Sewing With Nancy

I really like to sew but I'm not patient enough to spend months on a project. Quite by accident, I started to design a quilt with columns instead of blocks. Then my mind began to spin with ideas. Welcome to the third program of "Quick Column Quilts." The wind chimes hanging from our deck served as the inspiration for this quilt by the same name. Just like the real wind chimes the angled accent pieces seemed to move as if gently nudged by the wind. "Quick Column Quilts," that's what's next on Sewing with Nancy. Sewing with Nancy, TV's longest-airing sewing and quilting program with Nancy Zieman is made possible by Baby Lock, a complete line of sewing, quilting and embroidery machines and sergers. Baby Lock, for the love of sewing. Madeira, specializing in embroidery, quilting and special-effect threads because creativity is never black and white. Koala Studios fine sewing furniture custom-built in America. Clover, making a difference in sewing, quilting, crafting, and needle arts for over 30 years. Amazing Designs and Klass needles. The colorful accent pieces of the wind chime quilt were found mainly in my fabric stash. I started with this fabric. This is all I have left at this point. It's a print that had many different colors in it that allowed me to choose other colors from my stash to include in this quilt. As we go to the quilt, you can see the big striped piece and how, when I was auditioning fabrics I chose geometric prints that had kind of a modern feel because this is the way this stripe works. You can see how I came to choose some of these fabrics. Honestly, I had other fabrics that I was working with but they just didn't look right after I cut them out. So this is a very visual process. A hint I have for working with dark colors intensely dark colors for example this polka dot with a black background. I like those in smaller portions. I think they add more pop to the quilt when they're not in big, strong elements. The larger pieces have a lot of white background or have some air with them. The background fabric, I ended up purchasing. I used, obviously, the aqua or turquoise color. The columns are this. They have a wind chime column next to a narrow column. Here's the wind chime column. It has the background fabric in it. Then there's a solid strip of just the background fabric giving these chimes a floating effect. That's why I called it wind chime. There are three sizes of crosswise strips of fabric that I cut, 2-1/2", 3-1/2"-- Excuse me, 2-1/2", 4-1/2", and 6-1/2". I've cut many strips throughout this program so being the last program, I'm not cutting the other two. If you missed the first two programs of this series you can always watch them online at nancyzieman.com or on a DVD. So here are the crosswise strips. Then you're going to be cutting a lot of background strips the same size, 2-1/2", 4-1/2", and 6-1/2". We're going to angle cut these. But before angle cutting we're going to sew each strip into a tube. Here you can see I met right sides together. Then with a 1/4" seam allowance I chain stitched the fabrics in the tube. You'd do the same with your accent pieces. Clip the threads between the tubes. This tube has been turned right side out. We're going to do the angle cutting. You may wonder why I'm sewing it into a tube and then cutting it apart. Why not just cut the ends? Well, I found that I was wasting a lot of fabric. For example, if you would just cut off the angle you'd be wasting quite a bit of fabric. And I was using scraps so I needed every morsel that I could handle. So I'll show you what I did for these. You know, truth be told, I don't sew all these things. My staff and I work together on this but I say "I," because it's the collective I. So here we have the right side of the fabric that's rolling down my table! Okay, there we go. Just a single layer, you're going to cut at first. Along the 45-degree angle I have some tape, so I can see that line right away. Just indiscriminately, in the middle of it just cut a 45-degree angle. So it's now cut open. Then you're going to make this into two pieces. It can be approximately a third and two-thirds a half, it doesn't matter. Just cut another angle. Try to have the angles all go in the same direction. That will make it easier to lay out your quilt and plan. So, you're going to be cutting all these pieces in many different sections. You just don't want them even. Keep cutting away. After you've cut the pieces for the accents the background pieces you're going to cut in the same manner. Then do some laying out of your fabric. Let me just stack all my samples away. Here we have some pieces. I have the three column sizes. Here's the 2-1/2". Between each of the accent pieces I have placed a solid color. Let's move this up a little bit. Let's see, if you didn't like one of these colors you can replace them. I'll show you how that works in a little bit. Here's a 4-1/2" and this piece. So now you'd put a 4-1/2 at the top. I'm going to overlap them just to conserve some space. Then here we go for the wider piece. You just lay it out. See if you like the color combination. You're going to be changing as you go along. Meet right sides together of your pieces after