Quilty Zest: brand ambassador

Showing posts with label brand ambassador. Show all posts

Monday, May 1, 2023

Doodle Baby Fringe Quilt Tutorial

Are you like me? Do you have the best intentions of making quilts for new babies in your life? And suddenly those babies are walking, or off to preschool, and the quilt still hasn't happened?

When Benartex sent me the Doodle Baby flannel fabrics as part of their Ambassador program, I knew exactly what I wanted to make: a quick and easy baby quilt.

That's what I'm sharing today - a tutorial for a flannel baby quilt that doesn't require quilting. It goes together very quickly - it took me longer to cut the fringe than to sew the quilt! Keep reading to learn how to make this quilt yourself. And if you'd prefer a video tutorial, click here.

First, check out these Doodle Baby flannel fabrics, designed by Jessica Flick. Aren't they sweet? I love the little hand-drawn animals, the text print, the stripes...and the color palette.

Let's get to the tutorial!

You'll Need:

3/8 yard each of (8) medium flannel prints

5/8 yard each of (2) white and (2) gray flannel prints

That's it!

Cutting:

Tip: Fabric yardage comes folded in half, with wrong sides together. As you cut, keep the squares paired up wrong sides together. You'll be sewing layered pairs together, and these are already matched up and ready to go!

From each of (7) medium flannel prints:
(4) 9" squares (so 2 sets of paired squares from each)

From the remaining medium flannel print:
(2) 9" squares (so 1 set of paired squares)

From each of the (2) white and (2) gray flannel prints:
(30) 5" squares (so 15 sets of paired squares from each)

Making the Quilt:

Step 1 With a matching pair of 5" squares wrong sides together, draw diagonal lines from corner to corner in both directions.

Tip: Marking squares is fine, but a real timesaver for this quilt (and other projects) is a Vivilux laser. It attaches to your sewing machine, and then you align the laser line with the needle. As you feed squares, align the corners with the laser line. Straight sewing lines, and no marking needed!

Step 2 Sew each pair of 5" squares diagonally in both directions, either using marked lines or a laser. I highly recommend chain piecing as you stitch these squares. Make (60) 5" square stitched pairs. Do the same with the pairs of medium print 9" squares as well to make (15) 9" square stitched pairs.

Step 3 To make the four-patch, lay out (2) gray stitched pair squares and (2) white stitched pair squares as shown.

Step 4 Layer the top gray and white squares back sides together and stitch using a 1/2" seam allowance. Do the same for the second set of gray and white squares. Finger press the seams (on the front side!) open.

Step 5 Layer the two gray/white units back sides together, matching center seams. Pin units together, making sure the seam allowances are folded open on both sides (this reduces bulk). Stitch using a 1/2" seam allowance.

Step 6 Your four-patch block will look like this. Finger press the horizontal seam open. Make a total of (15) four-patch blocks, arranging the fabrics in each in the same way. Blocks measure 9" square.

Step 7 Lay out the (15) four-patch blocks and the (15) medium print blocks into (6) rows of (5) blocks each. Sew the blocks into rows using a 1/2" seam allowance on the front and making sure seams are folded open. Note orientation of the four-patch blocks.

Blocks stitched into rows

Step 8 Sew the rows together, matching seams. Stitch around the outer edge of the quilt using a 1/2" seam allowance.

Step 9 Clip all of the seams, cutting less than 1/4" apart for maximum fringing and fraying. Cut carefully to make sure you don't cut through the stitch line. Don't forget to cut around the outer edges of the quilt.

Step 10 After you've clipped all of the seams, wash and dry the quilt. This will change those clipped edges into a wonderful frayed fringe. That's it - you're done!

A little close-up of the fringing effect

These quilts are so cozy and great gifts! I especially love that the backing is part of the blocks and the assembly, and no quilting is required beyond stitch across each square - it's that easy!

Don't forget - you can also find the video version of this tutorial here!

If you're new here, welcome! I hope you'll stay and look around a bit.

If you like what you've seen here, you can also find me:

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(You'll receive a free pattern for my Diamond Drama quilt (below) as a thank you!)

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Benartex Ambassador Tote Challenge

How is it almost February? We moved at the end of December into early January, and the month pretty much disappeared! With all the packing and unpacking, I have done very little sewing lately, but our first Benartex Brand Ambassador challenge came up, and I needed to dig out my machine.

We were each asked to make a tote bag inspired by/with a nod to the Benartex logo. I opted to create X blocks - not quite as fancy as the X in the logo, but graphic and fun.

For fabric, I received this fun box of Marbleized prints -an entire rainbow's worth - to play with.

I knew I wanted black for the background so the Xs would pop.

I decided to use two shades of a color for each X to add a little interest. I started pairing colors up and couldn't narrow it down, so I ended up making eight X blocks - four for each side! Here are some of my blocks in progress:

And here's the finished tote bag.

Special thanks to Mom, who was here and pressed and trimmed units as I stitched them!

Side 1:

Side 2:

Which side do you prefer? I started with the purple, orange, blue and lime on side 1, and I think that's my favorite.

I have created another quilt with Marbleized fabrics - this Follow the Rainbow BOM. It looks pretty nice next to the tote bag, doesn't it?! (The rack they're both hanging on was a recent purchase for our new house - there's not a coat closet at the back door, and with 3 boys and Michigan winters, we needed someplace to hang everything.)