From our January 2004 Issue

Blueberry Patch Try your hand at quilting with this simple strip-pieced design.

THIS QUILTED THROW is perfect for a chilly evening and can be accomplished by the novice quilter. Rotary cutting and strip-piecing techniques help to speed the whole process.

Yardage & Cutting (Finished Size: 46" X 61". Use 100% cotton quilting fabrics.)

1/8 yard each of 20 different blue prints (Choose an even mix of light, medium and dark fabrics--See the throw quilt "Source" for buying the featured fabrics.) Cut one 3"x24" strip from each blue fabric. 1 1/2 yards of white-on-white print Cut four 4"X50 1/2" sashing strips. 3/8 yard of dark blue print Cut five 2"-wide strips across the fabric width for the inner borders 7/8 yard of light blue print Cut six 4 1/4" wide border strips across the fabric width. 2 7/8 yards of medium blue print Cut three 2 1/2"-wide strips from the fabric length for the binding. Cut the remaining larger piece into two rectangles (about 33"x50") for the backing.

Preparation

Preshrink the fabric strips by soaking in warm water and hanging to dry Preshrink the yardage by machine washing and drying until slightly damp; press the fabric to remove the wrinkles. Remove the selvage before cutting the pieces.

Sew with right sides together, using a ¼" seam allowance and a 2 mm or 2.5 mm stitch length. The long pieced strips will be cut into sections and the short stitch length helps keep the seams from raveling. Press the seam allowances to one side -- not open.

Piecing the Rows

Sort the 20 3" X 24" strips into six groups of three to include a light, medium and dark strip. Place the remaining strips together. Pin each group together to keep them in order at the sewing machine.

Sew the strips of each group together in the light, medium and dark sequence; press the seams toward the darker fabrics (1). From each pieced band, cut three 7 ½"-wide units, for a total of 21 units (2). As you cut, make three stacks with a unit from each band in each.


Piece the rows working from one stack at a time, arranging the units in the desired order. Press all the seams in one direction. Sew a total of three 50 ½" -long rows. If the row lengths vary, adjust them to match the shortest row.

Assemble the Quilt Top Trim the four sashing strips to match the shortest row length if necessary. Alternate the sashing and pieced rows (Quilt Piecing Diagram at right) and sew together. Press the seams toward the sashing strips.

Measure the quilt through the center from edge to edge (3) for greater accuracy.

Add the inner borders. Sew three dark blue border strips together at the short ends; trim the seam allowances (4) and press open. Measure the quilt length and cut two equal lengths from the dark blue strip. Sew these strips to each long edge of the quilt and press the seams toward the borders. Cut two dark blue border strips equal to the quilt width (including the just added borders) and sew to the quilt upper and lower edges; press the seams toward the borders.

Add the outer borders. Sew the light blue strips together at the short ends. Measure the quilt length and cut two border strips the same dimension.

Sew the border strips to the long edges and press the seams toward the inner border. Measure the quilt width and cut two border strips to match. Sew these to the quilt upper and lower edges; press the seams toward the inner border.



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