Sewing With Nancy

Many creative quilt or craft projects start with a nine patch block, yet there's more to a nine patch block than meets the eye. I'll show you how to change up the sizes of fabrics or block layouts to expand your options. Our first variation is a vintage look table quilt. In the 1800s, quilters painstakingly cut small squares of fabric from scraps and hand-pieced them together. I'll show you how to achieve this vintage look with ease. "Change-Up Patchwork," that's what's coming up next on Sewing with Nancy. Sewing with Nancy, TV's longest-airing sewing and quilting program with Nancy Zieman

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making a difference in sewing, quilting, crafting, and needle arts for over 30 years. Amazing Designs and Klass Needles. This is the third program of "Change-Up Patchwork." In the first two shows, I've shown you how to make stratas, stitch them together, cut 'em apart to make basic blocks. And the basic block we're going to use as the foundation for this program is the nine patch. And maybe you can see the nine patch here, and I'm going to put up a very bold and bright contrasting nine patch. That's the same size that we start with for this quilt so that you can see the nine blocks that sew together to create the patch. In this particular quilt, it's alternated by a nine patch and a square, a nine patch and a square, which gives this chained look effect. Now, underneath my quilt, I have a little story board to talk to you about making a nine patch. And if you did not watch the first program of this series or the second, you can go online at NancyZieman.com and look at "Change-up Patchwork" and view those two shows. You can eventually-- And you will also be able to view this show again. But to create them, we'll use the same technique. So I'm not really going to go over sewing the strips together. The widths are each 2 1/2" and we have a dark, light, dark, and then below we have a light, dark, light. Two different stratas, two different groupings of fabrics. Later, you'll see that I'll sub-cut, sub-cut the strips into sections that are 2 1/2" wide of both stratas. And then the block itself is made up of two sections of the dark, light, dark and one of the light, dark, light, and that's how they're sewn together. So, we'll do some chain stitching to put this together. We'll meet the one light on top of the dark, and stitch. And here's a close-up of stitching one section together and then butting the next grouping together to sew so that you continuously chain piece it. Then, once you have the chain piecing, which I have here, they're still attached with that little thread chain right in here, they're still connected, then add the remaining section. And you meet right sides together, placing the remaining section and then chain stitch so that you continue to have all your strips together to create a nine patch. I know... Quick little review, but you're going to see how things change when we make the vintage quilt. Now, the vintage quilt is made in the same concept, but years ago, as I mentioned, when they worked with a nine patch, they would have cut 2-1/2" sections and 2-1/2" sections of the ivory. Oh, my goodness! Way too much work for us at this point. We can economize by using, by creating strips that are of unusual sizes. So, before I had a light, dark, light of all one color in the dark section, but here I have, as you can see, a patchwork.

