Mixed Lollies Quilt Sew Along
Week 1
Welcome to Week 1 of the Mixed Lollies Quilt Sew Along.
This week we are concentrating on the planning of our quilt and the cutting of all the fabrics.
If you have just joined the SAL, welcome! Make sure to grab the pattern, read up on all the details and choose your fabrics, so you can catch up and join in the fun!
SHARE ON INSTAGRAM
Post a pic of your cut fabrics to IG and be sure to the use the #mixedlolliesSAL and #mixedlolliesquilt hashtags to make it easier for others to find your photos.
If you would like to share a little about yourself too, maybe where you live or if you have any pets, or your favourite fabric designer so the other participants can get to know you a little.
Please do not worry if other people have moved forward with their quilts. This is a very relaxed sew along and it is about having fun. If you are on a roll and want to keep sewing, then just do it! This quilt comes together very quickly so you might end up making two or five like me!
There have been some fabulous fabric combos popping up on Instagram and in the Facebook Group. Seeing what other people choose to make this quilt with can be so inspring to others so please keep on sharing.
CUTTING TIPS
This quilt is made up of lots of squares, then more squares for Half Square Triangles and strips for the other background blocks. Sort your fabric into piles before cutting and take one step at a time.
It's much easier to cut all the same shape and size together.
The two background fabrics have the same cutting instructions, so keep that in mind too.
If you are using scraps for your Nine Patches, count how many fabrics you have and then divide this with the number of squares needed. This will give you a rough idea of how many are required.
To speed up cutting I like to cut 4 - 6 layers at a time. I know this can be a bit daunting but I promise if you have a nice sharp blade it's easy. Just remember to concentrate because if you make a mistake, you will make it multiple times!!
If you are making a quilt using the fabric requirements from the pattern, just follow the cutting instructions for the size quilt you are planning to make.
If you are using Jelly Rolls, Charm Squares or Layer Cakes scroll down for some extra cutting tips.
BLOCK PREPARATION:
You can just start grabbing fabrics randomly and sewing up your Nine Patches, however if you are like me and tend to use your favourites first there is the chance you will get left with a pile of the ones you don't like.
A better way is to sort all the fabrics first, before you start sewing, so you get a really good mix of prints and different combinations in all of the blocks.
A great way is to layout all the centres first and then start adding the rest of the prints, colour by colour.
Check out the video of me sorting my fabrics into groups in instagram here.
If only it was that quick in real life!
Test Blocks
I wanted to take this opportunity to explain why making a test block is so helpful.
My original plan with this Mixed Lollies quilt was to make each block scrappy with a mix of red, blue, navy, grey and black in each block like the photo below.
However, once I made a couple of the blocks it wasn't looking like I had hoped. The contrast between the colour groups just didn't balance. It might have also had to do with the scrappy low volume background fabrics.
That's when the decision was made to group the colours in the Nine Patches.
This looked so much better to my eyes and as much as it was painful, I spent more time grouping the colours into new Nine Patch piles ready to be pieced.
Sometime you just have to see a bit of the quilt to know if you are heading in the right direction and it's also the reason I like to make test blocks!
Pre-Cuts:
If you are using pre-cuts like a Jelly Roll it is always worth having a look at all the fabrics included before you start cutting.
My next Mixed Lollies quilt will be made using the fabrics below that I purchased from The Next Stitch.
The plan was to used the black speckled as the centres of the Nine Patches but now I have had a look, I might use that just for the binding and the light fabrics as the centres.
This will need to be cut and then played with before I start piecing so I can make my final decision.
Most Jelly Rolls come with 42 strips, so if you are making the Large Throw size version you will have extra strips to play with. You can either cut less squares from each strip and include them all or you can take some of the strips out depending on the fabrics included in the Jelly Roll.
If you have double ups of fabrics in the roll this could be the opportunity to remove them so it's a super scappy quilt.
The same goes with Fat 16ths (Layer Cakes / 10" Charm Squares), just have a play with the colours that have been included and work out what is the best balance for your quilt.
After looking at these photos, I am planning on removing the citrus colour from the Jelly Roll as it is too close to the citrus that will be used as one of the background fabrics.
If this fabric was included, then the Nine Patch would loose it's definition and blend into the background fabric.
So it's a good tip to try not to have the same colour or tone in the Nine Patches and also in the background fabrics. The contrast is really important.
Since sending out the last email I managed to get my Liberty Mixed Lollies quilt top pieced and basted.
If you look closely, the stripes move around in different directions. As you know the quilt is made using Half Square Triangles and Strip piecing for the rectangles. If you wanted to, you could piece the rectangles individually to make the stripes match. That would mean piecing two different sets of the rectangles with the stripes.
Half the rectangles would be in one direction and the other half in the other direction.
It would be quite a bit of extra work not to mention brain power but it's totally up to the individual. You have to do what makes you happy.
With the Liberty quilt, the stripes are quite thin so it didn't bother me but I would consider it a serious option if the stripes were wider and more obvious.
I have also completed the quilting on my 1930's reproduction fabric Mixed Lollies quilt and I love it. I went with 1" spaced horizontal quilted rows. If you are interested in my technique, more will be explained about this process in the final newsletter.
So far all versions of my Mixed Lollies quilts have been quilted differently. How fun!
I'm looking forward to sharing them all together to see how different they all look.
Next week we will be making the all the Nine Patches.
If you have any questions, you can always email me!
Once again thank so much for joining me on this sew along. I hope you're enjoying the process and meeting some other sewers from around the world.
Keep checking the hashtag #mixedlolliessal on instagram, it's a great place to discover other "Mixers" and it also might inspire and motivate you. You could also leave a comment and maybe make a friend.
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