The first triangle blocks I taught you were half square triangles. Those are my favorites and you can make quilts for the rest of your life and never move beyond that. Seriously. They’re that versatile.
But quarter square triangles are also a great skill to have. They’re not much harder, and they allow you to make a whole bunch of additional star blocks.
If you don’t already know half square triangles, go get that lesson here. Quarter square triangles start with half square triangles so you need to know them first.
Want to learn how to machine applique with freezer paper?
This is the post for you.
You can see all my applique videos here, including needle turn applique, how to applique with fusible adhesive, and how to applique with (and on) fake fur.
My preferred method is Quilt As You Go and fusible adhesive, but some people don’t like the raw edges on fusible applique. But they also don’t like the amount of time and handwork involved in needle turn applique. For those folks, freezer paper applique is the best option.
This post rounds up all the lessons on freezer paper applique – all in one place.
If you’re getting ready to start your very first applique project, grab a cup of tea and sit back and watch these lessons first. It’s like a mini online workshop – for free.
There’s one more post guaranteed to come in handy if you use this method. . .
The Joy of Starch – If you’re having any trouble getting nice sharp folds on your applique pieces – or having them come uncreased before you have a chance to sew them down – try starch. Read this post to see photos of the difference it makes and learn two ways to use it.
You can use this method with just about any applique quilt pattern. 🙂
Here are links to all the posts showing how to applique with fusible adhesive – my favorite method. It’s fast and easy and (with the right materials) it holds up beautifully to rough use and repeated washing.
We had over 17 inches of rain in the first week of July – and we’ve continued to have heavy rains in the last few weeks. We usually get about five inches for the whole month.
My flour is clumpy. My cereal boxes are soggy. My salt is unsprinkleable. And my applique pieces won’t stay folded!
Aaaaargh!
Five minutes after I press them they look like this.
It’s coming unfolded before I can even press all the pieces for one block!
The solution, my friends, is starch.
Look at the difference.
This is two days after I pressed it.
Starched folds stay folded.
I just use regular spray starch from the grocery store. Nothing fancy or expensive. And I think I’ve been working off this same can for over 10 years.
Or you can spray some into a small dish (like a little custard cup), wait for the foam to subside, then paint the liquid starch on with a paintbrush. If you do that you don’t have to paint the whole seam allowance – just make sure you get it right up against the freezer paper. That’s where the fold will be that you’re desperately trying to hold in place while you get the rest of the pieces for the block pressed.
I use both methods interchangeably. It depends on my mood, how many pieces I’m working on, my tolerance for mess that day, and how generally lazy I’m feeling.
If I’m only pressing a few pieces I just spray it on and ignore the mess from the overspray. The extra flakes of starch will brush right off my ironing board and wipe off my iron.
If I’m doing a whole bunch of pieces I’ll actually go downstairs and get a dish, then dig around for a paintbrush and use the paint-it-on method. I actually prefer that, but sometimes I’m too lazy to go to the extra trouble.
But starch isn’t only useful for applique! That’s where I use it most often, but it’s great for holding any pressing. It’s especially useful for hemming – particularly if the fabric you’re trying to hem isn’t a crisp woven cotton. It can be really helpful in making slippery synthetic fabrics behave like a nice, obedient cotton. 🙂
Nothing – and I mean nothing – is more likely to make me curse like a sailor than when my bobbin runs out of thread in the middle of a long row of stitching while machine quilting. You sew and sew and sew, shifting the heavy weight of the quilt over and over again – and then get to the end and realize you just stitched a whole row with no bobbin – so there’s no stitching. Grrrrrrr. . . just thinking about it is making my blood pressure go up.
*breathe*
I had this happen one too many times on my last project – and then I had a little epiphany.