Imagine that

a patchwork. That's kind of what this is all about. And the light, dark, light is a patchwork, too. Now, how did I do this? Why did I do it? That's what I'm going to show you right now. I did this so that I didn't have to cut these little sections and that when I will be able to sew together those little sections that are 2-1/2" I'll get in a variety of colorations of fabric. To do this, cut crosswise strips of your vintage fabric. And this is about, it depends on the fabric, but it will be 40" to 42", 2-1/2" strips. And I trimmed off the salvages, and I'm folding it in half, and I'll cut it in half. Simple as that. Then, you can fold in half one section, meet the cut edges, and at the fold give another cut. So now this is approximately a little over 10" depending upon what fabric size you started out with. Fold it again. So now your strips are a little over 5", about 5-1/2". And you're going to do this for a variety of fabrics. Honestly, I use the 5-1/2" and the 10-1/2" sections the most because they produce the most variety of colorations within this vintage block. If you're still wondering what's happening with this, well, that's what I'm going to show you next. We're using an ivory strip that's 2-1/2" wide as the light color, and on the bed of my sewing machine I have some 5-1/2" strips and I have an ivory strip and then some 10-1/2" strips, as you can see in this section. So, have these on the side so that you can have them as easy access to draw upon. And then, my machine is set up with a 1/4" gauge. I have a presser foot that has a 1/4" width, which makes things easier for me. I have a quilting needle, size 12. And then, all-purpose thread in my quilting thread in the top, as well as in the bobbin. The lengths we've been using throughout the series is 2.0, maybe 2.5. I prefer the shorter length just because you're going to be sub-cutting and cutting things apart. The first strip we're going to make is dark, light, dark. So we're going to put these... scraps of fabric-- But they're really not scraps, but they're cut into different lengths, meeting right sides together. And we'll lower the presser foot and just sew. Then, butt-- Now maybe butt a 10" piece next to it. And then, make the fabric pretty close together. This works out mathematically quite well if you use 2-1/2" strips and 2-1/2" sub-cuts. And sew... Now, you would continue the entire length of the......middle crosswise strip. To save a little time, I am going to just show you what you do next is if this were a little bit shorter, and I'm going to cut this in half here. And then... on the other side, I'm going to start where my end piece was placed and use a different color here. We haven't used this color yet. And align the fabrics together, place them on the side, and lower the presser foot and sew. Now, you're going to see what happens is that later we cut this strip or a comparable strip. Now we're going to get a combination of yellow, ivory, and green, and the next one would be adding red, instead of the yellow. So it makes life a little bit easier. So you just keep adding on and adding on. So, when we worked earlier in the program, in the series I should say, we pressed the seam allowances to one side. And it works out best for this one to be pressed to the outside. And for the opposite color combination, where you have light on the outside and a combination or the prints on the inside, your fabric will really just press it in the opposite direction so you have opposite sections. Now we're going to cut this. And they're going to be sub-cut into 2-1/2" sections. And... what happens is because of this unique folding of the fabric and because we're working with 2-1/2" strips, the math, as I said, works out pretty well. That here we would have a sub-cut section and another sub-cut section. And it fits, ah-ha, just at that 2-1/2". And then you keep on cutting, and, as I've done here, we have alternating colors. So we have quite a menagerie of options for the vintage quilt. I showed you earlier how to chain piece together the sections. You meet two sections together and then add a third. And when you do this, you end up with the same technique of getting a variety of patchwork designs so that when you lay out your vintage quilt and alternating them with blocks that are the same size of solids, you get quite an interesting look and variation. At first glance, you might think this quilt design is a combination of several different block designs, perhaps a four patch, paired with squares and rectangles. As you'll soon learn, it's a nine patch, a camouflaged nine patch block. The large 12" finished blocks are a speedy way to create a baby's tummy time quilt. You're certainly not limited just to create one sized quilt, but this design and these batik fabrics make, as I mentioned, great for a baby. Now, when you look at this closely, what I see first are the four patches. And then perhaps seeing big squares and then rectangles, but it's not a four patch. They're not individual rectangles and squares. It's a camouflaged nine patch. There are two block configurations. Here's one block. You can see the nine sections. And then the other block is the opposite color combination. Where there was dark, now there is light, and all these big blocks now create this interesting design. And how they come together in the corners and sides, you can kind of see how this makes an interesting design. We're going to use the graph paper concept again to do some designing because this is how I work with it. You could use a computer if you wanted to and a program. This just is faster to me. Make the block any size. In the book that accompanies today's program we detail all the measurements, but if you'd like to make the block a different size, this is how you can go about it. Like before, I've given 1", to each-- excuse me, one square to each inch. And here's a traditional nine patch block, but then by shrinking the sizes of one and increasing the sizes of the other, you get this unique block. There are two configurations of colors, as I showed you earlier, with dark squares in the corners, and this one has light squares in the corners. And when I divided the graph paper, you can see a strata would be of 2-1/2". Remember, we always add a 1/2" to each strip for seam allowances. Then, an 8 1/2" and a 2 1/2". And right below it, the same sizes, but different colors, 2 1/2", 8 1/2", and 2 1/2". And then, you only have two stratas to make both of these blocks, so it's fast to make and the blocks are big. So, just as I graphed it out on the paper, I have these strips cut 8-1/2", 2-1/2" and they'd be long strips and you'd sew them together just the way we've been doing it throughout this series. And then, below this area, I have the second strata color configuration and a light, dark, light. When you sew these together, there's a pressing technique that I'd like you follow, and that is, "Always press the seam allowances to the darker color." That way the blocks will nest together much more interestingly or be easier to work with. So the seam allowances are pressed to the dark color on this configuration, and then below, guess what? They're going to go to the middle section. I press them to the middle. The graph paper told me to sub-cut them into 2 1/2" and 8 1/2" sections. So, both strips would be cut the same way. So we have some 2 1/2" and 8 1/2" and the same below. And now a little sleight of hand, and you'll see how these blocks change. We'll put the dark corners with the... lower section. They would be seamed together, and then, vice versa up here. You would chain