I am so excited to share
with you our first FREE pattern, I designed using the AccuQuilt Go! Big Electric Fabric Cutter and Dash
fabric from P&B Textiles.
When the ladies at P&B Textiles
and AccuQuilt first brought the idea of our three companies working together to
create a free pattern each month for all of our customers, I thought what a
wonderful way to share our different talents and products with you.
I hope you will follow along
with me as I explore the GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter & Dies while using P&B Textiles fabrics to create a fun
and free pattern each month. Together we can discover why this is such a
wonderful product to add to our studios to make creating more fun.
Make sure to visit my blog each
month where I will share with you some tips and tricks on cutting and
assembling of the project of the month along with posting the free pattern on
our website www.TheWhimsicalWorkshop.com You can also
see our pattern and post at www.pbtex.com and www.accuquilt.com
 |
| Winter Forest 30" x 36" Designed by Heidi Pridemore |
The pattern for this month is called Winter Forest. For the project I
used the Go! Flying Geese 3 ½” x 6 ½” die to
make the trees and the outer border for the quilt. After creating the pieced
quilt, I felt it needed a little bit of appliqué so I used the Go! Crazy Petals die to
make snowflakes.
I wanted to make a quilt
that would work well for our theme of Christmas in July, and something you
could make for any season just by changing the colors and removing the snowflakes.
You could add flowers to make it a spring or summer quilt or use fall colors
for a Autumn quilt. My idea behind this pattern was to create a starting point,
so you could be as creative as you wish to make it your own. I would love to
see what you come up with so feel free to send me a photo of your finished
quilts and I will share with everyone!
The instructions that you
will download will have all the directions on what to cut and how to assemble
the quilt. So I wanted to use this post to share some tips and tricks I used to
assemble the quilt.
First Tip- I always cut all the pieces for the project first and
then I label everything. For a project that requires traditional cutting and
die cutting, I cut the pieces that require a ruler and rotary cutter first. For
the pieces that will need to be die-cut, I have already measured the dies to
decide how large the pieces of fabric need to be before die cutting and they
are listed in the cutting directions on the downloadable pattern.
Once I have all the traditional cutting done, it is time to break
out the GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter to die-cut the rest of the pieces. Completing
one task before starting another makes the project go smoothly and helps you
stay organized throughout the project.
Second Tip- I wanted to go
over how to make the flying geese units even thought these instructions are
also included in the pattern. First, place one small triangle on top of the
large triangle, aligning the diagonal edges. Using a ¼” seam allowance, sew the
two pieces together. Press open the
smaller triangle. (I usually press towards the smaller triangle.) Next, place a second small triangle on the
other side of the large triangle. Sew in place and press to complete one Flying
Goose unit.
I recommend sewing all the small triangles on
one side of all the larger triangles, matching the colors as directed in the
pattern, press and then repeating with the other side and the second small
triangles.
Third
Tip- Because I like to do all of one task before starting the next one, I like
to stage all my pieces for each unit before sewing. To do this, I match up the
pieces as directed and layer them next to the sewing machine before I start
sewing. This lets me check to make sure all the pieces are going in the right
direction and I can also double check that I have enough pieces cut for the
project before starting. I find that when I do this step, the project seems to
go together faster and I tend to make fewer mistakes.
Forth Tip- To make the snowflakes for this
pattern, I cut the background pieces from the silver fabric as directed in the
pattern and then following the manufacturer’s instructions, press the fusible
web onto the wrong side of the remaining silver fabric. Once the fabric is prepared
with fusible web, cut rectangle and square pieces as listed in the cutting
directions for the snowflakes. You can then layer four pieces of fabric with
fusible at a time onto each shape on the Go! Crazy Petal Die and run them through
the machine. For my quilt, I made all my snowflakes look the same as the
placement drawing included in our pattern but with the different sizes on the
Go! Crazy Petals die, you could design all kinds of different snowflakes for
your quilt.
Fifth Tip- To assemble the snowflakes, Use the placement drawing
in the pattern along with an Applique Pressing Sheet. An Applique Pressing
Sheet is a heat resistant plastic sheet that is treated with Teflon so nothing
will stick to it. Place the Applique Pressing Sheet over the placement drawing
and assemble snowflake pieces following the drawing for placement. Press the
pieces together. Once the pieces have cooled, peel up the completed snowflake which
is now ready to position and press onto the quilt top. This technique takes the
guesswork out of positioning the small pieces to make a larger shape. If you
need an Applique Pressing Sheet, we have them available on our website
I hope you have enjoyed our first free project from The WhimsicalWorkshop using the GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter and the
Dash Fabric Collection from P&B Textiles. Check back next month for our
next free project!
Happy Quilting
