This weekend I will be teaching an Intro to Quilt As You Go class at Allerton Park. Students will learn the basics of the QAYG technique by creating scrappy potholders. In writing up the handout for my students, I realized it would make an equally good tutorial on LC. The class is aimed at folks who can sew, but who have not quilted before. My students will be working with kits I have put together for them, but I have listed what you will need below. If you don’t have a fabric stash to pull from, a few Fat Quarters and a half yard cut would be enough to make several pairs of potholders. Walmart and Michael’s both sell affordable FQ bundles containing 5 prints each, and Walmart carries 1-Yard and Half Yard cuts, and most Michael’s stores now carry fabric by the yard.
Introduction
Quilting is a fantastic hobby that can bring joy to your life, and even give you a reason to stop Doom Scrolling. So often I hear people say “Oh I wish I could do that! But where would I even start?" Or, "What if I buy all the supplies and then I don’t like it?” First off: You absolutely can quilt. As for where to start, let’s start small, fun, and practical, with Potholders! They are fun to create, use up scraps, and make wonderful gifts.
Materials:
2 9"-10" squares of quilting cotton for backing
2 8" squares of cotton batting
2 8" squares of Insul-Bright Insulated batting
2 2.5” x 42" (Width of Fabric) strips of quilting cotton to use as binding
Strips of fabric 1.25"-3" wide, and 9"-13" long
1 spool of coordinating thread (try to match your binding and coordinate with your backing)
1 “quilt sandwich” test swatch to practice on (not shown)
Tools:
Rotary Cutter
Cutting Mat
Quilting Ruler (1/4" thick that you can cut alongside)
Quilting Pins
5-10 quilt clips (optional)
Seam ripper
Sewing awl/stiletto (optional)
Pressing Cloth (or scrap of 100% cotton fabric)
Getting Started
Check your sewing machine needle. If you can’t remember the last time you changed it, do so now! This will eliminate tons potential frustration and headaches, leaving you free to enjoy your time sewing. For our project, a 90/14 will work best.
Thread your sewing machine, and set it to ¼” piecing, or as close as you can get on your machine. For our project today, we do not need to be exactly at ¼”, but most quilting projects do, so it’s good practice. Each machine is different, so check your manual to determine the best way to create a ¼” seam. This might mean snapping on a particular accessory foot, or moving your needle position. And it might mean experimenting for a few minutes.
Set up your Walking Foot, if you have one. Quilting through several layers can cause those layers to shift as you stitch, especially over long seams. If you don’t have a Walking Foot, don’t worry. Our project is small enough that you should be okay with a regular presser foot.
Lengthen your stitch length and adjust your tension. Sewing through this many layers is a lot. Lengthening your stitches can help your machine move through them more easily, especially if using a regular presser foot. Each machine is different, but for example: normally I sew at a length of 2.5 when piecing. When I’m quilting potholders like this, I often go up to 3.5-4.5. You may also need to adjust your tension tighter or looser. Practice with some scraps of fabric and batting, till you get your machine stitching smoothly.
Lay out your fabric strips. For this project we will need longer strips in the center of our design, and shorter pieces on the side. Your pieces need to be between 1.25" - 3" wide, and about 9"-13" long.
I like to group my strips by height and width, to help me choose what I’d like next, as I go along. It is also very helpful to save at least one wider strip to use last, to avoid lots of small seams, right in a corner.
Set up your “Quilt Sandwich”. Lay out your backing squares with the right side facing down, and place the cotton batting square centered on top of each. Add one of the Insul-bright squares on top of that, with the metallic side facing up.
Quilt As You Go. Turn your layers so they are oriented like a diamond. Now start with your favorite of the long strips. Lay it out, printed side up, with the raw edge matching at the top and bottom corners.
Take the next strip and place it facing down, on top of the first, aligning the raw edges. Use a few pins to hold your strips in place. Stitch along line, ¼” from the raw edge, backstitching at the beginning and end.
Take your work to the iron, and using a pressing cloth, and an iron on a wool setting, press the seam open. Don’t place the iron directly on top of the Insul-Bright, as the polyester batting can melt, without a cover of cotton. Congrats! You’ve pieced your first strips AND quilted the potholder at the same time!
Continue adding strips to each side, varying the colors and widths, to get a nice scrappy look. Press after each seam. After your first seam, you can pin and stitch both sides at the same time. This also saves you trips to the iron.
Trim your excess fabric tails. Once you have covered the entire square, use your scissors to trim off the biggest ends of the fabric, leaving about ¼” past the batting. This doesn’t need to be exact; we’re just removing excess bulk.
Repeat the process for your second potholder. You will not be able to make 2 exact matches, but you will be able to create scrappy-coordinates. Have fun mixing up which prints and colors you use.
Square up your block. Once your second pot holder is pieced, take it to the cutting mat. Flip your work facing down, as it is easier to see what you are doing. Find the edge of where your batting is under the fabric, and lay the ruler down on top of it. Use the rotary cutter to make a clean cut along the edge of the ruler, attempting to cut off as little of the batting as possible.