stitch these together just the same way we've been using throughout this entire series. Chain stitch them together, making the nine patch, the camouflaged nine patch. And because of the pressing technique, when you're pressing to the darker side, you'll have-- The seam allowances will go in opposite directions. So you will have them able to match just ideally on the right side of the fabric. When we put four together, you'll soon see how the design comes to life. See what I did with my other blocks. They're down here. When you alternate them, here they kiss together, and you alternate the other ones, wherever they may be hiding. Here we go. You can see how that four patch appears, but, really, it's a nine patch block. Our long arm quilter, Sue, was able to do interesting designs in the middle of the block, showcasing her quilting. Or if you like to make them with embroidery, however you'd like. It's just a great, easy block with drama, and it's the simple nine patch design. There aren't too many hard fast rules when it comes to patchwork, which is why I chose to break with tradition. Case in point, must the nine patch block always have nine pieces? That may seem ridiculous, but yet, take away part of the block and substitute a strip of fabric, presto, a seven patch block. With a clever layout, these blocks intertwine, giving the illusion of being woven together. I call it the seven patch weave. If you're to figure out from this quilt behind me where is the block, I'll show you there are two different colorations of blocks. And here we're going to start with a pink horizontal stripe throughout the middle. One block and then the reverse coloration in the block next to it. When you start alternating the blocks, you can see how the fabric or the design has the look of weaving to it. If you're wondering how I achieve this, well, again, it's much like before using graph paper to decide what's going to be included in what area. So, here's my little drawing. This is what I work with all the time when designing a block. The traditional nine patch block is here with even strips that have been cut and sub-cut. On this drawing, I removed the middle section, removed the section that was dark, light, dark. And in lieu of that section, I added just a solid strip. So there are seven pieces now in this block. The opposite coloration is on the right, where what was pink is green and where it's green is pink. And those are the two blocks that we're going to work with. But mainly, we're going to just work with one because you're just changing colorations. So there are three squares in each strip. So the strips of fabric would be cut 3-1/2", 3-1/2", 3-1/2", and 3-1/2". And the middle section is also 3-1/2", a long strip... pretty easy to do. One of the easiest quilts throughout this series, and it's the last one of our series. So we have a strata with a light, dark, light configuration. The strips originally were cut 3-1/2" wide so I'm going to do the same thing. Recut, make sections that are 3-1/2" wide, or sections, and you'd cut several of these. For each block, you would need two of these cuts. So, you're going to be creating several of these, as you can see. And then, the sections are sewn to a solid strip. Just a long strip that's, again, 3-1/2" wide. So, using the chain piecing technique that we've been using throughout this series, you can see that I am chain stitching, or stitching the sections, onto the green portion. Just keep on keeping on. On this particular sample, the stitching is done, and when you open this up, you can see how the configuration works. I'm going to quickly press this, and your... fabric kind of tells you which way you should press the seam allowances. In this instance, they will go easiest to the green center section. And I'm speeding along and not doing the pressing in two sections, but you'd press it all to the center section and then divide them. Cut them apart. Cut them apart on the long strip, and then... you would... add the remaining section, as you can see here. So, we've just chain pieced everything together. Now, to lay out. You're going to make half the blocks with a green strip in the center, the other half of the blocks with a pink strip in the center. And we'll alternate the layout. Let's say in this instance we'll put the pink with the horizontal strip, the strip going horizontally, and the green with the strip going vertically. And with that said, ta-da, you can see how the weaving illusion occurs. If we look back at our finished quilt, you can possibly see through the middle section that there is pieced... sections. This is part of the block, but it kind of camouflages in the design. So, by changing the middle section of a nine patch, you have accomplished a weave look. So the seven patch weave came from the nine patch design. Another change-up patchwork idea. Many of us have taken quilting classes at a store, through a community college, or perhaps at a retreat, but you may not think about quilting classes being offered at a correctional institution. Please welcome Peggy Gelbrich of the Coffee Creek Correctional Quilters who joins us today via Skype from Oregon. Peggy, welcome to Sewing with Nancy. Hi, Nancy, thank you for having me. When I read about your quilting group and the amazing lessons, plus life lessons that you are teaching to women who found themselves in unfortunate times, I knew I had to have you on. Could you give our audience and our viewers a review or a short summary of what Coffee Creek Quilters do at the correctional institute? Thank you, I'd be happy to. We go in, the instructors go into the prison, and we have four classes of 20 students. And there's 80 women waiting to get into those classes also. Four classes of 80 students, and we teach them how to quilt. They make three quilts, two that are donated and those are about 40" by 60". And then, a third quilt, they choose the pattern, choose the fabric. They also can design their own quilt, and that one they oftentimes make for a child or for a parent, maybe someone who's taking care of their children, or sometimes they make it and take it back to their own bed. That's quite amazing. Make three, give two away, keep one. It's really what a lot of quilters do. And so they're living their life as we do, only under different circumstances. Now, there are 40 people in your quilting group. Not all of them teach. So explain how you broke up the division of labor. Right, there are 40, about 40, women in the organization of the Coffee Creek Quilters. About 27 of us are instructors that go into the prison. The other ladies manage the fabric that we get donated. They make quilt kits for the first and second quilts that the students make. They do fundraising. They help maintain the tools, the sewing machine and so forth. We couldn't do-- The instructors couldn't do it without them. Yes, it's a real team effort. And you get the fabrics donated, I assume? The majority of the fabric is donated. We also get donated sewing machines. We also do fundraisers to buy sewing machine needles and additional fabric that we need, batting and etcetera. I think a lot of us can envision how you would teach someone to quilt and what a difference that makes in their life, but you have kind of a side benefit, and that is it builds self-esteem and it changes their character. Yes, it does. We give a very positive, hands-on experience teaching them patience and problem-solving, and it does create self-esteem and self-confidence. And for them to see their finished product is wonderful. It's wonderful to watch them be excited about what they're doing.

