Saturday, March 07, 2015

The Coverlet quilt I finished last month is a really neat pattern to make.

It's strip-pieced, and it's a counter-change block; that just means that the lights and darks are reversed in adjacent blocks.  The strip-pieced sections are so easy to make and sub-cut, and then the slices are swapped to build the blocks.  Even the border is strip pieced from the same sections.
I used  scrap strips in my quilt, but to explain the method I've used two fabrics; you could use the same two for the whole quilt, or mix it up as I did.
 *These instructions make two blocks at once, a dark centred one, and a light centred one.*

Two 13.5" blocks require
  • two light strips, 3.5" x 25"
  • two dark strips, 3.5" x 25"
  • one light strip, 1.5"x 25"
  • one dark strip, 1.5" x 25"
  • one light strip, 1.5" x 17"
  • one dark strip 1.5" x 17"
  • one light strip, 2.5" x 17"
  •  one dark strip, 2.5" x 17"
Sew the1.5" x 25"strips between the 3.5" strips, pressing towards the dark fabric, and layer them on the cutting board.
The narrow strips should snug together nicely, keeping the two strips stable as you cut.
When crosscutting, always check that the lines on your ruler are parallel to the stitching lines, and the edges, so that the pieces you cut have nice square corners.  Trim the end square again if you find the ruler doesn't line up after a few cuts.

Cut the strips into slices;
  • two 3.5" slices
  • four 2.5" slices
  • five 1.5" slices
 Use a 1.5" slice to join the 3.5" slices to make the centre blocks.

 Sew the remaining 1.5" slices to the 2.5" slices.

Corner Units

Sew the remaining 1.5" strips to the 2.5" strips, press towards the dark fabric and layer on the cutting board.

 Cut
  • four 2.5" slices
  • four 1.5" slices


 Swap the narrow slices, pair up with the wide ones, and sew that seam to make 8 corner units.
 To make sure the seam allowances all nest properly, press the corner unit seams to both dark fabrics, splitting the seam allowances over the intersection.
Some people cut their seam allowances to allow them to press in opposite directions, but I'm not comfortable doing that.  This works fine for me.
Lay out the pieced units to make a dark centred block,
 and a light centred block.  Make sure all the seams are pressed to the dark fabric, so that the blocks will fit together nicely.
This is such an easy block to piece, have fun with it.



10 comments:

Carla 2:36 PM  

Whoohoo! Thank you! Thank you! When you first posted this I looked and looked to try to figure out how it was constructed. So glad you posted instructions!

Terry 3:28 PM  

You are a genius! Try as I could, I just couldn't figure out the math to make the strip sets work out. Thank you so very much for demystifying how to make the blocks. You're very kind to share your pattern.

Razzle Dazzle Quilter 3:29 PM  

Brilliant, thank you! A must try.

Karen in Breezy Point 2:05 AM  

Thanks so much for the tutorial--I love your quilt and can't wait to make one for myself! Off to make some blocks!

Litamora's Quilt & Design 4:56 AM  

Thanks for sharing, this block looks so great!Your quilt using this block are beautiful!

Karen 11:24 AM  

A good design and does look like a coverlet. Thank you for sharing.

Jan 8:54 AM  

Oh, thank you for sharing your dimensions and technique. Such a great quilt!

Sue SA 7:02 AM  

Thank you for the instructions, this looks like a great scrap piecing project, I will file it away for future! PS Loving your red and blue projects.

MARCIE 9:56 AM  

This is an awesome quilt Keryn! Thanks for the great directions!

Angie 3:54 AM  

I love this tutorial. Thank you. Very pretty quilt.

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