you've come up with an arrangement that you like. Overlap the pieces by 1/4". My little gauge is here. You overlap so you have that little extension by 1/4". Make sure that it's just 1/4". You're going to pin your whole column together. Here's a close up of just stitching that 1/4" seam allowance. You do that time and time again until you have your whole column stitched. Then, you lay out your pieces. Between the pieces, you're going to be placing a solid 2-1/2" strip. When we were making these, we did tossing and turning flipping around to make sure we had the right arrangement. It's going to take you some time to get that arrangement correct. But then, you sew your columns together. You'll have to straighten out the top and the bottom but it's a fast way of making a quilt. You can use some of your extra pieces on the back of the quilt to make the quilt backing. Make it scrappy. It's a fun way of working with quick column quilts. So that's a brief review of the wind chime quilt. No half-square triangles are needed to make these artistic flying geese. Start with squares, fold three times and presto, 3-D folded triangles. You can create the dimensional geese and change the size and direction with ease. I'd like to show you how. Our flying geese wall hanging is made with batik fabrics a batik background. The columns, I think by now you can kind of see how the columns are going down in various sizes from a very narrow 2-1/2" column it started out 2-1/2", now it ends up 2", up to 6". Then every size in between 2", 3", 4", 5", and 6" widths. This is a very artistic way of quilting. There are no wrong or right ways of doing it but some suggestions. The background strips are cut first. You can determine the size that you'd like but cut it longer than you need because there's going to be some folding and stitching that will take up some length. Here we have a couple of examples a 4-1/2", 6-1/2", 3-1/2", and 5-1/2". This kind of mimics a little bit the left side of the quilt that's behind me. It shows a little bit like this, with just a coloration change. So, you're going to cut the background strips with the 1/2" widths in other words, the 4-1/2", 5-1/2", you get the picture. The dimensional geese are made with squares. But rather than cutting them the same size as the background they're going to be cut 1/2" smaller. So, for a 4-1/2" strip, all your squares will be cut 4". Here, they'd be cut 6", 3", and of course, in this instance 5". The fabric is going to be folded in half meeting the wrong sides. Now I'm just going to finger press this. Then fold the centers to the middle. Now I'd really press this, but I'll just finger press right now and take it to the ironing surface and do the final pressing. That was three presses. As I mentioned earlier that's what it would take to create the triangles. A perfect project for someone who has never made triangles before because if you can fold and press, you can make triangles. Here you go. Here's the triangle made. You're going to make a lot of flying geese. On the background strip it's now time to mark the placement. If you'd like to copy the quilt that's behind me exactly it's in the book that accompanies today's program and gives all the dimensions. But yet, you can make it any dimension, size and spacing that you'd like. The keys are to mark horizontal lines making certain that they're square with the fabric. There has to be distance between the points, at least 1/2". You can make it much greater than that. You can have space close together or far apart staggered, the choice is yours. Then after you have positioned them and centered the geese in the middle then meet right sides together align the edges, and place a pin. You want to make sure you're snug around that fold because that fold is going to enclose the raw edges of the square. Here, I'm stitching just 1/4" seam along the edge. You keep doing this along the edge. When we go to this narrower 3-1/2" width I'd like to show you that after taking up a seam of 1/4" or 1/2" each time, notice how much it shrinks. So, that's why you have to cut this strip longer. Then I'm going to press this the way that I'd like my geese to be flying. You could have them fly either way. Now's the time to decide which way you're going to have them fly. After you get all of your columns stitched you're going to meet right sides together and sew the vertical seam. We had this professionally stitched, or long-arm quilted that the stitching between the spaces picked up some of the designs from the batik. It had kind of a flight design. You have many interesting designs that you can place in here. We had the option to add a nice, narrow little border and inner border and then an outer border. I like the lighter outer border. It just gives it some air. You're not closing in. And since these are flying geese you can see what a pretty design this has. So, up or down, make sure that you stitch down the middle of the triangles to hold the points in place. Place it in your home in a place where you can enjoy it. This double size quilt may look difficult to make, but not so. The darker squares float on the light background of the quilt top made with some creative cutting and sewing of crosswise