Creative articles about quilting

Sugaridoo Quilt Along Part 2 – ‘On Point’

Four weeks ago we started a great adventure together with quilters from all over the world. And WOW!! So many awesome rows started to show up on Instagram, Facebook and on the BERNINA project page. How did you do? Did you manage to finish the row? And more important, did you had lots of fun along the way?

Today it’s time for the second part of the Sugaridoo BERNINA quilt along! Are you ready?

Are you new here?

If you’re new here, welcome! On the 28th of November we kicked off a super fun quilting project. We started a quilt along, where thousands of quilters from all over the world are making the same quilt. Every four weeks a new part of the pattern, a new row, will be released. After 12 rows you will have a quilt of 70 x 90″.

Even though we started four weeks ago you can still join us! You will have enough time to catch up. There are also still fabric kits available for this quilt along. You can make the quilt in rainbow colors on silver fabric, in rainbow on white fabric or with blue fabrics. Of course you can also pick your own fabrics or use what you have in your stash.

On this page your can find all the links to previous blog posts about this project. Hop over to this blog post to read all the general information about this quilt project. And also read this one to learn more about the materials we use and the fabric requirements.

Row #1 ‘On point’

We are moving through the quilt in random order, to keep the final design of the quilt a surprise for as long a possible. Last week we made row #5 of the quilt and today we are making row #1. Here it is. We are making triangles today!

In this row ‘On Point’ we are going to use foundation paper piecing with freezer paper. Never did foundation paper piecing before? Or no clue what freeze paper is? Don’t worry, I’m going to explain every step in detail.

Fabric + Material

For this row you will need to print a PDF pattern, you will need some freezer paper and of course you’ll also need fabric.

Did you order a kit for the quilt along? Than you’ll use the light pink fabric called ‘Medium Pink’ for this row if you are making a rainbow quilt. Or ‘Capri’ if you’re making a blue quilt. We will make one of the triangles in accent color, so also get your accent fabric out. And of course your need your background fabric.

For those of you who want to play with the location of the accent color in each row, or add extra accent colors or just want to get a little more insight in the layout of the quilt. Here is a schematic of the rows and the placement of the accent colors. 

And this is what the schematic of the quilt looks like for the blue fabric kit. 

For everyone with a blue fabric kit, these are the names of the blue fabric from light to dark: Aqua (background), Capri, Breakers, Jade and Emerald.

You will need the following to make this row.

  • Main fabric: 8 inch
  • Accent fabric: very small piece
  • Background fabric: 10 inch
  • Freezer paper
  • Add-a-quarter ruler (it’s super handy to have this ruler, but if you don’t I’ll show you how you can use a normal inch ruler as well)
  • Inch ruler (12 x 6 or 24 x 6 inch both will be fine)
  • Rotary cutter
  • Cutting mat
  • Iron + ironing board
  • Sewing machine with a 1/4″ foot, I’m using the #97 patchwork foot
  • Thread (I use thread in the color of my background fabric)

Pattern

Here are the links to download the patterns that you need this week. Go ahead and print them true to size. Select ‘do not scale’ of set your printer settings to ‘scaling: 100%’. To check if you printed the pattern the correct size, measure the height of the row, that should be 4 inch. 

QAL Part 2 – Row #1 ‘On Point’ Pattern

Assemble section B by cutting over the dotted line and taping the two pieces together.

Now take a piece of freezer paper and transfer section A and B to the freezer paper. Place the glossy side of the freezer paper down. You draw on the ‘paper’ side of the freezer paper.

You only need to make one pattern for Section A and one for Section B. The awesome thing of working with freezer paper is that you can use is multiple times. 

I like to use a pen instead of a pencil to transfer the pattern. In the next step we are going to fold all the lines of the pattern and pencil tends to smudge a bit. You don’t want that on your fingers and on your pretty fabric (talking from experience here.. whoops!)

Cut around your pattern piece with a little bit less than a 1/4 inch. Now you can fold your freezer paper over the lines of the pattern, paper side to paper side. Folding this on forehand will help a lot when we start sewing. 

Repeat this for part B as well, and that’s it. That is your pattern finished.

Cutting

We will use the printed pattern as templates to cut our fabric. Go ahead and chop it up. You will only need pieces A1, A2, A3, A4, A6, A8 and B1 as templates. The other remaining pieces have similar shapes.

I wrote on my template pieces how many times I need to cut each of them, as stated the list below. 

When you use solid fabrics, you don’t need to pay attention to the front or backside of the fabric. But when you use a print fabric you will put the pattern/template piece on the back of the fabric. Just like in the picture below. 

This is the list of what you need to cut. You can cut your fabric piece by piece, or watch the video for this row to see how I’m first cutting strips and then cutting my pieces. 

