BOLD BRAIDS
Make simple square solids stand out against a clear, crisp white to bring waves of colour into your home
Make simple square solids stand out against a clear, crisp white to bring waves of colour into your home
NOTES
■ Seam allowances are ¼in, unless otherwise noted.
■ RST = right sides together.
■ WST = wrong sides together.
■ WOF = width of fabric.
■ Charm square = 5in square.
■ Backing and background fabric supplied by Olive and Flo Handcraft (oliveandflohandcraft.co.uk).
FABRICS USED
■ Charm squares fabric is the Modern Solids Charm Pack by Denyse Schmidt for FreeSpirit Fabrics.
■ Background fabric is Snow from the Pure Elements collection by Art Gallery Fabrics.
■ Backing fabric is Reminder in Bold from the Pastel Thrift collection by Art Gallery Fabrics.
■ Binding fabric is Flowerbed in Black from the Blueberry Park collection by Karen Lewis for Robert Kaufman.
CUTTING OUT
1
From the background fabric cut:
■ Nineteen (19) 5in x WOF strips. Subcut to give one hundred and forty six (146) 5in squares.
■ Two (2) 7¾in x WOF strips. Subcut to give ten (10) 7¾in squares. Place each square on a cutting mat, lining up all four corners along the two 45 degree lines. Cut along both of these lines to create four triangles, giving you forty (40) triangles in total. These are your side triangles.
■ Two (2) 4¼in squares. Cut each of these along one of the diagonals to get four (4) triangles. These are your corner triangles.
2
From the binding fabric cut eight (8)
2½in x WOF strips.
ASSEMBLING THE QUILT TOP
3
Sort your bright 5in squares into twenty six (26) pairs of the same or similar colours, and twenty three (23) single charm squares for the centres of each braid.
4
Arrange your 5in squares and triangles as shown in the layout diagram (Fig 1). Make sure your pairs of bright fabrics are placed opposite each other in each braid.
HAVE A LITTLE FUN WHEN PICKING YOUR BACKING FABRIC, WE OPTED FOR A GRAPHIC FONT
5
Sew the squares together in rows, then join the rows into three sections (Fig 2). Sew these three sections together, adding the corner triangles at the end to complete the quilt top.
QUILTING AND FINISHING
6
Cut the backing fabric in half across the width. Remove the selvedges and sew the two pieces together using in seam. Press the seam open.
7
Press the quilt top and backing well. Make a quilt sandwich by placing the backing fabric right side down, the batting on top, then the quilt top centrally and right side up. Baste the layers together using your preferred method.
8
Quilt as desired. Anna quilted diagonal quilt lines at 1in intervals to form a grid.
9
Trim off the excess batting and backing fabric and square up the quilt.
10
Sew the binding strips end-to-end using diagonal seams. Press the seams open and trim away the dog ears. Fold in half lengthways, WST, and press.
11 Sew the binding to the right side of the quilt, folding a mitre at each corner.
12
Fold the binding over to the back of the quilt and hand stitch in place to finish.