strips. Not to worry, you will not be required to cut squares and piece with rectangles. I've opted for a quick way of making a column quilt. When I looked at this quilt I was thinking in all my years of sewing and quilting I don't think I've made a quilt with a white background before. But it's quite brilliant. The royal blue squares really pop out. If you followed throughout this three-part series you know that the columns just follow along down with a 2" square, and then a solid white strip a 4-1/2" square with a different spacing between the blocks then, the 2", then another spacing narrow strip and these happen to be 6" squares. I've scattered them at different heights, different positions. There's really nothing perfectly symmetrical about this. It's the floating square quilt. I like it. It's fresh. If you're wondering how we're going to get these squares in the middle of the rectangles we're going to make stratas. A strata is a term used to stitch two or more crosswise strips together. We'll start with a 2" block. We're going to start, really, with a 2-1/2" crosswise strip. So, whatever color you'd like for your floating squares this is 41"-42" of the crosswise fabric cut 2-1/2" wide. Then for this particular background I cut 12-1/2" of the white background. I charted this out on a piece of graph paper. You can make it any size you'd like. Just use this concept, so 2-1/2" and 12-1/2". They're going to be sewn together right sides together, along the edges. You'll see that piece in a minute. For the 4-1/2" size the strip is cut 4-1/2" of the royal blue. I used 8-1/2", and I have my little numbers written on here so I could remember. So, 4-1/2" with 8-1/2". Then, the larger blocks, this is a 6-1/2" and a 10-1/2" background strip. All three stratas are sewn in the same manner. Right sides together, 1/4" seam. Then you'd press the seams toward the darker fabric which in this case is, of course, is the royal blue. Then we're going to do some cutting, cutting of strips. I have smaller stratas to show you. Here we go. This is the 2-1/2" with the 12-1/2" white background. I have the edges straight and square. I'll just overlap the two together. For cutting the strips, or subcutting them whatever size you cut the floating block in this instance, 2-1/2" that's what you're going to subcut this long length. I'll get my ruler lined up at 2-1/2" on the mat as well as we have the fabric. I'll make sure I've got it straight. Then subcut. When you're working with the 4-1/2" you'd fold it right sides together and cut 4-1/2" strips. The same principles apply when you're working with the 6-1/2" blue strip you'd cut 6-1/2" subcuts. Now, we're going to create the floating columns. As soon as I lay this out, you'll get it if you haven't figured it out already. If we place these end to end, you can see how this would be sewn together, how the columns come to be. When I sew these together, I usually do it in pairs. I meet opposite color ends together. This would be the same way, opposite color ends together. If you had them lined up, you could chain stitch together open up, and then put these two together again. You're just making one long 2-1/2" strip one long column that you can see right in this area. Do the same thing with all colors-- Not all colors, all sizes, 4-1/2" and 6-1/2". Then do the layout. I have a layout ready. Here's where you're going to maybe get a quilting buddy to come over and ask him or her to help you lay this out. It's kind of fun to do some adjusting. There's no right or wrong answer here. Here's the larger 6-1/2". I'm going to place down a 2-1/2" and then a 4-1/2". Between the columns, I've been consistent and cut just white strips that are 4-1/2". You don't want the blocks necessarily to line up exactly across from each other. Sometimes, we found that if we flipped the columns you can adjust these. You'll have to straighten out the end. You'll have a little waste of the fabric, but you could-- Hang on a minute here. I guess that would help. Generally lay it out and see what you have. See if you like it. Then just sew these long columns together. It's pretty simple. Just by making the stratas cutting the stratas the same width as you cut the predominant floating square sewing those subcuts together end to end and presto, this is the layout. Make it sporadic, make it linear the choice is yours, whatever you'd like. I chose not to put a border around it just to have it be open and free, more of a modern look. But I'd like to try it next in a different color combination, or even in a print. It would make a total change but you'd use the same technique. A floating column quilt, I hope you'll give it a try. Do you ever feel inspired by a challenge? Well, if so, you can take a quilting challenge online. Here to tell us about it is Kim Lapasak. Kim is with Project Quilting. Welcome to Sewing with Nancy, Kim. Thank you for having me. This your brainchild, Project Quilting online. Give our viewers a review of how that happened. Well, it was in 2010. I was hanging out with my husband and my brother and I had recently discovered Project Runway and I just loved it. I watched episode after episode and I wanted to learn how to sew clothing. Then I realized