Brightly Quilt Tutorial

with
Jenny Doan

Brightly Quilt Tutorial

Quilt Size: 60" x 72"

Jenny Doan demonstrates how to make a stunning star quilt using 10 inch squares of precut fabric (layer cake). For this project, Jenny chose Magic Colors 10 Karat Gems by Wilmington Essentials. This quilt was designed by Allison Harris for Cluck Cluck Sew, and the pattern is available at missouriquiltco.com. (Fun fact: Jenny uses Diagonal Seam Tape™ to stitch these blocks with accuracy and ease, and Allison created that, too! What a gal!) 

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video transcript

Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. And I am here today to share with you a fun project. This is the pattern Brightly and it is made by designer Allison Harris for Cluck, Cluck, Sew. And every once in a while I see a quilt and I’m just like, oh I have to make that. And then when I saw how she made it and it fits so well with the kind of things I do, I asked her permission to actually do a tutorial on this. So run, don’t walk to get your copy of this pattern because it is a great pattern, really fun, really easy and I get to show you how to do it. So let’s look at the quilt. I love anything that chains, you know, how these chain. I love how it chains. I love stars and I just think this is the cutest, cutest block. It’s made up of two blocks and here it is right here. It’s a star block and then this intersecting block right here. And it’s just as cute as it can be. So let me show you how to do this. So to make the Brightly quilt you’re going to need one packet of ten inch squares. And we have used Magic Colors Ten by Wilmington Essentials. You’re also going to need 2 ½ yards of background fabric. For your backing you’ll need four yards. And you’re going to need the Brightly pattern by Cluck, Cluck, Sew. 

So let’s open up her pattern and see what she says. Now if you guys know me at all, typically I am not a pattern reader but she writes patterns for both ways people learn. Her graphics are incredible. So I always say I quilt by picture because if I can look at the picture and figure it out then that’s what I’m doing. And so the first thing we’re going to do is we are going to take a layer cake square, a ten inch square, now her pattern is written for fat quarters and pre cuts. And of course I use pre cuts so that’s what I’m going to show you. And 23 of your ten inch squares, you’re going to cut into 4 ½ inch squares. So let’s go ahead and do that. We’ll get some of those right here. And so what I’m going to do is I’m going to lay my ruler on the edge like this and I’m going to come in 4 ½ inches like this and then cut one more piece, 4 ½. And then I’m going to stack these and then cut 4 ½ again. So lay it, my ½ inch line is right here on this edge. There’s one and there’s two right here. And you’re going to do that to 19 of your squares just like that. I’m sorry to 23 of your squares. The other 19 you’re going to take and you’re going to stack up and you’re going to cut those all into 2 ½ inch squares. And basically if you cut this just right you’ll get 2 ½ strips out of the whole thing like this. And you’re going to do this to 19 of the squares. Oops, I wavered a little right there. I’m just going to go back and kind of correct that. And then I’m going to stack these on top of each other like this. And then I have four stacked on top of each other. And I like to use my little ruler for this and I’m going to go 2 ½ like this. And 2 ½ . And of course you can do it this way too. It’s a very versatile little ruler. Alright so then you have piles of these and you have piles of those and you’re ready to start putting your blocks together.

So we’re going to start with this star block. And you can see right here how it fits. Now one of the things I want you to notice is because this is a separate block, you literally can put anything in here. And Allison recently did a quilt with pumpkins inside there and it’s just so cute. So think of outside the box on this because this block literally could be anything. So this block is made up of a star and then four corner blocks. I’ll show you how to make the corner blocks first. It’s like this. So you’re also going to need to cut some background fabric. You’re going to need some five inch squares, some 2 ½ inch by 4 ½ inch rectangles and some 2 ½ inch squares. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to pick one of our 2 ½ inch squares and we’re going to pick another 2 ½ inch square and we’re going to sew those together like this. And sew a quarter of an inch right down the side. And then we’re going to attach it to a 2 ½ by 4 ½ inch rectangle. And that’s going to go along the side like this. And we are just going to make those. And then we’re going to press this open. And you’re going to make four of these, one for each corner. This block right here. So you’ll make four of those. 

