Pinwheel Frolic Quilt + Pillowcase Tutorial

with
Jenny Doan

Pinwheel Frolic Quilt + Pillowcase Tutorial

Quilt Size: 65" x 65"
Jenny Doan demonstrates how to make a lovely Pinwheel Frolic quilt using 5 inch squares of precut fabric (charm packs). For this project, Jenny choose bright and cheery Whimsy Daisical Charm Packs by Keri Schneider for Blank Quilting. This quick and easy quilt is made with basic half-square triangles. Best of all, watch to the end for a bonus matching pillowcase with a pretty cuff and flange! This "burrito pillowcase" pattern is so simple and fun, it's a perfect project for sewing with kids!
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video transcript

Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. And I have a fun project for you today. Take a look at this quilt behind me. We’re calling this Pinwheel Frolic. It’s a nice size quilt. It’s made with two charm packs and so it’s 65 by 65. We’ve got this nice six inch border out here and look at this backing. And the quilt pattern we used is called Flutterby. It’s just tiny little butterflies that just twirl around. It’s really an adorable pattern. So to make this quilt what you’re going to need is two packages of five inch cut squares. And we have used Whimsy Daisical by Carrie Snider for Blind quilting. You’re also going to need two packages of a five inch square that’s a background color. And we’ve used these white ones right here. You’re going to need a half a yard for an inner border and those are 2 ½ inch strips. For your outer border you’re going to need 1 ¼ yards of this nice big six inch border. For your backing you’re going to need 4 ¼ yards of vertical seam or 2 ¼ yards of a 108 fabric. And we’ve used this nice print. You will also need a squaring tool and we have used the clearly perfect slotted trimmer and/or you can use the bloc loc, whichever one you’d like.


So let’s get right into making this quilt. You’re going to need two blocks for this quilt. And we’re calling them Block A and Block B. And they are made very similarly, just a little different and that’s what gives us this checkerboard with our sashing right here. And so the first thing we’re going to do is we are going to make half square triangles. And the easy way to do that for us on this project was that we actually took our little white squares and we paired them with a color square. We put them right sides together like this. And then what I’m going to do is I’m going to flip this over and you can draw the line, you can use the diagonal seam tape which I like to use. But for those of you who are just starting out, sometimes this visual is really helpful. So you’re going to draw the line. And we’re going to sew a quarter of an inch on both sides. So let’s come over to the sewing machine and do that. And I’m just going to set my presser foot down and sew a nice little seam a quarter of an inch away. And as long as you’re not too far away from the line, that doesn’t have to be exact because we are going to square these. So now I’m going to go ahead and sew this other one. I”ve already drawn the line. We’re going to sew on either side. You can use the diagonal seam tape for this, you just have to line it up with the outside line. But I just drew my line on there. Alrighty.


So now we have these two and these two are going to turn into four half square triangles because I’m just going to split them in half right here. Cut right on the line. And then I’m going to show you two ways to square these because different tools work for different brains. Always remember that. If you’re struggling with a tool there is going to be something else that is going to work better. So my first squaring is going to be with the bloc loc ruler. And that is the same as any square ruler that has a diagonal line. It doesn’t have to be the bloc loc. If you have a square that has a diagonal line that will be perfect. So we’re going to iron these two blocks open right here. And I’m just going to grab my iron and press them back. Press to the dark side. And we’re squaring these to 4 ½. And so we’re going to start here with the bloc loc. I always remember that if you press to the dark side that the words on bloc loc go on the background piece. So we’re looking at this. And you’ll see right away, there is very, very little to trim on these. And so we’re just going to shave this off here and here. And I’m just going to move that out of the way. And I’m just going to flip it and catch that other side. Just like that. And then I’ll do the same thing with this one. So again I start with this. Line it up in the corner. And then I’m just going to trim off these sides right here. And turn, make sure that we’re still nice and square and we are. Just a hair right here. Alright.


So now these two are perfectly squared. And we’ve used the any square diagonal and we’ve used the bloc loc. Now for the clearly perfect slotted trimmer which is one that I love, it makes sense to my brain. These are going to be 4 ½. So what we’re going to do is you see the 4 ½ stitch line right here. We’re going to put that stitch line on our stitch line. And we are going to line this up. And if I can scoot it all the way over to an edge and it still stays nice and square, that’s perfect for me because then I’m just trimming this one side. So this next one here I’m going to show you again. We’re going to start at 4 ½. Here’s our stitch line. We’re going to lay that on, their stitch line on my stitch line. And if I can slide this over and it still stays all lined up and square, then I really only have to cut one side. But I’ve got a little peeking out over here and I’m just going to trim that off as well. So see how tiny that was? Now these are both squared to 4 ½ as well. So let’s press those back just like this. And then we’re going to take a look at our block right here.


