Quilts from Precut Fabrics

It never ceases to amaze me just how many quilt and design possibilities there are for use with precut fabrics. This is now our fifth issue of Quilts from Precut Fabrics and we have once again gathered an interesting and diverse range of quilt patterns from designers both here in Australia and overseas to bring to you. If you’re anything like me, bundles of precut fabrics – whether they be Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, or fat-quarter or fat-eighth bundles – always catch my eye. They always look so attractive and, of course, if you really like a particular fabric range, they are a perfect way to get a slice of every print without having to purchase a large cut of each one. But once we’ve bought these precut bundles what do we…

Most common precuts Fat Quarters: An Australian fat quarter measures 20in x 21in. (An American fat quarter measures 18in x 21in.) Fat Eighth: 10in x 21in (Australian). In America, a fat eighth measures 9in x 21in. Jelly Roll: A roll or bundle of 2½in strips (x width of fabric). They usually contain 40 strips. Jelly Roll is a Moda trademarked name. Other fabric manufacturers use a variety of names for their precut bundles of 2½in strips. For example, Hoffman has Bali Pops, Robert Kaufman has Roll Ups and Riley Blake has the Rolie Polie. Fat Roll: A roll or bundle of 5in strips (x width of fabric). Charm Squares: A stack of 5in squares. You will also find 6in and 7in charm squares. Layer Cake: A stack of 40 10in squares. Honeycomb: A stack of 6in hexagons. Less…

The third modern quilting convention, QuiltCon, was presented by the Modern Quilt Guild. It was held over four days in Pasadena, California and included workshops, lectures, vendors and a judged quilt show. Visitors were spoilt for choice when it came to lectures and workshops to attend. The event brought together over 30 of the top names in modern quilting, including Victoria Findlay-Wolfe, Valori Wells, Bill Kerr, Anna Maria Horner and Australia’s own Sarah Fielke. A huge array of talented artisans offered a plethora of workshops to choose from on everything from machine quilting and machine appliqué to colour theory, a modern take on the Log Cabin and foundation paper piecing. With over 7,800 people attending, the event is growing year on year. And once there, attendees could see more than 400 quilts,…

Finished size: 153.5cm (60½in) square Finished block size: 8in square Materials Bali Pop set or a minimum of 18 strips, 2½in of assorted batik fabrics – see ‘Select your strips’ 2.9m (3 ¼yd) light grey tone-on-tone print fabric (background) 3.5m (3 7/8yd) backing fabric Batting at least 170cm (68in) square MM100 Scrap, Stash and Strip template set or another ruler that allows you to cut half-square triangles that finish 2in from 2½in strips – see Note Rotary cutter, quilter’s ruler and mat Sewing machine with ¼in foot General sewing supplies Note:The MM100 template set is available from Pieceville (www.pieceville.com.au). Without a specialist ruler, you would normally cut the triangles for the Ocean Waves block by cutting squares, 2 7/8in once across the diagonal. However, Template C from the MM100 ruler set allows you to use 2½in strips. There are other brands…

Finished size: 190.5cm (75in) square Finished block size: 15in Materials 16 fat quarters of assorted print fabrics 3.2m (3½yd) white fabric (background) 60cm (5/8yd) black and white striped fabric (binding) 4.1m (4½yd) backing fabric Batting at least 205cm (82in) square Rotary cutter, quilter’s ruler and mat Sewing machine with ¼in foot General sewing supplies Cut the fabric 1 Cut each fat quarter into strips across the 21in width, and then cross cut the strips into patches, as indicated in the Fat Quarter Cutting Diagram. This will yield from each fat quarter: • four rectangles, 3½in x 6½in (A) • one square, 3½in (B) •eight squares, 3 7/8in. Cut each of these squares once across the diagonal to yield 16 half-square triangles (C) • three squares, 4¼in. Cut each of these squares twice across the diagonals to yield 12 quarter-square triangles (D) From the white fabric, cut: • six…

Finished size: 203cm x 162.5cm (80in x 64in) Finished block size: 16in square Materials 10 fat quarters of assorted print fabrics. Vanessa used her own Little Miss Sunshine range from Moda in her quilt 3.25m (3 5/8yd) white tone-on-tone print fabric (background) 60cm (¾yd) aqua print fabric (binding) 4.6m (5yd) backing fabric Batting at least 220cm x 180cm (88in x 72in) Rotary cutter, quilter’s ruler and mat Sewing machine with ¼in foot General sewing supplies Cut the fabric From each of the 10 fat quarters of assorted print fabrics, cut: • six strips, 2½in across the 21in width of the fat quarter. Cross cut four of them to yield a total of 12 rectangles, 2½in x 6½in of each fabric (A). Cross cut the remaining two strips to yield a total of 10 squares, 2½in of each fabric (B) From the white fabric, cut: •…