Nancy

Imagine that

And you mentioned to me earlier that the change from the first day of the class throughout, as the class progresses, their interaction changes among themselves and between you and your students. Right. They learn to trust each other more, and they work together. They work with us. Just seeing them come alive to watch what they're doing. They'll chip in and help each other baste a quilt. It's a wonderful experience.

Nancy

Imagine that

The quilts behind you have been made by some of your students.

Peggy

Imagine that

Yes, they have. The colors are fun. This happens to be a quilting program that this show is in, and it's a perfect combination. It just works out well. Peggy, this started several years ago. We'd like to give credit to the founder. Yes, the program was started in 2002 by Koko Sutton, and it started with two instructors, six students, and six sewing machines. And it became very popular with the people watching what they were doing or hearing about what they were doing, and then the program just grew.

Nancy

Imagine that

Well, it's impressive and I hope that there will be other programs around the country that will use your program as a model and do the same, do some volunteering. I want to thank you for being with us and sharing this wonderful self-esteem, as well as, skill-set learning experience. Thank you, Peggy. Thank you, Nancy. If you'd like to learn more about the Coffee Creek Quilters, you can find all things Sewing with Nancy online at NancyZieman.com. And there, you will find under Nancy's Corner you can click on the "Coffee Creek Quilters" and find out more about this program. Also, at NancyZieman.com you can be sure and watch all the recent episodes of Sewing with Nancy, connect to us on social platforms such as Facebook and our blogs, and enjoy the show again and again and relate to me if you'd like. Thanks for joining me. Bye for now. Nancy has written a fully illustrated book that can be used to create nine quilts featuring contemporary block variations included in this three-part series. The book is $14.99, plus shipping and handling. To order this book, call 800-336-8373 or visit our website at sewingwithnancy.com/2919. Order item number BK2919 "Change-Up Patchwork." Credit card orders only. To pay by check or money order, call the number on the screen for details. Visit Nancy's website at NancyZieman.com to see additional episodes, Nancy's blog, and more. Sewing with Nancy TV's longest-airing sewing and quilting program with Nancy Zieman

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