We’ve got our four, you need four of those for each block. And we’re going to take a look at our block A right here. And it has these little sashings in between the block like this. And the way we did that was I took all my squares, you’re going to do this the same no matter which block you do it for. I’m going to take my two five inch squares, put them on top of each other just like this, right sides together and we’re going to sew right down the sides on both sides. So we’re going to go over here and just sew right down the side. And then I’m going to flip this around and we’re going to sew right down this side. So now I’m just going to cut this in half like this. And we are actually going to cut this in half both directions. So I’m going to cut it this way so I’m going along the same as the stitch line, I laid my ruler right on the edge, cut right in the middle. So we’re cutting them 2 ½ both directions. And we’re cutting them horizontally and vertically. And what that gives us are these little patches right here that are then going to fit right in here between the blocks. So we need four of these to make our little block. And what we’re to do is we’re going to take these and I’m going to press them open. Now sometimes you’ll notice if you lay a regular cut square that you’ve cut yourself onto a pre cut, there’s sometimes it’s a little bit size difference and that’s because of the pinked edge. And if that bothers you at all, you know, so when I lay this on here and it’s exactly 2 ½ and it sticks out just a little tiny, you can trim that off. But otherwise don’t worry about it because it’s going to be pretty close. But sometimes that just drives me crazy. You know, I know I’m not alone out there. There’s a lot of us who don’t really know what to do with those pinked edges. Alright so now I’m pressing these all open to the dark side. So I have my color on top. And I’ve pressed that open so all of my color, my little seam right here is now laying on the colored fabric which means it will hide, you won’t see that later.


Alright so now what we’re going to do is we’re going to take these and we are going to lay them out pinwheel style. So we’re going to go this way and then this one is going to go this way. Just like that. And we’re going to sew these together and we’re going to sew the top and the bottom. And they can be the same. They will be the same. You’ll just, as you put them on, you’ll turn them around. And I’ll show you that. Alright so here is this one side and then I’m going to add this other side to it. Remember one goes down, one goes up. Alright, now I’m going to give that a little press and then we’re going to do the other side. And I am going to go ahead right here and trim off this little piece right here, that’s sticking out just a little, even up that seam. There we go. Just like that. Alright that’s the bottom part. Then we have the top part. And the top part is going to go down and over so we if actually set these all together. They would actually, I mean maybe you could see this. See how this is going to pinwheel, if we put all these together like that. But we’re separating them with that sashing. And it just makes it so cute. So on this one we’re going to put it together. And if we turned this, you’ll see it’s exactly the same thing but it’s going to be the top and the bottom. So we’re going to go over here and pick up that whole row and just sew this on. And so when you start making these blocks you can chain piece them and you can put that two piece on that same block all the way around because these pinwheel blocks are all made this way. Oop, Now I’ve lost my place. Ok, this goes up. I picked it up too fast before I looked at it. I’m wait, wait a minute. Alright here we go. A quarter of an inch all the way down. We’ll press this one.


So when you go to put your block together you can scrap it up like I have here with all the different colors. Or you can do the same here which is what I’m going to do right here. Now you’ll see if I put these on here we have a little hole in the middle. That middle block is what changes things for us. So what we need to do is we need a little 2 ½ inch square. And I’m just going to cut one of them from my five inch squares like this. And this will give me four, enough to make four blocks. And what I’m going to do now is I’m going to sew this little row together and these two colored pieces to white. Then we’re going to set that right in the middle of the block for our block A. And then I’m going to put this on the other side of the white, my little 2 ½ white square right there. I’m going to take this over and give it a little press and I’m going to roll these seams all to the dark side. And so as I’m pressing from the top and making it nice and flat I’m going to flip this over and make sure they’re going the way I want them to. And you can see that all my seams are laying into the dark side.


Alright so then what we’re going to do is we’re going to put this to this and add this on and that will finish our block A. So let’s go ahead and do that. And the only thing you have to match up really is that little center square. The rest of it you’re sewing across a half square triangle, your pinwheel block and so there’s not really anything to match up. And so as I come along here I’m making sure my middle square is lined up real nicely with my sashing square and there we have that. And then this one is going to come over here and line up as well. So let me start this one. Just like that. Alright so this is block A right here. And I’ll show you in just a second as soon as I press it. And whenever I have these little things like this that peak out like that, this little edge right here, I’m just going to, you know, I’m using my triangles as my guide and I’m just going to trim that off. Make my block look really nice and clean. And this is block A.


