Courtesy of the Moda Bake Shop
Hello fellow sewing enthusiasts!! It's me, Melissa. I am so excited to be able to bring you another quilt tutorial here at the Moda Bake Shop. I absolutely fell in love with the Sugar Pop line by Liz Scott the second I saw it and was so happy to get to work with these amazing fabrics!
As always, if you have any questions you can reach me at [email protected]. Oh, and feel free to stop by my little sewing stomping grounds www.happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com to see what I am up to. I love visitors. Happy Quilting to you all!
Okay, so I have to apologize. I was so excited to work with these fabrics that I opened up all my pre-cuts and started playing with them before taking a picture of them. Silly me :)
1 Yard of Bella Solids White
1 1/4 Yard of Coordinating Print for Pieced Backing
STEP 1 - CUTTING
Grab your jelly roll and open it up. Separate your jelly roll into two piles. One pile with 22 strips and one pile with 18 prints. Try to evenly distribute the colors and prints. And don't feel like you have to follow my print piles, do what pleases your eye :)
First we will work with our pile of 18 prints. These pieces are for your binding so when you have cut them, go ahead and set them aside for a while. Lay your first jelly strip roll out of your mat. Line your ruler up so that the end of the jelly roll is on the 15" line of your ruler. Cut so you have a 15" strip. Repeat this process with the remaining 17 strips. (You could stack them up, but honestly I found it faster to just hurry and whack them verses taking the time to try and line up the strips perfectly.) Set the leftover portion of the jelly roll strips aside, we will be cutting them up in a minute (or 2 or 3 depending on how fast you cut.)
Now we will turn to our pile of 22 jelly roll strips. Lay several strips at a time out on your mat lining the edge along the 0 edge of your mat. Then line your ruler up with the 25" strip on your mat. Go ahead and cut. This gives you a 25" strip and some leftover. Repeat this process with all 22 of your strips. Once again, set the leftover aside. This time it probably will only be a minute before you cut them up :)
Grab your leftover jelly roll pieces. You are going to be cutting them into 5" long pieces. You cut these the same way you did your 15" piece. Line your ruler up so that the end of the jelly roll is on the 5" line of your ruler and cut, then slide your ruler down another 5" and cut, and so forth. You should be able to get 3 pieces or "coins" out of each strip in your 22 pile (the pile that you cut 25" off before) and 5 pieces or "coins" out of each strip in your 18 pile (the pile that you cut 15" off before) You'll have a little scrap off of each strip. Yippee, everyone loves scraps!!
Grab your charm pack. You are going to be using 30 charms now and setting 12 aside with your 25" long jelly roll strips to be used for the pieced back. Hint - To get an even distribution of prints on the front of your quilt, get the 22 charms that you were only able to cut 3 coins out of your leftover jelly roll first. Then choose your next 8 favorites. Now take your 30 chosen charms and cut them in half .
Grab your "coins" from your jelly roll and your "coins" from your charm pack and you have a beautiful pile of "change" ready to be sewn together.
Now onto your sashings :)
Now onto your sashings :)
Grab your yard of white solid and lay it out on your mat, aligning the fold line with the 0 horizontal line on your mat. Align your ruler along the last line of your mat and trim a nice straight edge. Measure in 1 3/4". I like to normally just use my mat for this, but if the 3/4" throws you, you can always double check your measurement by placing another ruler along the side of your long ruler and ensuring that the edge of your fabric is lined up with the 1 3/4" mark on your second ruler. Go ahead and cut. Now without moving your fabric, slide your ruler over another 1 3/4" (use your second ruler to double check if necessary) and cut. Repeat this process until you have 12 strips.
Lets cut up the 12 strips. Start by aligning your ruler along the horizontal mat line at 21 1/2 inches (just below where the selvage edge ends). If you don't have a 21 1/2" line on your mat, line your 1/2 mark on your ruler with the 21" line on your mat. This should make your ruler edge now at 21 1/2". Trim off the selvage edge.
We need 16 1/2" strips, so move your ruler down to the horizontal 5" line on your mat. Align your mat along the horizontal 5" line and cut. Go ahead and set 6 of those little 10" strips aside (the ones under the ruler :) . The rest can go into your scrap pile :)
Now grab the last of your yard of white. Lay it out on the mat just as before and cut another 6 strips measuring 1 3/4" wide (See previous instructions if confused on how).
These strips will be used for your center strips between rows and your borders. However, they need to be a little longer. Remember those six 10" long pieces I said to set aside? Grab them. Lay a 10" piece on top of your WOF strip. Sew a 1/4 seam along the edge. Keep doing this with all 6 of your strips. Press. Now you should have six 54" x 1 3/4" strips. And cutting is done and onto more sewing :)
STEP 2 - MAKING CHANGE ROWS
Making the change rows is a super fun and easy process. We'll start by taking our single coins and making them into sets of 2. Grab 2 coins. I like to make sure I don't have similar prints here. Also, I like to align the two cut edges and sew my seam along that edge. It helps to fix cutting boo-boo's :)
So with that said, lay your first coin on top of your second coin, right sides together. You are going to match up your pinked edges. If this causes your cut edges to be slightly off no worries, that is why we are sewing them first. I don't pin these. They are small enough to just handle while sewing but if that makes you nervous, feel free to pin away :)
Now go ahead and sew 1/4" seam along the cut edge of your two pieces. After you have sewn one set of coins don't stop. Don't cut your threads. Just feed the next set of coins through your machine. This is called Chain Stitching and it saves tons of time! So go ahead and Chain Stitch all of your sets of 2 coins.
