Get Patchy Quilt

Super-easy patchwork quilt

Posted by Diana Rupp

About

Channel your inner Willa Cather (with a little Doris Day) when you make this super-easy patchwork quilt in sassy retro cotton prints. Play mix-and-match with cool fabrics from the store or grab material from your scrap box (that’s what I’ve done here) or even better, cut up old clothes (your niece’s outgrown baby gear, your dad’s frayed Oxford shirts—nothing is safe from your scissors). Formerly loved bedsheets work well as the back layer for your quilt. And colorful yarn ties the whole thing together rather than quilting, saving you a leave of absence from your job to get the thing done.

Measurements
50" x 60"

Seam allowance
1⁄2"

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You Will Need (12 things)

  • Fabric Medium-weight Cotton or wool Twin-sized flat bed sheet or quilt-backing fabric (extra wide)
  • Thread in color to match
  • Light- to medium-weight cotton Batting (at least 52" wide x 62" long)
  • 1 skein Yarn for ties 3 packages Wright’s double-fold
  • Quilt Bias Binding
  • Yard Stick
  • Masking Tape
  • Quilter’s Safety Pins (They’re bent, which makes them easy to pin through the quilt layers.)
  • Chenille Needle (large enough to sew yarn)
  • Patchwork material at least 45" Fabric 21⁄2 yards (total)
  • 11 ½ yd Fabric 64" wide or pieces from 45" fabric
  • 220 yd Quilt Binding

Steps (24 steps, 1200 minutes)

  1. 1

    Draw an 11" x 11" square on a piece of card stock. Cut along lines. This is your patch- work template.

  2. 2

    Using disappearing-ink marker and ruler, draw and cut thirty 11" squares of fabric using template.

  3. 3

    Create (or find) a piece of fabric 54" x 64". (The backing fabric is cut 2" wider all the way around so it’s easy to line up the patchwork top when it’s time to stitch the layers together. You’ll trim away the excess before binding the edges.)

  4. 4

    Sew squares together for patchwork top

    Place two squares on top of each other with right sides together, pin along one side, and stitch. Press seam allowances together and to one side.

  5. 5

    Repeat with four more squares as shown, creating rows that are five patches long.

  6. 6

    Sew rows together

    Pin row 1 to row 2 along the lengthwise edge with right sides together and stitch. Press seam allowance to one side.

  7. 7

    Repeat step 3 for row 2 and row 3 and the rest of the rows until all rows are connected.

  8. 8

    Assemble the layers (make a quilt sandwich)

    Lay backing fabric on a large, flat surface wrong side up and smooth it out. (Chances are your work table isn’t big enough, so find a space on the floor without carpet.) With masking tape, tape it in place, along the length and then the width.

  9. 9

    Center the batting on top of the quilt backing and smooth it out as well, working from the center out to the edges.

  10. 10

    Center the patchwork fabric on the batting with right side up.

  11. 11

    Use quilter’s pins to attach the layers together, pinning every 3" to 4" to temporarily hold the fabric and the batting together.

  12. 12

    Tie yarn through the layers

    There are 20 intersections where patches touch at corners to tie off with yarn. (Don’t count outer edge intersections.)

  13. 13

    Cut 20 pieces of yarn—each 10".

  14. 14

    Thread the large chenille needle with the yarn. Do not knot the ends.

  15. 15

    Insert the needle into the quilt top at one intersection and push the needle through all three layers, leaving a 2" tail. Bring the needle back up through the quilt top about a 1⁄4" away from where you entered. Tie the ends into a secure knot.

  16. 16

    Snip the yarn at each end to 1" or desired length.

  17. 17

    Repeat step 12 on all intersections (except the outer edges), removing the safety pins as you come to them.

  18. 18

    Trim the quilt

    Trim away the back so it is even in size to the patchwork top. (You may want to use your yardstick and disappearing-ink marker to draw the necessary cutting lines.)

  19. 19

    Bind the edges

    Cut a 60" piece of bias quilt binding. Pin the seam binding to one long edge of the quilt, wrapping it around all three layers. Remember to put the wider side of the quilt binding to the back. Pin.

  20. 20

    With right side up, edgestitch the binding using a zigzag stitch. Press.

  21. 21

    Repeat steps 15 and 16 for
    remaining long edge.

  22. 22

    Cut and pin a 51" strip of quilt binding to a short side as in step 15, tucking the raw edges under 1⁄2" at each end.

  23. 23

    Edgestitch the binding to quilt, using a zigzag stitch. Press.

  24. 24

    Repeat steps 18 and 19 on remaining short edge.