YOU COULD ALSO GO FOR A MORE TRADITIONAL BLACK AND WHITE COLOUR SCHEME

YOU WILL NEED

Chessboard and pieces

■ Fabric A (bone): one (1)

fat quarter

■ Fabric B (dark beige): one (1)

fat quarter

■ Fabric C (coral): one (1)

fat quarter

■ Fabric D (black): 10in square

■ Fabric E (red): 10in square

■ Fabric F (white): 10in square

■ Binding fabric (coral): ¼yd

■ Backing fabric (grey): ¾yd

■ Batting: 27in x 41in

■ Heavyweight fusible

stabiliser: 10in x 20in

■ Fusible web: 10in square

■ One (1) copy each of the Circle, King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook and Pawn templates

FINISHED SIZE ■ 20in square

NOTES

■ Seam allowances are ¼in, unless

otherwise noted.

■ Press seams open throughout, unless

otherwise instructed.

■ Press all fabrics well before cutting.

■ HST = Half-square Triangles.

■ RST = right sides together.

■ WOF = width of fabric.

■ Print fabrics supplied by Ruby Star

Society (rubystarsociety.com).

■ Wendy used Aurifil Thread 50wt in Butter (2123) and Brass (2975), (aurifil.com).

FABRICS USED

■ Print fabrics are from the First Light

collection by Ruby Star Society.

■ Solid fabric is Bone from the Kona Cotton Solids collection by Robert Kaufman.

CUTTING OUT

1

From each Fabric A and B cut: ■ Four (4) 8in squares.

2

From Fabric C cut:

■ Thirty two (32) 3in squares.

3 From the binding fabric cut:

■ Three (3) 2½in x WOF strips.

4

From the backing fabric cut:

■ One (1) 27in square.

■ One (1) 14in x 20in.

5 From the batting cut:

■ One (1) 27in square.

■ One (1) 14in x 20in.

PIECING THE HST UNITS

6

On the wrong side of all Fabric A 8in squares, draw two diagonal lines. Place one Fabric A square right sides together (RST) with an 8in Fabric B square. Sew ¼in from either side of both diagonal lines, as demonstrated in Fig 1.

7

Cut vertically down the centre of the 8in square, using a quilting ruler to align the straight edges of the square and the intersection of the drawn lines. Without shifting the fabric pieces, make a second cut, horizontally through the centre (Fig 2).

8

Cut each unit along the marked diagonal line. Press the seams open and trim each HST to 3in square (Fig 3).

9

Repeat steps 6– 8 to create a total of thirty two Fabric A/B HST units.

ASSEMBLING THE GAME BOARD

10

Take the Fabric C squares and HST units, and arrange in eight rows of eight squares, alternating the squares. Make sure the HSTs are all rotated in the same direction, referring to the Layout Diagram for placement.

11

Sew the squares together in rows, pressing the seams as you work. Then neatly sew the rows together to complete the game board top.

QUILTING AND FINISHING THE GAME BOARD

12

Press the top and 27in square of backing fabric well. Make a quilt sandwich by placing the backing fabric right side down, the batting on top, then place the game board top centrally and right side up. Baste the three layers together using your preferred method.

13

Quilt as desired. Using the seams as a guide, Wendy quilted in from each side of the seams with her domestic sewing machine. Trim away excess batting and backing fabrics and square up the game board to 20in square.

14

Sew the binding strips together end-to-end using diagonal seams. Press the seams open and trim the dog ears. Fold in half lengthways, wrong sides together, and press.

15

Sew the binding to the right side of the game board, creating a neat mitre at each corner. Fold the binding over to the back and neatly hand stitch in place around the edge to finish.

CREATING THE GAME PIECES

16

Apply a piece of fusible stabiliser to the wrong side of both Fabric D and Fabric E, following the manufacturer’s instructions. Trace sixteen circles onto the stabiliser side of each fabric, and cut along the marked lines.

17

Trace the chess pieces onto the paper side of the fusible web, using the templates. Trace sixteen pawns, four rooks, four knights, four bishops, two queens and two kings. Fuse to the wrong side of Fabric F, following the manufacturer’s instructions. Cut out each piece along the marked line.

18

Take one chess piece, and remove the paper backing. Centre on one circle from step 16, and fuse in place, following the manufacturer’s instructions. Repeat with each of the chess pieces. Make sure half of the pieces are applied to Fabric D circles, and half applied to Fabric E circles (eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, one queen and one king each).

19

Place the 14in x 20in backing piece right side down, and place the batting on top. Place all the chess piece circles on top, right side up, leaving a bit of space between each one. Baste in place. We recommend spray basting in projects with lots of small pieces such as this.

20

Quilt the chess pieces as desired. Wendy used matchstick quilting across all the pieces, securing the fused pieces in place on the circle as she quilted.

21

Cut out each circle, trimming away excess batting and backing fabric for each piece. Sew a narrow zigzag stitch around each circle. Wendy sewed around each piece two or three times on her machine, to fill the edges completely and make the stitching look like satin stitch.