that I really don't have time for another project. But I do know how to quilt, so why not start Project Quilting. I gave my mother-in-law a call, Diane Lapasak and I asked her if she would do challenges if I would run it on my blog. She agreed, and that's how Project Quilting began. That's quite a few years ago. You would choose interesting topics for each week of a challenge. Yep, Diane actually does the brainstorming. I'd try to not to know much about the challenge beforehand. I get about a day notice so I can get the blog ready but I like to be as uninformed as the rest of the people I'm challenging so I don't have any advantage when I'm trying to make the quilt. These are not necessarily bed quilts. They can be small. Anything that is physically quilted. Quilted, or patchwork is one of our options. We've had people make skirts. Oh, sure. The big challenge with Project Quilting is you only have a week to do the challenge. A week is not very long, but yet, what great things. This challenge was entitled, tell our viewers. "My Favorite Color." Here's a cute table runner. So, you could pick one color and white that you could put together in a quilt. There could be different shades of that color. This one was done by my mother-in-law Diane. I did challenge her, because she's been doing the challenges for so many years but she never actually had a complete one herself. This was the first one she tried to fit in. Of course, she was at a conference all week. There was a ton of challenges in her life outside of the quilt. Here's a quilted piece. This is a pillow. I made this one. I didn't have a lot of time either that week so I knew I needed to keep it simple. That's one of the things, you look at your week and you decide, how much time to work on this piece. Now, we don't have lots of samples here because these entrants are online. They're online, so there is no boundary on who can participate. We've actually had participants from 38 different states four provinces, and seven other countries so this has gone worldwide. It's quite exciting. We would like to show a couple of other challenge topics. One is architecture. That was the first challenge in Season 3. It was one of my favorite challenges of all of Project Quilting. The pieces people came up with were just inspiring. Architecture has got so many different shapes and patterns in it that you could really do a lot of different things. You were inspired by this photo the bare bones of a barn. Yep, actually, the challenge came out and I thought in my head I'm like, oh, my goodness, there is a barn down the road that's getting taken down. Honey, watch the children, I have to go take a picture! I was so grateful I did that day, too because by the next day, the barn was down. So I really lucked out and got it. I did hear that the barn was moved somewhere else. Here's the image, your interpretation of that inspiration. Yes, and I really just tried to loosely look at the picture and use what I saw to create something. We'd like to show a fabric pack challenge. We have two examples. We were given a pack of fabric and we had to do the same quilt block in three different sizes so it was tradition times three. You can see how these quilts they're the same fabrics but they're completely different quilts. You mentioned you have a week. The challenge is a week long. The fabric pack one was more than a week though. But most of them are a week. Explain how the voting takes place and entrance. So, the challenges all go up Sunday at noon my time, which is Wisconsin time. Central time. You have until noon the next week to finish the challenge so you have seven days. I do like to do countdowns, so you're aware. It sort of helps, too, if you have some time zone issues I try to give hints like, how much longer that it's going on. Then we have a week break because everybody needs to breathe again and actually maybe do some dishes, the laundry. Isn't that fun? This is a fun thing, Kim, thank you for being with us. I'm inspired to maybe do that, who knows when. Yeah? I would love it. Come back and tell us more about it some time. Thank you so much. If you'd like to learn more about Project Quilting you can go to nancyzieman.com where you'll find all things Sewing with Nancy. Click on Nancy's Corner and you'll be able to find Project Quilting and find out how you can participate in Diane and Kim's great program. Well, this wraps up the three-part series on "Quick Column Quilts." I hope you enjoyed that and maybe will do that in a challenge. Thanks for joining me. Bye for now. Nancy Zieman has written a book entitled "Quick Column Quilts" that includes instructions for 13 quilted projects and all the techniques featured in this three-part series. It's $18.99, plus shipping and handling. To order the book, call 1-800-336-8373 or visit our website at sewingwithnancy.com/2804 Order Item Number U8743 "Quick Column Quilts." 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 has been brought to you by Baby Lock; Madeira Threads; Koala Studios; Clover; Amazing Designs and Klass Needles. Closed captioning funding provided by Pellon. Sewing with Nancy is a co-production of Nancy Zieman Productions and Wisconsin Public Television.