This is what you will have now: a huge pile of attached sets of 2. Now you can cut the threads between each of your sets.
You should now have a few stacks that each look like the set of 2 on the bottom. Aren't they cute! So here is where your personal preference comes in. I don't iron here. I don't feel it is necessary for me and I like how fast and easy it makes this quilt go together. With that said, if you don't like working with pieces that aren't totally flat, feel free to iron your seams.
Now the process starts over again, but this time we are turning sets of 2 into sets of 4. Once again, when grabbing your pieces, try to avoid the same prints next to each other. Now just repeat the process! Lay your sets of 2 right side together, chain stitch you 1/4" seam, and cut your threads.
You have sets of 4 and you guessed it, we are turning those into sets of 8. You are a pro at this now, huh! Repeat the same process of lining up right sides together, chain stitching and clipping threads.
Now, I go ahead and press all of my seams in one direction. Do this on all 27 of your sets. Yes, that is right, you should have 27 sets now. If you don't look around on the floor, you have lost a few in the process.
And there you have it. 27 beautiful Change Rows.
STEP 3 - MAKING BLOCKS
This is the layout for your block. You will be making 9 of them. Just a side note before we get started... I liked to make sure that each time I line up a row that I don't have an identical print across from each other and that I am keeping an even distribution of color. I love the look of random, but I tend to try to control the random a bit :).
So we can start by attaching the center strips to the coin stacks. Go ahead and set aside 9 coin stacks. On the remaining 18 stacks, lay a 16 1/2" white strip on the right side of your strip making sure your edges line up. Once again, I didn't pin here but if you prefer to, or if you find your edges aren't lining up, go ahead and pin. Chain stitch a 1/4 seam on all 18 stacks, clip your threads.
Now pressing. I went ahead and pressed toward the white, I did this to avoid bulk. With that said, there are some prints that you will be able to see through the white strip to the print below. So if that bothers you, go ahead and press toward the prints. Once again, this is a personal preference thing.
We are going to take those 18 strips that you just sewed and sew them together to create 9 total pieces. So this is how you are going to line up your two pieces. (You will be doing this with 9 sets).
Lay your right hand piece on top of your left hand piece with right sides together. Just flip it over, don't spin it or anything. Go ahead and pin making sure your edges line up. Oh and double check you flipped it right. You know you are aligned correctly if you are pinning the coins to the white strip underneath. Now go ahead and chain stitch your 1/4" seam along the 9 sets, cut your threads and press.
Now you should have 9 sets that look like this. You are now ready to add on the last row of change. So grab those 9 rows you set aside.
Lay the final row onto your pieced block with right sides together. Pin along the edge. And once again, chain stitch your 1/4" seam, clip your threads, and press.
You now have 9 beautiful blocks! Don't they just POP!!
STEP 5 - COMPLETING THE QUILT TOP
Now that your blocks are done, you are ready to get your top all sewn up. Well start by laying out the rows. Go ahead and play with your blocks until you get a scheme that you like. Make sure that your block alignment matches this picture. (ie Row 1 and 3 blocks go vertical, horizontal, vertical while Row 2 blocks go horizontal, vertical, horizontal.) You will want to mark your blocks so that as you pick them up and sew you don't loose this layout. I find the easiest way is to take a picture that you can refer back to. Done :).
We want to attach the vertical sashings first. Lay your 16 1/2" white strips on the right hand side of your first 2 blocks in each row. Once again, I didn't pin, but you can if you want. Sew a 1/4" seam along the indicated line. Press.
Sew your rows together block by block. You will do this the same way you sewed your blocks together. Sew blocks 1 and 2 of each row together first and then press. Then add block 3, sew and press. If you get confused look back to the instructions of Step 3, its the same just on a bigger scale.
Yippee Skippee!! Your rows are done. Add your long sashing strips and border, and you are done. Grab those 6 super long white strips that you made back when you were cutting. They are a little long but no worry, we'll trim any excess.
Lay a white sashing along the bottom of your row 1 and another white sashing along the bottom of Row 2. Make sure that you have right sides together. (Seriously, I had to do some unpicking because I wasn't paying attention here, arghh!!) I didn't pin, I just lined it up as I sewed it (again, personal preference). Sew 1/4" seam and press. Go ahead and clip off any excess overhang.
So now you are here! You are ready to sew your rows together!
Take Row 2 (the center row) and lay it up onto Row 1. Go ahead and pin. ** See the next 2 pictures for a note on pinning**
When pinning, you want to take care that you are lining the sashing between your blocks up. To do this, pin your seams on either side of your sashing first.
Double check that they are lined up by flipping up the edge and making sure that the pin are in line with the seams of the sashing. Nice and lined up, okay! Sew your 1/4 seam along the entire row and then press.
You're here now! Isn't it just beautiful! Now you are going to add the bottom row the exact same way. Go ahead, you can do it!
You are almost done with the top. Now it is just adding on the borders and they are a snap! Add your two side borders first. Lay a long white sashing along the right side of the quilt and one along the left side of the quilt. Once again, make sure that the right sides are together. ( We don't want raw seams on quilt tops :). I didn't pin. Line up your strip as you sew your 1/4" seam and then trim the excess at the end. Press.
