertical. I can see this isn’t going where I want it to. I could cut down the edges to 20 inches but there’s really no point since using 8 jelly roll strips got to the right size.

Conclusion: If you’re okay with horizontal strips for your tote bag, then Version 3 would work well. If, like me, you prefer the vertical strips, then Version 1 with a strip added to each edge after the fact would work. Those strips would end up being the sides of the bag so you could plan the color accordingly. Not a bad idea actually.

Experiment 2 — Jelly Roll Race 2 and Tote Bag Colors

For my second experiment, I decided to do Jelly Roll Race 2 again. This time I am going to try out prints, solids, and color hues, and see how placement affects the outcome.

Note: One thing I noticed in my previous experiments is that, since it’s really hard to control what ends up where, it’s not a good idea to use more than one strip of any one color or print.

Version 1: I’m going to use equal parts prints and solids and see how that goes. I’m doing the 6 jelly roll strip version in terms of size. However, I feel like there weren’t enough divider pieces in that version so I can going to use 8 slightly shorter strips, 4 print and 4 solid.

With 6 strips that are 45 inches long, you end up with about 270 inches (not including the divider squares). So for 8 shorter strips, they should be about 34 inches long. Since I’m using scraps for my testing, this worked out really well for me. It would also work well with fat quarter precuts (with some piecing).

This is how it came out. I think I would prefer less solids and perhaps a bit more divider pieces, but it’s not bad. Remember that this is both the front and the back of the tote bag so that’s why it seems so tall.

Version 2: I’m going to try two thirds prints and one third solids next and and see how that goes. I’m still doing the 6 jelly roll strip version in terms of size. I want even more divider pieces in that version so I am going to use 12 shorter strips, 8 print and 4 solid.

With 6 strips that are 45 inches long, you end up with about 270 inches (not including the divider squares). So for 12 shorter strips, they should be about  22 inches long. This is a great use for fat eighth precuts.

I decided to try one more color experiment. I wanted to lay out and sew my strips from lightest to darkest hue. So I took a photo of my strips laid out, saved it, and then changed the photo to monochrome to see how the layout was in terms of hues. I moved things around until I came to this, lightest on the left to darkest on the right.

This is how the panel came out. Happy dance! This is everything I hoped it would be:

  • I like the balance of prints versus solids.
  • I like the number of divider squares.
  • I like that with the shorter strips I started with, there ended up with no big stretches of color or print that ended up side by side.

To truly convince myself that I had succeeded in finding a layout I like for making a tote bag, I added side panel strips and made a tote bag. This is how it came out. I like it! I hope you do too.

My instructions for making the complete tote bag are available at https://www.etsy.com/listing/1061546252/quilted-tote-bag-tutorial-pdf .

Tube Method for Half Square Triangle Blocks— Experiments

Intermediate level 4

When I started making quilted tote bags, it occurred to me that the front and back can easily be blocks of any type as long as they ended up about 16 by 16 inches. So I started thinking, what’s fun? I’ve always liked the look of striped half square triangles made into squares, and then assembled in interesting ways.

Many, but not all, quilting rulers have a 45 degree angle line on them. One of my favorite rulers is the Creative Grids Perfect 10 Ruler. If you draw a line from corner to corner on a square, this marks the 45 degree angle.

The following instructions assume you are making two 16 by 16 inch blocks. You can, of course, make just one.

1. Assemble or cut 2-1/2 inch strips, 4 of each of 3 colors. Dark, medium, and light work well but you can use whatever you want. In my case, the front and back of my tote bag will be different so I have 2 sets of 2-1/2 inch strips of each color combination.

2. Sew strips together in sets of 3, from dark to medium to light or whatever order pleases you. Press open the seams.

3. Pin two strips sets, right sides together, with the dark color of one set matched to the light color of the other set.

4. Sew a 1/4 inch seam along each long edge. This creates the tube that gives this method its name.

5. Using a ruler that has a 45 degree angle, lay the 45 degree line along the bottom seam. The red arrows point to the bottom seam and the 45 degree line.

6. Cut along the right edge of your ruler.

7. Move the ruler to the left and up. Lay the 45 degree line along the top seam and cut as shown.

8. Repeat steps 5 through 7 to cut 3 more triangle sets.

9. Repeat steps 3 through 8 for the other two strip sets.

10. Press the seams open on all the triangle sets.

11. Lay the blocks out, 4 at a time, to make a design that pleases you. I prefer the light color in the center but you may prefer the dark color in the center.

12. Sew the blocks together, 2 at a time, matching seams along the edges. Press the seams open.

13. Sew the 2 block sets together to create two 4 block sets. Again, match the seams along the edges. Press the seams open.

I decided to try some variations to see what other block looks I could come up with. 

Variation 1 — Narrow Separator Strips, Oops

For my first variation, I thought it would be cool to have narrow separator strips between the wider strips. I tried making the two strip sets as follows:

Then I sewed the edges closed, cut the triangles, pressed them open to make squares, and sewed the squares together. This is how it came out. The oops part is that there isn’t a separator strip between two of the wider strips. I like how it looks; it just isn’t what I was expecting. Also, it ended up 14-1/2 by 14-1/2 inches instead of 16 by 16 inches.

Variation 2 — Narrow Separator Strips, Success! Sort of.

For my second variation, I thought out what would fix the missing narrow strip problem. I tried making the two strip sets as follows:

Then I sewed the edges closed, cut the triangles, pressed them open to make squares, and sewed the squares together. This is how it came out. The success part is that there is now a separator strip between all of the wider strips. However, I don’t like the look as much as the previous variation. It did end up making a 16 by 16 inch block.

Variation 3 —One Layer Solid and One Layer Print Strips

For my third variation, I wondered what the result would be if I made one of the two layers of the tube a solid fabric. I made the striped set as in the instructions above, with the strip fabric batik prints. Then I cut a solid fabric strip 6-1/2 inches by width of fabric.

Then I sewed the edges closed, cut the triangles, pressed them open to make squares, and sewed the squares together. This is how it came out. It’s not bad but I’m not that fond of it.

Variation 4 —One Layer Print and One Layer Solid Strips

For my fourth variation, I wondered what the result would be if I made one of the two layers of the tube a print fabric. I made the striped set as in the instructions above, with the strip fabric solid color. Then I cut a print fabric strip 6-1/2 inches by width of fabric.

Then I sewed the edges closed, cut the triangles, pressed them open to make squares, and sewed the squares together. This is how it came out. I like this variation quite a bit!

I may come up with more variations later. If I do, I’ll share them too. I hope you enjoyed this blog post and that you will comment with ideas you have and let me know if you try any of these out.

My instructions for making the complete tote bag are available at https://www.etsy.com/listing/1061546252/quilted-tote-bag-tutorial-pdf .

Hello world!

General information 2

This is my first ever blog post. I love making things and I love writing about the process of making those things. I plan to share with you experiments I try, including the successes and failures. 🙂 These days I’m making quilts and quilted items (tote bags, pillow covers, etc.). If there are any specific quilted-related topics you would like to see me write about, please let me know in the comments. Thanks!