This quilt was originally designed to be an 11 week quilt along. It's a great project for using up fabric scraps. The quilt measures 58 x 82 inches. The design is meant to look chaotic up close and come into focus as you back away.
A little background on the process
Each step has a detailed PDF file with cutting charts and assembly diagrams for you. For those that like to know more about the logic behind the process I'll share a little about how the design came to be.
This really started out as a half baked idea with no real pattern. Almost all the quilts I make have been given away as gifts or donations. This time I wanted to make something fun that my husband would enjoy. Since we like all things sci-fi, I found a great pumpkin carving template of Mr. Spock at pink ray gun. I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it though. I was getting tired of applique and needed something different. After several months of pondering I decided to try a scrappy quilt. I wanted the quilt to be very chaotic and scrappy up close but reveal an image as you backed away from it.
I cropped and scanned the pumpkin carving template image into a cross stitch chart generator to get a grid over it. This step took a few tries to get what I wanted (see photo 3).
Next I began to mark off my block sections. I didn't want the uniformity of visible rows so I pieced large sections and then put the sections together at random spots. So I wouldn't get lost between sewing sessions I colored in the sections that were finished with a high light marker (see photo 4).
The Cutting Math
To keep it simple my scale was 1 inch = 1 square on the grid. I cut each piece 1/2 larger in length and width to allow for the seams (1/4 inch seam on both sides).
For example. I need a piece that is 2 grid squares by 3 grid squares on my chart. So I cut a piece of fabric that is 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches.
And that's how the Fascinating Quilt was born.
Are you ready to make one of your own?
A little background on the process
Each step has a detailed PDF file with cutting charts and assembly diagrams for you. For those that like to know more about the logic behind the process I'll share a little about how the design came to be.
This really started out as a half baked idea with no real pattern. Almost all the quilts I make have been given away as gifts or donations. This time I wanted to make something fun that my husband would enjoy. Since we like all things sci-fi, I found a great pumpkin carving template of Mr. Spock at pink ray gun. I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it though. I was getting tired of applique and needed something different. After several months of pondering I decided to try a scrappy quilt. I wanted the quilt to be very chaotic and scrappy up close but reveal an image as you backed away from it.
I cropped and scanned the pumpkin carving template image into a cross stitch chart generator to get a grid over it. This step took a few tries to get what I wanted (see photo 3).
Next I began to mark off my block sections. I didn't want the uniformity of visible rows so I pieced large sections and then put the sections together at random spots. So I wouldn't get lost between sewing sessions I colored in the sections that were finished with a high light marker (see photo 4).
The Cutting Math
To keep it simple my scale was 1 inch = 1 square on the grid. I cut each piece 1/2 larger in length and width to allow for the seams (1/4 inch seam on both sides).
For example. I need a piece that is 2 grid squares by 3 grid squares on my chart. So I cut a piece of fabric that is 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches.
And that's how the Fascinating Quilt was born.
Are you ready to make one of your own?
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Signing UpStep 1: Gather Your Fabrics
Let's get started by gathering our fabrics. This quilt is great for using up your scraps. The colors don't matter so much but they have to fall into the category of light or dark. I created two piles of fabrics. One lights and the other darks (see photos 1 & 2).
Since we need the colors to "read" as darks and lights you should take a photo of them in black and white to see how close they looked to each other. In my black and white photo of the light fabrics you can see that the two at the top, the blue on the lower right and the yellow at lower left don't quite "read" the same as the other lights (see photo 3). In the black and white photo of my dark fabrics the black on the right side of the pile really "reads" way too dark (see photo 4). All of these were removed from the piles.
Since we need the colors to "read" as darks and lights you should take a photo of them in black and white to see how close they looked to each other. In my black and white photo of the light fabrics you can see that the two at the top, the blue on the lower right and the yellow at lower left don't quite "read" the same as the other lights (see photo 3). In the black and white photo of my dark fabrics the black on the right side of the pile really "reads" way too dark (see photo 4). All of these were removed from the piles.
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And that's awesome! Haha This is super cool.
"For those that like to know more about the logic behind the process I'll share a little about how the design came to be."
Is that a Spock pun I see there?
As I'm always telling my kids...Yes, I'm a nerd and proud of it:)
Your description was very logical; I'm sure he'd approve.