Actually – a big epiphany. 🙂
Wind a bunch of bobbins before you get started. Like – at least ten for a twin size quilt. Pop matching full bobbins into the top (where you’d normally use a spool) and in the bobbin case. The top and bottom stitching should use the same amount of thread, so you can look at the top bobbin at any time to see how much thread you have left in the bottom (secret hidden) bobbin.
Check before you start every row. If it’s close to empty – go ahead and replace both bobbins. You may waste a little thread – but you’ll be saving your sanity. I say choose sanity.
And even if you miscalculate and run out in the middle of a row – you’ll know right away instead of continuing to stitch on in painful, oblivious ignorance.
Here are all my posts about layering and basting your quilt, and the final round of quilting.
Here are all my posts about hand quilting and Big Stitch quilting. I don’t use these techniques with fusible applique or Quilt As You Go, but I LOVE using Big Stitch Quilting with my cheater fabric.
In this video I show you how to install and use the quilt guide – a mysterious-looking tool that comes with most sewing machines. It’s really easy to use and lets you sew or quilt perfectly parallel lines.
You can do quilting that looks like this. . .
Buttonholes Quilt with simple parallel lines quilted
Or you can topstitch on plain fabric to give it pinstripes. I did that on this Mighty Casey baseball jersey I made for my husband.
You can click on it to get a closer look.
Here are all my posts about layering and basting your quilt, and the final round of quilting.
Here are all my posts about hand quilting and Big Stitch quilting. I don’t use these techniques with fusible applique or Quilt As You Go, but I LOVE using Big Stitch Quilting with my cheater fabric.
I know. You look at that mass of quilt and you look at the space under the arm of your sewing machine and you think, “No way!”
You’d be wrong.
You can totally quilt a big quilt on a regular sewing machine.
I’ve actually quilted king size quilts on my machine – though in this video I’m demonstrating on a twin size.
First, watch this video showing the basics of machine quilting. That video uses a little doll quilt as a sample – easy to see and get a feel for the process – but it doesn’t answer the question you really have about doing the same thing with a bed quilt. That’s what I tackle in this video. So watch it now.
Important! See that little black bit behind the presser foot on my machine? That’s my walking foot. I forgot to mention it in the video – but it’s pretty critical. You really can’t machine quilt without one – it’ll end up all puckery and you’ll be sad. 🙁
And what if you want to quilt lines that don’t follow the seams of the quilt?
Tape – my friends. Painters tape.
On the Flower Beds Quilt I wanted to quilt a diagonal grid over the whole surface. I laid down a strip of masking tape to guide my first line. See how the edge of the tape intersects the corners of the blocks? (That’s what those red circles are showing.) That helps me get a perfectly straight line. Quilt right along the edge of the tape.
Then remove the tape.
You only need to do this for the first row of stitching. After that each row serves as the guide for the next.
Here are all my posts about hand quilting and Big Stitch quilting. I don’t use these techniques with fusible applique or Quilt As You Go, but I LOVE using Big Stitch Quilting with my cheater fabric.
So. Let’s say you really like one of my quilt patterns, but you’ve never made a quilt before and you’re kind of freaked out about making the whole thing.
Start with one block. You can make one single block, right? Of course you can! And you can turn that fun quilt block into a pillow. Here’s how.
Make a quilt block.
Any block from any pattern.
I made this monster block exactly as the pattern specified. It’s a 10 1/2 inch square. Almost all of my applique quilt patterns are 10 1/2″ squares.You could always enlarge the pattern so it fits on the pillow form you want to cover – but depending on the size you’re enlarging it to, that could make things a little tricky. I’ve got a class (Think BIG!) showing how to do giant applique. For now let’s keep things simple and just add some framing to enlarge the block.
Add Frames
My pillow form is 18″ square. That means I need the front of the pillow cover to be 18″ square. (I like my pillow covers to be just a little bit smaller than the pillows so they have a nice snug fit.)
My block is 10 1/2″ square. That means it will finish at 10″ square when I take up the seam allowances. I want it to end up 18 inches square, so I need to add 4 inches on each side of the block.