Now block B is made exactly the same way. I’ve got four half square triangles over here and we’re going to do this in blue. And it’s made the same way. So once you make one of these, you know, once you have one of these pinwheels done, lay it down and make your pinwheels go the same as this. Because it’s really easy to get those turned around. And so what I’m going to do is I’m going to lay these here around just like this. So this one goes up, that one goes down. And this one goes up. And that one goes down. So when I actually make a pinwheel, is that right, let’s see, yep. When I make a pinwheel which is this block right here, if you can see that, let me scoot that up for you. So when I make a pinwheel I have a little mantra and it’s like dark, light, dark, light, dark, light, dark, light all seams to the center. And so if you have a seam, if you have something turned like this and it’s like wait, something doesn’t look right, I look for all my seams to go to the center and if it goes to the center then you know it’s going to work and it’s a pinwheel. So then we’re going to sash this one. And what we’re going to do on this one, I have some little sashing strips here that I’ve already made. And I’m just going to press these to the dark side like this. Oop that one folded over. And then this one and one more.


Alright so the difference between this and block B is when we put these together this color on block A is in the middle, on block B it’s to the outside like this. So we’re going to put our outside blocks like this, just like this. And we’re going to sew this together. Then this middle block in here, that becomes a colored block and so I’m actually going to put a different color in there. And when you cut one of these into 2 ½ you’re going to get enough for four blocks. So I’m going to just cut this in half like this. And those are my four and then this will come as a color in the center. And you’ll see here that’s just what this looks like so we’ve scrapped it up, you know, so our colors are all different. So you can leave them the same or you can leave them different, whatever you want to do, that’s a design choice, that’s your call. But this is the difference between block A and block B is that these are turned out and we have a color in the center and block A they’re turned in and we have a solid in the center. It’s sewn together exactly the same way. You’re going to sew these two sides together to this like this, these two sides together like this and then you’ll sew this center sashing strip, this center sashing strip and you’ll put all these together like this and it will just make your nice block B.


So when we put these together what we did was we just lined, we put them block A, block B, block A, block B, because we wanted this center sashing line right here, let me see if you can see this, we wanted this center sashing line to checkerboard through the quilt. And you’ll notice that it does that as we’ve turned these. We here’s my other block here. So see when you line it up you get white, color, white, color, white, color you know just checkerboarding. So let’s look at the quilt behind me. So you can see we have block A, block B, block A, block B, block A. Alright so then the next row is going to start block B, block A, block B, just like that. They’re going to stagger. And we have five across by five down so it made 25 blocks. It only took two charm packs which I think is really fun. This makes a great little size quilt. So we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the Pinwheel Frolic quilt from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.


But wait, there’s more. If you stay tuned I will show you how to make an easy pillowcase that goes right with this quilt. It’s so cute.


So I thought this fabric was so cute that it warranted a pillowcase. Wouldn’t this be the cutest little thing? A lot of people use pillowcases to store their quilts in but a lot of them give them as gifts as well. And I just thought it was such cute fabric that it warranted a pillowcase. So I am going to show you how to make the easiest pillowcase ever. So you’re going to need a piece of yardage for the body of your pillowcase that is ¾ of a yard, that’s 27 inches. And then you’re going to need a nine inch piece, this is cut right across the yardage like this. So a nine inch piece. And that’s for this outer cuff out here. And I’m also going to insert a little tiny 2 ½ inch strip that I’ve ironed in half. This one doesn’t have it but I’m going to show you if you want to fancy it up, this is how you do it.


Alright so the first thing we’re going to do is I’m going to lay my fabric like this. And I’m going to put this one on top of it this way. And I’m going to fold it in half. And what I’m really, what all this is leading to is I’m going to cut off my selvedge edges. And I want them to be the same size at the end. So they’re all folded on here. I’m going to lay my ruler on here and I am going to trim my selvedge edge. And this has a pretty wide selvedge so I knew, knowing me that I would catch that in the seam and I’d this white strip so I’m just going to cut those off. Just like this. And open my rotary cutter for once, right? Alright so now we have the strips like this. So here’s how you do this.