Alright so now we’re going to make the star. We’re going to take four of our five inch squares like this. I’m sorry, these are probably 4 ½ aren’t they? Ok. So we’re going to take four of our 4 ½ inch squares like this. We’re going to choose one of the 4 ½ inch squares that we have cut from our layer cakes for the center block. And then we need some star legs. And you’re going to need eight 2 ½ inch squares for your star legs. So I will use this little pile of orange right here. And what we’re going to do is we are going to snowball the corner of this, four of these on the corner. This is going to make our star legs. So we’re going to do that to four of these squares, snowball the corner. And let me get going on those. So I am going to actually sew corner to corner using my diagonal seam tape right here which by the way, Allison also invented the diagonal seam tape. And so it’s kind of fun to have those two projects come together. So we’re sewing across this using our diagonal seam tape. Now you can draw the line. You can iron the line, whatever you want just so that you get from corner to corner pretty straight. We’ve got one more here like this. And then you’re going to do one more as well. So you’re going to do four of these. And I’m just going to do one to show you how they work. And then I’m going to show you how to put these together because I’ve already made them. Alright so I’m going to trim this edge off right here like this. And we’re going to press that back. Now to get the star leg we’re going to add another piece and we’re just going to snowball the other side right like this. And this will give us our star leg. Alright let’s trim it off and press it back. Now you’re going to need four of these. So let me show you how this goes together because I have some made here.

I have four corner blocks that look like this. One, two, three, four and ours are scrappy. Where’s my other one? Here it is. And then we kept our star legs the same so we have four of those. This is just where we snowballed the corners and then here’s our middle block. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to put this together like this. I like to put my middle out. Then I’m going to put my star legs around it like this. And that’s going to make our star. And then the corners are going to come in here and the color is going to go to the outside because that kind of assists the chain, the secondary block in chaining. So this way out here and like this. So then what we’re going to do is we’re going to pick up row one and sew these together. And we’re just going to line those up, sew a quarter of an inch down the side. And then this one as well, remembering that your colored square is on the outside. Ya if you turn that colored square to the inside it’s a whole new something something. Alright, there’s that. Now we’re going to pick up the next row which means we’re going to sew two star legs to either side of that center block like this. And then our bottom row we’re going to sew our outside corners to those center star legs as well, remembering that the color stays to the outside. And then this one. I always have to check because otherwise, I did get a few of them turned around. You get in a, you know, rote sewing of just sewing along. And you’re not thinking and all of a sudden you’re like, oh snap that should have been to the outside. Alright so lay it and check it again and then we’ll sew these three rows together. Now you’ll notice I haven’t pressed them and that’s because I want to make those seams, I want to make them nest. And so I’m going to turn my, the center seam block to the middle and make sure this one is turned that way as well. And then I’ll press the whole thing when I’m done. Alright so there’s those two and this one over here. Again I’m remembering that my center seam goes to the middle. To the middle, it has to be coaxed sometimes but you are the boss of it. Alright. So here’s our little finished block and we’ll press that so it’s nice and flat. And just like that you’ve got this darling little star. And I’m going to press these out so they lay nice and flat like that. How cute is that? 

