Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Welcome is SewVeryEasy, my name is Laura.
What do you do when you find really cute frog fabric?
You make a frog quilt.
The fabric is from Timeless Treasures and it has these
very fun frogs. I've pulled in a green to go with it,
and some red polka dots.
We need to make six snowball blocks.
These will become the lily pads,
and six frogs just sit on the lily pads.
Let's start with the very simple, quick snowball blocks.
For each of the snowball blocks we're going to start
with six 9" squares.
The corners of the snowball blocks are made from
3" squares. We need one for each corner.
Draw a line from corner to corner
on each of those squares
The squares are going to fit right in the corners.
The lines will go on the diagonal and they will
become stitching lines.
All four squares will need to be stitched from corner
to corner.
You can trim off a little bit of this corner, leaving
a ¼" seam allowance.
When that block folds back
you still have the original 9" square
with these little corner pieces.
We need six of these.
Next, we need six frogs. The frogs are paper-pieced.
There are two sides to the paper piecing. The sides
are the same; they're just in reverse.
I'll put a link in the description so you can
print out the frog patterns.
I like to print these on paper-piecing stock.
Your needle will stitch through well, it's easy to
remove, and it doesn't dull your needle as quick.
With paper piecing I do like to use a microtex
needle. 80/12 is a good size. It's nice and big
so it's going to make some good-sized holes
to make that paper easier to tear off.
I'm going to be using paper-piecing thread
from Coats. It's actually designed for paper piecing.
It's thin and it's very strong.
I like to use a ruler called Add-a-Quarter. What it has
is a little lip. That's the ¼".
A piece of template plastic. That template plastic
is going to go up against that ¼" lip.
A small pressing mat right by my machine with a
small little travel iron.
When I set up the machine I'm going to be using
a smaller stitch. It puts more holes through the
paper, which makes it easier to remove.
To cut out my fabric for my paper piecing I'll start
and make an extra copy of the pattern that I need,
and cut out each of these shapes.
With paper piecing, the good side of the fabric
will be against the back of that paper.
For example, this A3:
I need some shapes but they're going to be so that
the good side is on the back.
This does not have the seam allowance so we need
to make sure that we add more than ¼"
all the way around. I just cut them out very roughly
but this way I know that I'm going to have pieces
big enough.
There's the next size that I've cut out.
Once I have all the pieces cut out
I'm going to lay them over top of pages so that I can
just look at them at a glance and know which ones
to take first.
I need six of each side made, so when I
put them together, I will have six blocks.
I will bring this right to the machine. I have my six
pieces already printed out on the paper
and my six pieces of fabric that are going to match.
The pieces are sewn together in order of the numbers.
The A is referring to this side
and the numbers are the order that you need to do
the stitching. You're placing the fabric in that order.
If you have an artificial light source like a light box
or a light table, this is a perfect time to use it.
Using the light source, I'm going to take my page
and lay it right over top. The printing is facing up.
Because I've already taken and cut all of my pieces out,
I know I need to start with the A1.
I'll take one of the A1 and I'm going to lay it down
so that the rightside is facing down. This is the
wrong side.
Turn on the light source and I'm able to put my
paper right over top of it.
I can see my A1 piece is completely covered
and I have a nice big seam allowance.
The first block I like to pin or glue down.
I'm going to use the glue. It's only temporary.
It's just enough to hold it down
until I get my next piece in order.
I am going to glue this down but what I'm going to do
is glue it on the outside of the fabric, so I have
no glue inside of the actual pattern. It's just going
to be on the edge where I get to trim it off.
I can just put that glue on there and then lay it
back down.
With the very first piece there is no stitching.
You're going to stitch number one
and number two together.
Between the A1 and A2 we need to make that
¼" inch seam allowance.
This is where the acrylic template plastic
comes in handy. I'm going to lay it on the line
between the A1 and A2.
Fold the paper back using that as a guide.
This is going to be my seam allowance. I want to
trim it down to ¼".
That lip on the Add-a-Quarter ruler will fit
right against that template plastic along the back.
I'm going to be able to trim off this extra fabric
and leave ¼" seam allowance.
Having that first piece glued down is really helpful.
This particular light table does come with
an additional cutting surface that I can lay right over top
so I'm going to be able to trim right over top of this.
If not, just bring it to your cutting table.