The first thing you’re going to remember is you’re going to put down your cuff pretty side up, pretty side up. Always. Everything in this is pretty side up, facing up. So then the pillow is going to go on here and you are going to put it on here this long way. This is the body of our pillowcase. And it’s going to go pretty side up. Everything goes pretty side up. So match this up on here. They should match really, really closely. Alright so now we’ve got those. And then what we’re going to do is we are going to take our little green strip right here and this is just if you want a flange. You can stop right now and make the pillowcase. But if you want a flange this is a really fun addition for it. Alright so then what we’re going to do, and I’m actually going to trim off these little selvedges too so they don’t get stuck in there. And I’m just going to do it real quick like this. And then put these, put this on top of here. Now I know this is going to shock you but we are going to use pins. But first we’re going to take this pillow case and we’re going to fold it up like this and we’re going to fold it again in little folds. And we’re just going to keep rolling it until you see the cuff right here. Once you see the cuff we’re going to make sure that these are all lined up on here exactly, our little green is lined up on here exactly and we’re going to bring the bottom of this cuff around here and we’re going to put a pin right in there. And then we’re going to come along here and we’re going to make sure these are all lined up and we are going to put another pin in. You really need pins in this to hold this together. Alright over here, slide this down, make sure this is lined up and then over here. You want to make sure that this is folded small enough in here that you don’t catch it in the seam. You do not want to catch that in your seam. Alright now we’re going to do the other side. Again we’re lining up our little flange. And lining up our cuff and we’re going to put a pin right in there. And another one down here. And people, you know, pin however much you’re comfortable with, you know, I’m trying to hold mine together. You guys know I’m not much of a pinner. But on this project you’ve just got to hold it together because otherwise it’s sliding all over the place. And I know people who will pin, pin, pin, pin, pin and that’s fine. Do what you’re comfortable with.


Alright so now we’re bringing this over to the sewing machine. We are going to sew a quarter of an inch right down this side. And because we’ve pinned them all together it’s going to catch all three pieces. Now I’m just going to look right here on this first one to make sure because I didn’t put a pin down on there. And I’m going to backstitch on that. So we’re going to slide down here. When you get to your pin take it out and put it back in the pincushion. And this is, I would say, for me, this is a generous quarter of an inch. Alright then we’ve got to take another pin out, make sure everything is still lined up, even our little back cuff piece. It looks like it’s back a little bit, there we go. And take our next pin out. Again keep things lined up. You’ve got your little flange in there, your cuff. And we’re almost to our middle pin. Take that one out. And then we just have the last little bit here. We’re still going to make sure we’re all, everything’s all tucked in real nice. Make sure my back piece is still right on there. I know this might feel like a strange way to make a pillowcase for some of you because it doesn’t look like much but then what we’re going to do is we’re just going to pull this out right here. And you are going to be so tickled when you see what we get. So just like this, these are so fun. It’s like tah dah! You get this pillowcase with a cuff and a flange and all the seams are enclosed.


So what I’m going to do right now is I’m going to press this so that my flange and my cuff lay down very nicely. and I’m actually going to press from the front but not press to the fold yet, just from the front, this top little bit because I just want to make sure that this first part is nice and flat. And then when I turn it over I will make sure that I press all the way out to the edge. Alright so now what we’re going to do is we’re going to flip this over. And again look at this, all of our seams are caught inside and we’re going to press that cuff right down nice and flat. Now you can do that either way. You can go from the back to the front or whatever you want but it’s just pressing it down and making sure that there’s no folds or pleats in there. And then all we have to do is take our pillowcase and fold it in half just like this. And we’re going to sew up the side and across the top and we’re done. And then we just have this awesome pillowcase. Now there’s several ways you can do this. You can just take a stitch and sew it down which is what I am going to do right here. You can use a serger so your edges are finished. You could actually do French seams which is a whole different technique but very easy. It’s a seam inside of a seam. And what I’m going to do is I’m just going to sew across the top right here just like this. And then I’m going to come down the side. And I’m going to start here and I’m going to watch carefully right here when you put the side together you want to make sure that these pieces right here, your flange and your seams, your two seams on your cuff are together because you don’t want that off. That’s in a side seam and we want that to be as close as possible. So I’m actually going to start right here from the bottom, take a little, a backstitch. And for some quilters, you may not know where your backstitch is so you’re going to have to find that. We do that in clothing but rarely in quilting do we backstitch. And then we’re just going to sew up the side here. And when you sew these together there isn’t any rule. You can do this side and then the top. I just happened to do the top but whatever way you do it, it’s fine. My grandchildren love, love to make these. I have a little grandson who comes out and visits me in the summertime and the first thing he wants to do is make a pillowcase. And so we make pillowcases. And sometimes he wants to make them for his siblings and I mean it’s just a quick easy fun thing for them to do. And then we’re going to flip this right side out and you are going to see that just like that the easiest pillowcase in the world. And how fun would it be to stuff this with a nice pillow and give this cute little quilt to someone just to, you know, to take out for a picnic, lay in the park and you’ll have a nice pillowcase to finish it up. So I hope you enjoyed this world’s easiest pillowcase tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.


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