Alright so let’s talk about this next block. For the next block you’re going to choose five squares that you’ve cut into 4 ½. And so we’re going to go with a green and a blue, a pink and an orange. And then maybe we can put this dark green in the center. So these go on the corners like this and then one of these goes in the middle like this. I think I’m going to put my pink one right in the middle. Alright. Now these little blocks that go in the center, these are made up of a 2 ½ by 4 ½ inch rectangle which I have right here. And then two little pieces, two little 2 ½ inch squares that are scrappy. And so we’re just going to sew four sets of these together. And so let me get one, two and you want to try to keep them different from the fabrics that you have out, three, four. And I’ll just sew a few of them so you can see how I do this. I chain pieced these. And so you’re going to sew two like this. And then we’ll sew. And I just kept putting my two inch squares together. I did it by block. You can actually do the whole quilt if you want to count them up and figure out how many of these to do. But it’s just easy. Once you get sewing a certain thing it’s easy to do all of that one thing. Alright so now we have two that are sewn together and we are going to add them to a 2 ½ by 4 ½ inch rectangle and sew right down the side like this. And so this block you’re going to need four of to make the second block. So let me just go ahead and iron this nice and flat. And so then these are going to go color in to the middle like this.

Alright so I have some of those cut out over here or I mean already sewn together over here. So we’re going put this, we’re going to have, alright so I’m going to finish these other two up so that we can finish up our block. And I’m just going to press those back. And then we will add them to our 2 ½ by 4 ½ rectangle. Alright here we go. And one more. Alright so let me press these down. And I think this seam is going to want to go the other way. So lift this up this way. Alright so now we just face these toward the center like this and that secondary block is done. So again we’re going to do the same thing. We’re going to sew these corners together, three rows of three. It’s like a giant nine patch with different blocks in it. Alright, there’s that one. Now this center block has the two little 2 ½ inch square blocks to the middle like this. And then here’s the bottom row. This was really such a quick, fun pattern to make. I mean I just really loved it and I love the idea that anything can be in the secondary space. I love that she’s already done one with pumpkins in it. That is so fun to me. Alright we’re going to turn that middle seam to the inside and on both sides and nest up our seams. And on this bottom one over here we’ll add it. Turn that one in. Alright now let’s press this one. So cute. And such a simple block but when you put them together the effect is just stunning, really stunning. 

Alright so let’s look at how these go together on the quilt. We’ve got two star blocks on the top and the one, two, three of the setting block, secondary block, the chaining block. And then we start with a star, chaining block, star, chaining block, star. So you just alternate them when you put  them up. We’ve got one, two, three, four, five, six, rows across, five in a row so 30 blocks. This makes a quilt that is 60 by 72. So it’s a great size quilt. No border on this one, just our binding. And the backing back here is just this cute little kind of blue clouds sky looking fabric. And I quilted it with Stars and Loops, really cute. But wait I’ve got to show you. I loved this so much that I couldn’t wait to see what it would look like in another fabric so of course Christmas is getting close and so I wanted to make it in Christmas fabric. Natalie, can you come help me hold this up? Natalie is going to join me for a minute here. So look how cute this is. Look at this. Now I love a border, you guys know I love a border. So I added an inner border and an outer border and that does change the size of the quilt. It makes it bigger. But I also want you to notice that in the center of my stars and in the center of my secondary chaining block I fussy cut little things in there. Isn’t it so cute? This was a line that lent itself to a little bit of fussy cutting and I just thought it was really, really cute. So if you want to make one like mine, I added an inner 2 ½ inch border and an outer five inch border on it. I used this Snowflake Wind quilting pattern on it. And of course this line had a cute little binding with a stripe in it which I just think is adorable. The backing is that Christmas plaid that is just so fun. And you can really see the quilting on that back, so pretty. 

So I just really love this pattern. I love the name. I love how well it’s written. The graphics on it are just beautiful. And for those of you who are pattern readers it will work great. For those of you who quilt by picture like me, we can do this pattern. And so I just think it’s really fun. I’m really grateful  to Allison for letting us use it and show it. And I hope you guys have fun. I think this is really going to be a great addition to all your quilting things. So we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the Brightly quilt from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. 

Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. We hope you enjoyed watching this video. If you aren’t already part of the Missouri Star Quilt Company family be sure to subscribe so you won’t miss a thing. And if you click that bell it will notify you every time a new tutorial comes out. See you next Friday. 

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