I could add 4″ frames all the way around, but I want a narrow frame inside a slightly wider frame. So I’m going to add a 1″ frame all the way around, and then a 3″ frame all the way around that. That will add up to the 4″ frame all around.
Start with the sides.
Cut strips 1 1/2″ wide. (Remember – if you want a 1″ frame you need to cut your strips 1 1/2″ so seam allowance is included.) Sew a strip to each side of your block using 1/4″ seam allowances. Press them flat.
Sew strips to the top and bottom. Press them flat.
The inner frame is done. Now your block is 12 1/2″ square.
Do the same thing for the outer frame, but use 3 1/4″ strips for a 3″ frame.
Once the outer frame is sewn on, your pillow cover front should be an 18″ square. Remember – that will finish at 17″ for a nice, snug fit for an 18″ pillow.
Make the Pillow Back
I like using zippers on my pillow covers so I can take them off for washing. You can add the zipper to the side seam where the front is sewn to the back, but I think that sometimes distorts the look of the pillow. I prefer to add it to the middle of the pillow back.
For this monster pillow you need to make a back that is 18 inches square.
Finish Your Pillow Cover
Unzip the zipper at least part way. Don’t forget to do this or you’ll be very sad!
Sew the pillow front to the pillow back, right sides together, all the way around the pillow, using 1/2″ seam allowance.
Turn it right side out through the zipper opening. (See why you left it unzipped a bit?) Slip your pillow form into the cover. Zip it up and toss it onto a chair.
Finished!
One silly monster quilt block made into a pillow. 🙂
Here are several free patterns that work with my basic 10-inch applique squares – no resizing needed!
Here are several free patterns that work with just some simple resizing. This post about making coasters has info about resizing an applique pattern that can be applied to any of these projects.
Want to learn how to make a quilt with an easy online workshop – totally free?
Sign up for Let’s Make a Quilt here. You’ll learn how to get started, the tools and supplies you’ll need, and how to make a quilt from start to finish using Quilt As You Go and applique with fusible adhesive.
It’s the easiest, most fun way to make an applique quilt. You can do it!
When you’re joining rows of quilt blocks together, the seam allowances at the corners can get pretty bulky. You can’t eliminate that bulk altogether, but you can minimize it – spread it out a bit – and that’s what I show you how to do in this video.
Lots of people use fur to make stuffed animals – but did you know you can use it in quilts too?
Yes – you can!
Make shaggy dogs, fluffy cats, and furry monsters.
Or if you don’t want to make the whole critter furry, maybe just a few parts? Like some long, silky fur on a dog’s ears – or excessively shaggy eyebrows on a silly monster.
There are a LOT of different methods for making half-square triangles. Some of them make a lot of blocks relatively quickly, but they have a lot of steps that don’t feel very intuitive to me. This method is fast, easy to understand (once you do it once you’ll never need to look at the instructions again), and makes a nice accurate block. That’s all I ask for. 🙂
Update – Ask and ye shall receive! Someone asked for a printable PDF with very basic instructions that she could follow along with away from her computer. What a great idea! I put together a handy dandy cheat sheet on just one page – with photos. 🙂 Here’s the link to download it.
One more thing. In this video I tell you to cut your initial squares 1 inch larger than the size of the finished block. Most instructions tell you to cut cut 7/8″ bigger and then sew with a scant quarter inch seam allowance. That makes me really nervous. How much smaller than 1/4 inch is a “scant” 1/4 inch seam? If I’m not scant enough my blocks will be just a smidge too small and then I’m SOL. No. I’d rather cut my initial squares 1/8″ bigger, sew with a real (measurable) 1/4 inch seam allowance, and then trim away the tiny bit of extra I end up with. It’s much less nerve-wracking – plus the math is easier. 🙂
The possibilities with just half-square triangles are incredible!
Happy quilting!
