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Blanket stitch - great for applique and decorative impact

The Old Button Play On The Go © Play Scenes - Safai Zoo What is blanket stitch Blanket stitch is an edging stitch, traditionally used to finish the edges of woollen blankets (or other woven items) to stop them unravelling.  Sewn in a connected row, the stitch forms neat 3 sides boxes, with the effect of "down" side stitches connected by "top" stitches, but they are formed by looping the thread in a continuous stitch.      When used as an edging stitch, it wraps itself around the edge, with down stitches showing at the front and the back, and the top showing across the outside edge.      The Old Button felt flower brooch Securing applique As it can be eased around curves and used on angles of any shape, including internal ones, blanket stitch is also great for securing applique patches.  I use it a lot with felt, but it also works well on cotton or wool fabrics too as where it has the added benefit of catching in any fraying threads.  The Old Button heart an
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Mini Tutorial - Welsh Quilt Inspired Central Panel for OKA Quilt


In my last post - Welsh Quilting Only Kids Aloud South Africa quilt - I promised to show how I planned out the central panel which was inspired by traditional geometric welsh quilts. 

So here goes - as well as sharing the chart and the sizes of each piece, I also include a mini tutorial on how to create triangle based quilt blocks without cutting pieces on the bias. 

Finished spreadsheet chart for the Welsh quilt inspired central panel
I wanted the centre to be quite large so I worked out a chart that would give me a 26 inch square panel.  I used a computer spreadsheet programme - changing the sizes of the rows and columns to create a regular grid.  I created coloured "shapes" to represent the square and triangle pieces - just re-sizing and copying them to get the right shapes and sizes to fit in with my ideas. 

I could have used graph or squared paper to draw it up but I use spreadsheets a lot  so they are quicker for me than re-drawing different designs. 

Once I had a finished chart, I printed it off and was able to measure out the lengths of the triangle diagonals.  My scale was quite strange - I used 4 rows/columns to equal 6.5 inches which meant I had to do a few extra sums - next time I'll have to be a bit cleverer and go for a 1:1 scale.

The diagram shows the sizes of each piece in this central panel - all these are my finished sizes - without seam allowances:

  • the red corner pieces are 6.5 inch squares;
  • the central diamond is a 9 inch square on its side;
  • the larger red triangles are 13 inches along the longest side and the other two sides are 9 inches; and 
  • the smaller green triangles are 9 inches along the longer side and 6.5 inches on the shorter side.

This panel can be created by cutting out these pieces as triangles and squares with seam allowances and simply piecing them together as in the above chart. 

But as the Kaffe Fasset shot cotton fabric I was using has a fine loose weave, I was a little worried about cutting and using large triangle pieces on the bias as they could stretch. So I decided to use a foolproof (or cheats) method - it means you use much larger square and rectangle and stitch together along diagonal folded lines and then cut away the excess. It does waste fabric but it sure saves time and gives lovely triangles with less bias distortion. And I reckoned the offcuts would be big enough to use for another part of the quilt or another project.

If you'd like to find out more about this technique - here is a Mini Tutorial on how I made the red central diamond with green corners block. 

Diamond in square patchwork block chart


The overall finished size of this block is 13 inches square - as shown in the diagram on the left.

Cut out a 13.5 inch square in red fabric - this includes 13 inches for the finished width of the block plus a half inch for seam and trim allowances. Fold the large red square into quarters and press to create creased lines dividing it into 4 equal sections.

Cut out 4 squares in green, each measuring about 7.5 inches square - and fold them diagonally into a triangle. The diagonal will measure about 10 inches (the finished diagonal measurement of 9 inches plus an inch for seam and trim allowances.) Press the green "triangle" to get a good crease line on the diagonal. (To prevent stretching on the bias - press down with your iron rather than gliding it across the fabric.)



 

Diamond in square patchwork block - diagram 1

Open a green triangle back into a square and place on one corner of the red square - it will be bigger than each quarter of the red piece as marked by the crease lines – shown as blue dashed lines in diagram 1. 

Line up the green square in such a way that the diagonal crease on the green square intersects with the creases on the red fabric at a distance away from the edge of the red square that is equal your seam allowance - shown by the yellow dashed line in diagram 1.

The diagonal creased line will be your stitching line. You may want to test the position by folding the triangle along this crease towards the outside of the red square to see how it sits before you sew it.



Diamond in square patchwork block - diagram 2





Once happy with the position, pin and stitch along the diagonal line using a standard stitch.

Fold green fabric back again to check it is sewn correctly before cutting away excess layers of fabric.  

If you are happy, open triangle out and cut away the excess fabric on the OUTSIDE of the square - a single layer of green and red triangle along the seam allowance line (shown as the red dashed line in diagram 2 ) outside the stitched line.






Diamond in square patchwork block - diagram 3


After cutting, fold open the green triangle piece - you now have a green triangle sewn along the diagonal of the larger red fabric.   

Press - with seam allowance towards the outside. 

Repeat this process for all four corners. 

Diamond in square patchwork block - diagram 4

If you have carefully intersected the crease lines on the seam allowance, you will find the green triangles overlap nicely on this allowance line - shown as a yellow dashed line in diagram 4. But don't worry though if they are a little bit out. 

You can cut away the little ears where the triangle corners overlap edges and you may find you need to trim your block so it is a perfect square.


The other sections of the panel were created in the same way - using rectangle and square pieces not triangles. All sections were then pieced together in rows, matching up points and corners carefully. 


 





So here is the finished central panel and I added a straight border with mitred corners using one of the Kaffe Fasset Stripe fabrics - it was a bit fiddly to get the stripes to match up and sit right on the corners - but well worth the effort. 

I've already started on the next section - using some more stripes to create a zig-zag border that reminds me of mountains..... click here to go to the post. 



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