Dream Weaver Quilt Tutorial

with
Jenny Doan

Dream Weaver Quilt Tutorial

Quilt Size: 73" x 82"
Time: 13 Minutes
Jenny Doan demonstrates how to create the look of a woven block using 2.5 inch strips of precut fabric. (She used Wild Nectar Jelly Roll by Crystal Manning for Moda Fabrics, but any printed jelly roll would work!) Learn how to add sashing with cornerstones to your blocks in this free quilting tutorial.
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video transcript

Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the MSQC. And I am here today to show you how to make this awesome woven block. Recently I got to spend some time with a weaver, like she had a really giant loom and was weaving things. And it was so cool. And I thought, let’s see if we can do a block with jelly roll strips that looks like a woven block. So let’s take a look at this quilt behind me. You can see how these go together and you can see the weave. And it’s just kind of fun. There’s seven blocks across, eight blocks down for 56 blocks. It makes a quilt that is 73 by 82 so a pretty good size quilt. So what you’re going to need to make this quilt is one roll of 2 ½ inch strips and we have used Wild Nectar by Chrystal Manning for Moda. And it’s just a beautiful happy line you can see in the colors behind me. You’re going to need a yard and a quarter of background. And this little white is the, is the cornerstone is what we’re calling our background. And you really do need that much, I was like, one and a quarter yards, you know because I just sew with what’s on my desk. But we really did use that much. Then also on your sashing, the little gray sashing, these inch and a half strips, you’re going to need some of that. You’re going to need a yard and a half of that. And that actually takes care of your inner border as well. Now the outer border is one and a quarter yards. And this is just a little five inch border. And so it’s not too huge. And the backing you’re going to need five yards of backing. And we have used this great butterfly print. The backing is such a fun place to use a nice big print, really, really pretty. So let me straighten this back out there for you, there we go. Ok, so let me show you how to make this because this is, this is really fun.

Now you’re going to take your 2 ½ inch strips and we’re going to have to cut some of those pieces. And we are going to cut 2 ½ inch squares and 4 ½ inch rectangles. And you’re actually going to get six of those out of each block. So I’ve got my little, I’m going to cut off my selvedge edge here. And then this little ruler is just 2 ½ inches wide so it makes it really easy to cut, just lay it along the edge. And we are going to cut, we’re cutting two layers, our strip is folded in half. We’re going to cut six of those. And then we’re also going to get six of the 4 ½ inch rectangles. And I’m actually just going to fold my strip and see if I can do it this way. Actually you know what I don’t think I”m going to be able to do it that way. I think I”m going to lose one if I do it that way.. Alright so we’re going to cut 4 ½. One, two, three, four, and a half right here. So there’s two. Let’s see we’ve got our half here at the front, one, two, three, four. I always count. It’s better to be safe that sorry. There’s four and one more here. And we’ve got one, two, three, four and a half. Now you’re actually going to want to pair these up. So we’re going to keep, we’re going to keep a long strip with a square, one square like this because this is going to make a quarter of our block. This is the block we’re going for right here. And we’re making a quarter of a block at a time. And so you want to keep these, you know these strips together. And you’ll want to do that to all your strips. Just make sure they’re in little pairs so you have, you have a 2 ½ and a 4 ½ and you know that’s going to be one quarter of a block. Alright.

So this is also a block you want to layout because this corner has to line up with this corner block. So you’ve got to know what coming ahead. And so what we’re going to do is we’re going to lay some of these out. And I”ll use one of these. So you’re going to put a long square, a long strip I mean with your two squares. And this is going to be a different one like this. Now we’re going to look over to this way and this, whatever this color was we’re going to put that one over here. And then we’re going to start a new block over here. We’re going to look ahead. This one is going to go over here. So you have to make sure they have this continuity. And this little strip is going to go here. And then the long strip, wait, this is going to go down here. And I really did have to really lay these out to make sure that I had them right. And then a little white, a little white strip goes in each corner like this. I mean a little white square. A little white square. And I chose white just because it made that fabric pop. Obviously you can use whatever color you want.

So now you’re going to sew these quadrants together like this. So basically every single 2 ½ inch square gets sewn to a 2 ½ inch square. And so we’re just going to do that. A quarter of an inch right down the side. And I’m actually going to stack up mine and take them all over to the sewing machine and just hope I get them back in the right place. Actually I know I can. But it’s one of those things where it’s like uh, uh, you know. So alright, there we go. I’m just going to chain piece these so we’re just going to shoot them through one after the other. It doesn’t matter if your color or your white is on top. It just matter that they are wrong sides or right sides together . I almost said that wrong. I almost led you astray right there. Alright now let’s clip these apart. And we’ll press these open. And make sure my iron is nice and warm. There we go. And the last one here. And I am pressing so, I am pressing with my dark color on the top so when I fold it back that seam, your little seam stays hidden on the dark side.

