Rolled Seam Quilt Block
Hot air ballon quilted laptop bag. To read more click on laptop bag.
amazon.co.uk link
amazon.com link
NEWSLETTER APRIL 2010: MAKING A ROLLED SEAM QUILT BLOCK
My poor dog Truffle has had quite a tough time this month. He has had 2 operations and is feeling very tender. He's wearing one of those big collars to stop him chewing his stitches. After he had blundered around the house a couple of times and nearly pulled my sewing machine down on himself twice, I decided that it would be safest to put the sewing machine away as much as possible.
So I decided to show you a rolled seam quilt block as this involves more hand sewing than machine sewing.
I am sure that this quilt block has a far more interesting name than rolled seam quilt block, but I don't know it, so I'll have to stick with rolled seam.
It's simple to make and quite eyecatching when made with a strong colour underneath.
You could make the rolled seam quilt block into a cushion cover (click on cushion cover) but I have decided to use it in a quilt.
The quilt block is made by putting pale coloured strips cut on the bias over a strongly coloured fabric and then creating peepholes to allow the strong fabric to show through.
The peepholes are created by rolling back the seam allowance and sewing in place. That's why the strips have to be cut on the bias - there is more give in the folded fabric that is rolled back.
I am going to use this quilt block as the centre of a quilt and go project (full instructions next month), so the backing and wadding need to be a good inch wider than the top fabric, and the sewing on the top fabric must not go closer than about 1" from the edge of the fabric. This is to enable you to sew the quilt block to the sashing.
To begin, cut a 21" square each of backing fabric and wadding. Place the backing square right side down, smooth and lay the wadding on top. Smooth and lay an 18.1/2" square of bright fabric (blue in the photo) on the wadding with right side up.
Take 1/2 yard of the top fabric and cut in half along the fold. Fold the bottom corner up to the top as shown on the right and then cut 5" strips along the diagonal. Do the same with the 2nd half of the fabric.
With the right side on the outside, fold both edges of each strip towards the centre and press. With the raw edges down, place the longest strip along the diagonal of the blue square and pin in place.
Sew along both edges of the strip, 1/2" from the edge. Make sure that you stop sewing at least 1" before the end of the strip so that the edge of the top square is free to be sewn to the sashing.
Place another strip next to the first with the folded edges touching, pin and sew.
Keep adding strips with the folded edges touching, sewing 1/2" from the edge. I find it helps to smooth the 2 edges together as shown when sewing.
When 9 strips have been added, you should just have 2 corners of the quilt block left uncovered. You cannot add any top fabric there because it would not leave you enough area unsewn to join the block to the sashing.
Using a fabric marker, mark lines at right angles to the seams 2.1/2" apart. Sew along these lines, stopping 1" from the edge of the quilt block.
You can see the grid pattern on the backing fabric. Baste the edges of the top fabric, taking care not to catch the wadding in the basting.
With your thumb, roll back the seam allowance on one of the squares. Starting at the right hand side of this curve (if you are right handed) slipstitch the curve in place using very small stitches.
Continue to the next square. I find it easiest to sew all down one side of the seam and then sew back up the other side of the seam to complete each curve. I also find it easiest to start with the longest seam in the centre. That way I can kid myself that I am getting quicker, when in fact it is just that the seams get shorter as you move away from the centre of the quilt block!
You now have an 18.1/2" square that could be used as a cushion cover - click on cushion cover for instructions - or could be used as a block in a quilt.
I have decided to use the rolled seam quilt block in the centre of a quilt as you go project and surround it with 8 wholecloth quilted blocks. Click on wholecloth quilt for details of this block. As I have only completed 3 of them, I can't give details of the finished project yet!
Since I wrote this page, I have been informed that the idea comes from a Jennie Rayment book. It is a brilliant book and I have put links to it in the right hand column, for both amazon.com and amazon.co.uk
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rose@ludlowquiltandsew.co.uk
www.ludlowquiltandsew.co.uk