Easy and virtually free patchwork quilt – Part 1

Don’t be overawed by the thought of making a quilt. It won’t take you 2 years like in the olden days, and it’s not hard if you have half a brain. You don’t have to make a huge monster for your bed either. For starters I would advocate making a smaller ‘lap quilt’ which you can use on the sofa. This not only looks good folded up over the arm but is lovely to snuggle under if you are trying to reduce the amount you spend on your heating bills.

The following instructions are for very beginners. However, I’m assuming you’ve got (or can borrow) a sewing machine and can figure out how to sew 2 bits of fabric together in a straight line.

Buying all the fabric you need to make a quilt for your bed or the sofa can cost a bomb, and collecting scraps that match can take forever. Do not fear though. When I am strapped for cash I head on down to the local curtain shop and beg for their old sample books. In most cases they tell me to look by the bins because they normally just throw them away. What a waste!

This is a quilt I made a couple of years ago using a salvaged curtain sample book and a bed sheet second that cost £2. The one we are going to make here is even simpler, so don't panic.




The advantages of using curtain sample books as that the fabrics will be of the same weight, and will coordinate beautifully. The disadvantages are, for a beginner, they are more tricky to sew with than quilting fabrics as they are thicker and usually more coarsely woven, so fray easily. Don’t be put off though, who cares if it goes wrong? It was free.

Step 1: Preparing the fabric and cutting the blocks.



This is my sample book. Yours wil be different in size, but it won't matter, the principles are the same.

First, you need to prepare the fabric samples. Lever off the bindings with a screwdriver to liberate the fabric. The books are held together with dangerous spikes, so I asked an adult to help me with this part.



If there are paper labels on the back these are best removed by soaking in a bowl of warm water. I would also advocate washing the fabric at this point, but if truth be told I very rarely do this. (True quiltmakers would be horrified by this admission.) It is prudent to avoid any nasty colour running accidents or ugly shrinkage in the future. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Hang the fabric out to dry then press them flat.

Right. Now you are going to trim the pieces so they are all the same size. I can’t guide you here – my sample book here is quite small, yours might be massive. It doesn’t matter as long as the blocks are all identical at the end.

Some samples have a sort of plasticy glue down the edges to stop fraying. You should remove all of this in the trimming process. I also cut off the tops of my pieces where the spikes had punctured the fabric. I use a rotary cutter (like a pizza wheel for material) and a cutting mat to trim and square up my patchwork pieces, but scissors work just as well.

I’ll be back with part 2 later in the week, when I’ve trimmed me bits, so to speak. I’m making this quilt and writing about it as I go, so I hope it doesn’t go horribly wrong!