Alright so now I’m going to look at these where my, where my fabric came across, wait. Alright there we go. So now we can sew our pieces together. And on your pieces they’re always going to go your long rectangle on top with the color to the top. So let’s go ahead and we’re going to take a big risk, fold all these up and hope I can get them right back where they go. So I’ve got my bar on the top of my two patch and my. My long rectangle is on top of the two patch with the color at the top. So it’s kind of important that you do that the same. Otherwise you’ll be doing a little bit of ripping. Which is fine too if it happens. You know people die over ripping out stuff and I’m like, I do it all the time. But the reason I make a mistake isn’t usually because I sew bad it’s usually because I’m just not paying attention. You know I”m so, I get squirreled really easily. And something is going on and I’m just not, I’m just not watching what I’m doing. I took off a little too fast on that one. And then I get lost you know. I start doing things by rote rather than like really thinking about where I’m going with things. And some patterns it’s true, you have to pay a little more attention than others. And this is one of those. You want it to match up and you want it to all work. Alright now we’re clipping these apart and we’re going to press them open. Again I’m going to leave my long rectangle on the top and press. So set it and roll it back. And set and roll. Set and roll. Set and roll. Alright now we put these together as a four patch.

So let’s see. Again I’m going to see if I can. Alright I know that this guy has to go across from him but not quite like that. LIke this. There we go. Whew. Alright this one is going to go here. No, wait. Wait for it. Oh here’s a clue. I’ve got a clue for you. Your white squares always have to be in the corners. So that’s a clue right there. And so this one is not going to be able to go there. So let’s, let’s watch what we’ve got here. White square in the outside corners. I’m losing my mind here. Oh there we go. Here we go. Whew. White square in the outside corner. Oh I think I may have it. There we go. Look at that. So you can see how this looks like it’s weaving through. And then we’re just going to sew them together as a four patch. So I do get a little angley challenged. But these little clues help me. So the white square in the outside corner. So let’s go ahead and put this together now. And you don’t want to leave it too long. If it moves places you’re in big trouble. Alright I’m just going to reach and grab this one over here. Thank heaven for those long arms. And there’s no seams to match up on this either so. This should totally work. And then we’re just going to put these together and make sure our white corners are on the outsides. Now this one you want to match up that center seam. You’re going to sew along and then you want to make sure that this center seam is laying nice. And you’re just going across it. Alright now for the big reveal. I’m a little nervous. It worked. You just never know, you just never know. I do my best you guys, I do my best.

Alright so now this is your block. This is your little woven block. And we want to put them together in a quilt. And when I started putting them all together, originally I just thought, put these together and have them just kind of interweaved. But they don’t because the colors are different. So I decided to accentuate the block and put them together with a sashing. So now we’ve got whatever size your block ends up. It looks like ours is 8 ½. It should be about 8 ½. What you’re going to do is you are going to lay and your strip is going to be that long. So you’re going to lay a sashing in between every row. Alright so here’s a block and a sashing. A block and a sashing. And you’re going to have seven across the top and eight down. So here is, here’s another one over here. You’re just going to keep sewing those together like that. Now your sashing row, the next row is going to be a row of sashing. And it’s going to be a piece like this. And we‘ve added a cornerstone. So if your sashing strip which ours is 1 ½ then you want to make your cornerstone 1 ½. And then you’re able to set that up right at you go along, just like this. And so it will just fit really nice in there. And then you’re going to add your next row of blocks to that. So a sashing row goes in between every row and your rows are all sashed first. So again, sash your rows, make a sashing strip, sash your rows. And then you’re going to sew those two together. And it just goes together really quick and easy. The benefit of the cornerstone is that is helps keep your blocks all lined up. I have a real problem with squaring things up with no stone in there. They get a little off, drives me a little crazy. This will solve that problem.

So this is a fun quilt to make. It’s a nice big one. Love the woven block. I love my time, spending my time that gal with, on her weaving machine. That was such a cool thing. And most things like that inspire me to want to come home and make something that has to do with what I’ve just learned. Or how I felt. That’s the, that’s my creative process. So we’re calling this the Dream Weaver quilt. You can sing that song all afternoon. And we hope you enjoyed this tutorial from the MSQC.

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