When I've trimmed off that piece I'm going to be able
to fold that paper right back.
Now I know I have my ¼" seam allowance
and I still have extra along the outside.
My next piece is going to be A2. I know this piece
is going to go underneath.
The two pieces are going to come together this way
but I still have my ¼" seam allowance ready.
I can flip it over.
This is going to be a stitching line, but you're going
to stitch from the other side.
You're going to stitch with the pins underneath,
so you need to make sure that those heads are out
of the way and the pins are not in the seam allowance.
Now when you turn it over
you're going to be able to stitch right along
that line. You're stitching through the paper
and those two layers of fabric underneath.
I've started the stitching off, gone through that line,
and I've come off again.
When I turn it over, there's my perfect ¼" seam
allowance. The pins were not in the way.
Take those pins out of the way now
and press. Your pressing is always going to go
towards the very last piece that you put on.
Once A1 and A2 are done, I need to do piece A3.
In this case, it's a piece coming right here.
I want to establish that ¼" seam allowance
between pieces A1 and A2 and A3.
Flip it over so that you can see the printing facing you.
I know where my next stitching line is and that's
where I'm going to put the edge of that template plastic.
I get to fold that paper back now and I'm just going to
peel that paper gently off of those first couple
of stitches that I did that was past the seam allowance.
This is going to be my next seam
so I need to make this the ¼".
What we're doing is we're establishing quarter inches
as we go along. I put my Add-a-Quarter Ruler on.
It butts right up against that template plastic inside
so it gives me that ¼" seam allowance.
Cut off all that extra,
fold my paper back,
and I need to pick up my A3 piece.
With my light source, I can check and make sure
that piece is going to be big enough.
I hold the paper and the piece together, flip it over,
and since this was the last seam I cut,
I know this is going to be the seam that I need to sew.
Put right sides together.
This is going to be my stitching line so I'm going to
pin out of the way.
Stitch on that next stitching line.
I like to start off the line,
follow the line, and continue right off.
Turn it to the back and then press towards that
last piece that you've put on.
This is when these little irons come in handy.
If we look back we can see that each of these seams
are now going to have that nice ¼" seam allowance,
which we love to see and work with.
I turn it over. I now need to go to my A4 piece.
I'm going to continue this. I'm going to fold it back,
trim the seam allowance off,
then you're good to grab your A4 piece.
I'm going to be able to continue this method
all the way until I finish all seven pieces.
I'm going to do this to both the right and left sides.
We now have two sides of the frog done.
When they're trimmed and sewn together
they will turn out like this.
We need to sew these two pieces together.
When you do print these with your printer
I'd recommend just putting on a draft print.
You don't need a lot of ink on them because we
are going to take the paper away. Just leave your
setting at 100%. By doing that you're going to be able
to trim these off. This is a ¼" seam allowance.
Now it's starting to make a little bit more sense.
Match rightsides together and stitch that ¼".
When that center seam is done, we're going to be able
to remove the paper, open it up, and press it.
I do take the seam in the center
and press it open and flat.
To remove the paper I like to hold right where that
seam starts, holding those threads together and
the seams together, and then peel that paper back.
It's just going to ensure that you don't rip those
stitches out.
You're going to be able to take that paper right off.
Because that was all trimmed following the paper,
the block is squared and ready to go
and we have six frogs.
The blocks are 9" square.
We have six lily pads and six frogs. The quilt is going
to go together in rows of three,
and you will have four rows. The frogs do not have
to go all in the same direction.
Press the frog seams to the lily pads.
I'm going to add two simple borders around the
outside. The first one is going to be cut at 1½",
so it will equal an inch.
From there I'm going to add a really fun border
at 4" all the way around.
I'm going to have these fun frogs going all the
way around as the last border.
The quilt is 35" wide by 44" long, and that is
including that 4" cut border and the 1½".
There's five different colors in the quilt. We have two
for the frogs, two for the lily pads, the lily pads
share that border, than that one additional border.
Each of them I would recommend to start with
a half a yard to get this quilt.
A total of twelve blocks, six lily pads, and six frogs.
Now this could be made in many different
color combinations, but the frog fabric is awfully cute.
Thank you for joining me today on SewVeryEasy.
Feel free to subscribe and, as always, come on back.
Let's see what we're sewing next time in the sewing room. Bye for now!