  • Main fabric (Medium Pink)
    • 23 x piece A3
    • 2 x piece A2
  • Background fabric (Silver)
    • 2 x piece A1
    • 8 x piece A4
    • 5 x piece A8
    • 11 x piece A6
    • 3 x piece B1
  • Accent fabric (Titanium)
    • 1 x piece A3

In the cutting scheme below you can find how you can fit all the pieces on your fabric. You don’t need to cut your fabric exactly as sketched out here, but it gives you an idea of how the pieces fit on the fabrics from the kit.

The dotted lines represent a seam allowance that is a little bit bigger than 1/4 inch. I always like to cut my pieces for foundation paper piecing a little bit bigger than needed. 

Cutting scheme for main fabric Medium Pink

Cutting scheme for background fabric Silver

Cutting scheme for accent fabric Titanium

These cutting schemes can also be downloaded as a PDF: Cutting schemes for QAL part 2 – Row #1 [Rainbow]

Here you can download the cutting scheme for the Blue fabric kit: Cutting Schemes for QAL part 2 – Row #1 [Blues]

Foundation paper piecing on freezer paper

We are going to use foundation paper piecing to make row #1. In the video for this row I’m going over all the instructions to do foundation paper piecing on freezer paper.

If you’re experienced with paper piecing and prefer to do paper piecing with a different method, feel free to do so. The results of making these patterns on foundation paper piecing (like tea bag paper) of freezer paper will be the same. 

If you’re a new quilter or if you’re new to foundation paper piecing. Don’t feel overwhelmed, just take it step by step. I’ve written out all the steps of the process and in the video you can watch me do it with you. Take you time, I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it after trying it a few times. And at the end of the row you’ll be so much more experienced then you are now.

Let’s start sewing!

Make sure to have your iron plugged in somewhere close to your sewing machine, we will be using it a lot today. 

The first steps are the hardest. You can always start with some scraps to get comfortable with this method.

  1. Place piece A1 with the wrong side up on your ironing board. Place your freezer paper on top of it, making sure that piece A1 on your pattern is within your fabric piece
  2. Fold back the paper on the fold to piece A2.
  3. Place piece A2 with the right side up under piece A1. So A1 and A2 are now with the right sides together.
     
    Tip: Here is a little trick to make sure that your piece is in the right position every time. Make sure that piece A2 is underneath piece A2 on your pattern that you have folded back. You can see how I check this in the video for this row. When it is under piece A2 on the folded part of the pattern, it’ll turn out in the correct position after you sew and press open piece A2.
  4. Now you can sew along the fold. Try not to sew through the paper 😉
    In the picture below I pealed the freezer paper back a little to show you the seam. You should leave the paper attached to the fabric and just fold the paper open.
  5. Fold the paper open, and fold the fabric open. Finger press the fabric and then give it a press with you iron to stick the paper to piece A2.
     
    Tip: Make sure not to touch the glossy side of the paper with your iron, that will make the paper stick to your iron.
  6. Fold the paper back on the line towards piece A3
  7. Take your Add-a-quarter ruler, or your normal inch ruler, and place it with the 1/4 inch mark on the fold of the paper. Trim off any access fabric.
  8. Place fabric piece A3 under A3 piece on your folded back pattern. Position it like you did in step 3.  (If you’re a bit puzzled at this point, check out the video for this row, or my other video on the freezer paper technique)
  9. Now sew along the fold in the freezer paper and there you will have your third piece added!
  10. Fold the paper open, fold the fabric open, finger press it and the iron the fabric to the freezer paper. Give everything a good press from the back of the freezer paper.

You can now continue adding pieces A4-A8 by repeating steps 6 to 10. The steps are the same for all the pieces you are going to join, no matter their shape or size. 

Squaring up your section

When you finish you first section you are going to square it up. Cut all around the pattern piece leaving a 1/4 inch on all sides. This is the reason why you should cut your freezer paper pattern with less than a 1/4 inch, so you don’t have to cut through paper. 

Peal away the freezer paper aaaand you’re done with your first section! Now you can repeat all these steps and make another Section A. But with this second one you will make piece A7 in your accent color.

After finishing both Sections A, you can make three times Section B. Make sure to square up the sections before you peal away the freezer paper.

Putting the row together

Now you’ve finished two times Section A and three times Section B you can put the row together. We cut our sections with a 1/4 inch seam so we can put them together using our 1/4 inch foot like I explained in last weeks post

First sew Section A with all pink triangles to section a Section B.

Then add another Section B

And another Section B

And finally add the Section A with the accent fabric. And your row is done!

Whoohoo! You made it!

Yayy you’re done! That is the second part of our quilt along, row #1 finished! Did you like the freezer paper technique? I hope you enjoyed it and maybe learned something new. I think you can be super proud of yourself for showing up and making this second part of your quilt. 10 more rows to go! The next one will be up in four weeks from now on the 23th of January.

If you have any questions about this row, feel free to ask them in the comments below this post. Or hop over to the Facebook group. Next week I’ll be hosting a live Q&A about this row in our Facebook group to help you get started. 

See you next year!
Irene

 

 

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