Flip the potholder around, and align the cut edge with one of the vertical lines on the cutting mat. Cut your other side down to 8” (or 7 ⅞”, as your work may have shrunk from stitching).
Turn the work again, aligning the cut edges along horizontal lines. Again, try to find the edge of your batting, and give yourself a clean cut, cutting off as little batting as possible, with a perpendicular cut.
Turn the work a final time, cut the last side to be 8” wide (or 7 ⅞”) square. Repeat with the second potholder.
Create the binding. Take your long 2.5” binding strips to the iron. Working from one end to the other, fold and press the long strip in half lengthwise, right sides facing out. Repeat with the second strip.
Now that your binding is made, take one piece and place it with the raw edges at the right. Open the top and fold the top down and across at a 45 degree angle. If your fabric has a selvage print (white area) at the edge, fold so that it will be off the edge of your binding, then trim the selvage off.
Press this angle, then close the binding back up and repress the original long fold. Repeat with the second strip.
Attach the binding. With your potholder facing down, align the raw edge of the binding to the raw edge of the potholder, beginning just above the middle of that side. Use a clip or pin to hold this in place, but do not start stitching here! Start your stitching about 2” from the bottom edge, using a ¼” seam allowance (approximately where the pin is placed in the photo). Backstitch, and then proceed to the corner, stopping about ¼” from the corner. Backstitch, and remove the work from the machine. Turn your work.
Miter your binding. With the side you just stitched at the top, take the long length of binding, and fold it straight upwards, perpendicular to the seam you just stitched.
Now, fold it back down, along the next side of the quilt, matching the raw edges.
Sew along this new side of the potholder. Again, starting and stopping ¼” from each end. Repeat the mitering, at each of the remaining corners. On the final side (which is the same as the first side), start stitching but stop, after just a few stitches.
You will be right above the beginning of your binding. Lay the tail of the binding down, until you come to the diagonal fold. Use your fingers to press a crease there, to mark how much length you need. Leave 1/2" beyond this line and trim away the extra.
Unfold the top of the lower binding, and tuck the tail into the fold.
If needed, use a few pins to hold the binding in place. Continue stitching, all the way down the length, back to where you began stitching. (The edge of the tail will stick out the side slightly. This is fine. We will trim it off.) Backstitch at the end. Repeat with the second potholder.
Take your piece to the iron, and unfold the binding outward (away from the center of the potholder), and press the middle of the sides, all the way around. Do not worry about the corners.
Trim the corners of the quilt, to reduce bulk. Carefully fold back the flap of binding, and use sharp scissors to cut a triangle off the corner, just shy of ¼”. Repeat for the remaining corners.
Flip and stitch your binding down. Turn the work so the front is facing up, and locate the side where you joined the binding. Fold your binding over the edge and onto the front of the potholder. Put the work under your machine presser foot, starting 1”-2” before the join. Backstitch 2-3 stitches. Continue stitching over the join, and all the way down that side, stopping about 1” before the end, with the needle down in the fabric. DO NOT take the quilt out of the machine.
Note: If desired, you can hold the binding down with pins or clips. However, I find it easier to leave it unpinned, and continue folding and holding with my fingertips, while stitching slowly. In certain areas, such as corners, or over the join in binding, it can be helpful to use a sewing stiletto or awl, to hold the fold, while keeping your fingers back from the needle.
Now we are going to change direction, and sew along the next side. To do so, we will need to mitre the corner, by folding the flap of binding. You will use your fingers to smooth along the edge you are stitching, folding the flap at and angle. Sew another 2-3 stitches.
Continue slowly down the side you are on, (using the stiletto again if needed) stopping at the point the two sides of binding meet, with your needle down into the fabric. Lift the presser foot, and turn the quilt. Fold the next side of the binding down, and smooth it in place with your finger tips. Lower the presser foot, and continue sewing down the new side.
Repeat around the remaining corners. When you get back to the beginning, backstitch 2-3 stitches, and remove your work from the machine. Trim any loose threads.
Add hanging loops. Measure your off-cut binding fabric. You need two 5” pieces. Depending on your scrap size, you might be able to use just one, or might need both. Take the pieces to the ironing board. Unfold and bring one of the raw edges to the center fold. Press, while being careful not to flatten the original crease.
Turn the fabric and repeat with the other edge.
Refold the center fold, and press the entire piece. Repeat with the second piece if needed.
Top stitch the open edge, about ⅛” from the edge.
Cut your hanging loop fabric into 2 5” long pieces. Decide what is the “top” corner of your potholder, and fold one of the 5” strips in half. Place it at the corner on the back, with the raw edges towards the corner, and the fold towards the center of the potholder. Stitch across the loop about ⅛” from the edge.
Now fold the center fold of the loop in the opposite direction, covering your previous line of stitching.
Hold or pin in place, then flip the work to the front. Locate your previous stitch line, and sew over it, backstitching at the beginning and end.
You’re done. Congratulations! You just made two tiny quilts!
