How To Sew Boarders On Your Quilt

Hello sweet friends.

I had a friend that asked me how I sew my boarders

on.  So I thought I would do a blog post about it.

Hope this helps.

The first thing that I do is measure the top and bottom of my

quilt.  I always sew the top and bottom boarders on first and then

 I sew the side boarders on.

In this case the top and bottom of my quilt measures

12 1/2 inches so I cut two stripes 12 1/2 inches long one for

 the top boarder of my quilt and one for the bottom boarder.

( I am doing a wall hanging)

This is the trick to not having wavy boarders.  You need to

measure the sides of your quilt before you cut your boarders.  

When you cut your boarders and sew them on and trim the ends, this

is where the wavyness (if that is a word lol!) comes from.

When you do that it makes the boarders to big, they will have

 to much fullness.

Then it is important to pin your boarder lining it up at each end.

After you have pinned your boarder on each end I lay everything

out flat and pin the center.  

 I start to add pins in between to hold the boarder on.

It is ok to use as may pins as you need.  

Just remember to remove your pin right before you sew in

that spot so you do not run over the pin with your needle.

After you sew your boarder on it is important to set

your seems.  Please PRESS do not iron, by ironing

that will also contribute to wavy boarders as well.

Then PRESS open.

Now repeat doing the same thing for the sides.

This is my end result.

Hope this help sweet friends.

Hope you have a beautiful week.

Hugs

donna

Shoofly

Happy June.

Hope all of you are doing well.  

We have really been having some bad weather here in Texas.

So far we have been very lucky not to be in any flood areas.

Please keep the people here in your prayers as some have really been hit hard by the floods from all the rain we have been having.

This is not your ordinary Shoofly block as you will see as you put it together.

You will need

4  4/12 inch dark squares

1  4 1/2 inch light square

2 dark 5 inch squares

2 light 5 inch squares

Place your light 5 inch square on your dark 5 inch square with wrong sides together.

Place your quarter inch ruler tip to tip and draw a line on both sides.

Your squares will now look like this.

Sew on both lines.

Place you ruler so that the 1/4 inch line is on the sewing line.

Cut.

You will have 4.

Set your seems by pressing on the dark side of your triangle.

This will help you to press it open with dark fabric on top.

Press open.

Be careful to just press and not iron so that you do not stretch the fabric.

With you ruler you are now going to square up your HST to 4 1/2 inches.

Place your ruler on the top seam using your 45 degree line.

Trim excess.

You will need to square up all 4 sides.

You will have 4 perfect HST at this point.

This is the lay out for your Shoofly block.

All sewn up your Shoofly block will be unfinished 12 1/2 inches.

This difference in this not so ordinary Shoofly block is the Shoofly is light and not dark.

Hope you enjoy making this fun block.

Hugs,

donna

12 inch Cherry Basket Block

Hello sweet friends.

Can you believe it is already April 1st.  Wow!

April is my month to be the queen bee in Sew Sweet Bee.

I saw a vintage quilt many years ago made out of Cherry Baskets and have always wanted to make one.   So I am going to ask my Sew Sweet Bee keepers to please make me this block.

In my previous post I share how to make the half square triangles for this block.

You will need

3  3 1/2 inch light squares

3  3/12 inch dark squares

Using a your quarter inch seam maker draw 2 lines on either side.

(Please see my previous post for the tutorial)

Sew along your lines.

Then using your ruler line up the seam to a 1/4 of an inch and cut in half diagonally.

You will end up with 6 half square triangles.

(Please see previous post on how I squared up my half square triangles to 2 7/8 inch blocks.)

Cut 3  3 1/4 inch dark squares,

Cut each square in half diagonally so that you will 6 triangles.

Sew 3 of your half square triangles together.

Sew one of your triangles to the top of unit 1

Sew 2 half square triangles together.

Sew a triangle to the top of unit 2

Sew one half square triangle to a triangle this will be unit 3.

You are going to sew unit 1 and 2 together like shown.

Sew unit 3 on like shown.

Sew your fourth triangle to end of the basket like this lay out.

This is what your basket will look like so far.

Cut 2  2 7/8 x 7 3/4 inch light strips.

Sew the remaining 2 triangles to end of the strips so they look like this.

Sew each strip to the right and the left sides of the basket.

Cut one 5 5/8 inch square.

Cut it in half diagonally. (you will only use 1)

Sew it to the bottom of the basket.

Cut 1  1 1/2  x 14 inch strip for your basket handle. (on the bias)

( I will cut mine a little longer just to make sure I have enough and trim )

Sew wrong sides together using 1/8 inch seam allowance.

Press your seam open on the back so that the raw edges do not show up on the the front.

Cut 1  10 1/2 inch light square.

Cut it in half diagonally. (you will only use 1)

This is going to be the top of your basket.

Pin the top of the handle 2 1/2 inches from the top point.

Pin you handle 2 1/2 inches in from the left and right corners.

Then I just laid out the rest of the handle to my desired liking.

I also used a glue stick (lightly) to help hold my handle in place.

I used a blind stitch on my sewing machine to sew my handle down.

You can also use a zig zag stitch or needle turn to sew you handle down.

It is what ever your heart desires.

Now it is time to sew the your top to your basket.

I folded the handle top in half and got a crease so I would know where the middle is.

Pin 1/4 inch down on the center of you handle block and place the pin at the bottom of the sewn triangle in the center of your basket like shown.

This will help you align the center and then you can pin outward and sew your handle block to your basket.

This is what your finished basket will look like.

It will measure 12 1/2 inches unfinished.

My goal was to get the center of the handle in middle of the right and left triangle.

As you can see on the left I miss measured.

Ooops!  That is what makes Happiness Homemade.

Hope you enjoyed making this block as much as I did.

Wishing you all a quilty week.

Hugs,

donna

How To Make The Perfect Half Square Triangles

Hello sweet Chickadees!

Hope you are enjoying your week so far?

I was making some half square triangles (hst) over the weekend and wanted to share how I make them with you.

I stared with my 6 1/2 inch Creative Grid ruler

 3 1/2 inch dark and light squares (one of each)

Fons and Porter Quarter Inch Seam Marker, you can find them at JoAnns's.

With right sides together line up your quarter inch seam marker point to point on your 3 1/2 inch squares.

Draw a line on either side of your ruler.

I used a Frixion pin by Pilot.  You can find these at any office supply store and when you go to press the line will disappear.

Now you are going to sew on your lines.

Using the diagonal line on your ruler, line it up so that it is point to point on your block.

Using your rotary cutting cut down the middle.

This will leave you a 1/4 inch seam allowance on both sides.

You will now have 2 triangles.

I always set my seams on the dark side, this makes it easier to press it open to dark side.

Use the diagonal line on your ruler and line it up on the seam.

Trim using your rotary cutter.

This is how you block will look.

Turn your block around.

Use the diagonal line on your ruler, line it up with you seam and the 2 7/8 inch mark on your ruler.

Trim using your rotary cutter.

This will leave you with a 2 7/8 inch HST.

What I think the trick to making the perfect HST, is to cut your squares a 1/2 inch bigger and use this method.  Mine come out perfect every time.

Hope this helps you.

Happy Sewing.

Hugs,

donna