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Building a Scrap Quilt

Last week’s blog post covered organizing and storing your fabric stash. I like to talk about that because once you have a stash organized by size and color, it makes it much easier to build scrap quilts, whether they are planned or unplanned. You can also put your knowledge of color theory, that I’ve covered in past posts, to the test making a scrap quilt.

This week, I will cover my tips on the basics of building a scrap quilt. Next week, I will talk about planned and unplanned scrap quilts. 

Simple One Block Quilt Scrappy

The easiest way to share my scrap quilting tips is to demonstrate them on quilt made up from one block style. Once you master that, you can carry these tips over to more complicated two or more block quilts for some striking quilts.

Let’s start with a simple three color, one block quilt. I’ll make my example easy by using a 36 block quilt with a yard each for each color print. Here’s an example of three colors:

Here is an example of these three fabrics made into a simple quilt, 12 blocks from each color.

These three colors make a really nice scrap quilt. However, what if you wanted to make it even scrappier? You can expand the color choice. Instead of one yard each of the three color prints, split those yards into 1/3 yards so you will have nine 1/3 yard cuts of coordinating fabrics. Here’s what it looks like when I took those three fabrics above and chose six additional coordinating fabrics:

All the sudden your quilt is scrappier with not too much effort. It’s now a 9 color quilt instead of a 3 color quilt. It will take a bit of math to figure out how many pieces to cut from the assorted fabrics, but I know you can do it!

Let’s go even scrappier still using those nine colors. Instead of make the blocks all one color, mix and match those colors with in the blocks.

By doing this, it creates the illusion that the above quilt is scrappier than the other quilt using the same 9 colors.

It’s a trick that you can use to make a quilt look scrappier, even with only the 3 colors. I have an example of combining the 3 colors within the blocks here: 

They are both made up of the same 3 colors, but because the colors are mixed within the blocks, it’s looks scrappier.

Some Additional Scrapping Tips

Tip #1: When you decide to make a scrap quilt that is not completely random, planning helps. Make a copy of the finished quilt from the pattern and color it using colored pencils to represent the fabrics you want to use. You can also do this with individual blocks.

Tip #2: Be bold with color! In a scrap quilt, you can play with joining many colors you wouldn’t ordinarily pair up. Since there are lots of fabrics in the quilt, the “color chaos” seems to work.

Tip #3: Use what I call “color mapping” prior to starting a project. This kind of ties into the example I showed above with the nine different fabrics. Make a copy of the diagram of the block that makes up your quilt. If there is not a clear diagram in the pattern, pull out some graph paper and draw one, then make copies. Then assign a number to each of the color print fabrics. Once that is done, number each block element showing where you want that color to appear. This will help you calculate how many pieces to cut from each color print.

Tip #4: This kind of relates to the above tip. Once you have your color mapping and it’s time to cut out your pieces, keep them organized by labeling and stacking up each set of pieces cut from each color print. For example using the above map, I would cut out and keep the color print 1, 2, and 3 pieces for each block separated into three separate stacks based on the combinations shown above. By being organized, you won’t accidentally stitch the wrong piece into a block.

There’s that word again… organized! 

So that’s it for this week. Next week, I will cover more on scrap quilts including the differences between planned and unplanned scrap quilts. Leave a comment or ask a question below and I will enter you into a drawing for one of my ultimate scrap quilts, Hugs & Kisses.

If you are not a fan of the appliqué in the border, that can be optional. The drawing will be on Monday, 11/24 so you have two weeks to enter! ***We have a winner! Congrats, Debi!***

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Scrap Quilting – Planned Scrap Quilts and How to Build Them

Last week’s post covered unplanned scrap quilts and taming the “chaos”. This week, I will cover what I call planned scrap quilts. They are still scrappy, but they are definitely more ordered than the unplanned ones I talked about last week. I’ll also give you tip on building one of your own. Let’s go!

Planned Scrap Quilts

I consider a planned scrap quilt one that uses several different color prints, but a finite number. This is in contrast to the unplanned ones of last week where there were a large number of different colors and prints. I will share some examples of my planned quilts.

First up is Sparkler, my newest pattern.

From a distance, it looks very scrappy, perhaps unplanned. But when you look at the center of the quilt (right photo) you can see I used only 8 different color prints. Those prints are repeated on all 4 sides of the sawtooth border of the center star. Those fabrics are also used to make the bordering smaller stars.

This next quilt uses 8 different color prints but I use them in a unique way to make it appear more scrappy. Here’s the quilt, Trinkets:

Here’s a closer look at one of the row of this quilt:

You can see that every other block has the same 4 color prints, but by rotating the block one turn, it makes them appear different. That’s one way to make a limited amount of prints look scrappy in a quilt.

Here’s another way. In this quilt below, Star Wheels, I still use a limited amount of color prints but I mix and match them in the same block type, alternating in which part they appear.

Here’s a close up of a few of the rows:

Notice the block at the upper left first row and the one on the far right of the second row. They are both using the same color prints, pink and green, but they are reversed where they appear in the block. This helps to create a more scrappy look.

How to Plan a Scrap Quilt

 Here’s how I teach people how they can turn any quilt into a scrap quilt by adding more color prints.

Below I’m using a simple 3 color quilt as an example. To make it easy, let’s say this quilt takes a yard of each color fabric (not including the background) and has 12 blocks from each color. Here’s the 3 colors:

If I use only those 3 colors to make a quilt, it will be a little bit scrappy and look like this:

To make it look scrappier from just these three colors, mix and match the colors within the blocks. For example, make some blocks gold/blue and some blocks red/gold and some blue/red:

Now, lets make it even scrappier. You can do this by substituting three 1/3 yard cuts for each yard of fabric from above. I’ve done that here:

To the dark blue fabric, I added a light blue and a purple. To the red fabric, I added pink and brown (both fabrics have red accents) and to the yellow fabric I added green and orange. So, now I have 9 colors which I can distribute through 36 blocks giving me 4 blocks from each color. Or I can mix and match those colors within each block.

The quilt on the left is scrappier than the 3 color quilt examples from above. And the quilt on the right is even scrappier when you mix the colors within each block. So that’s the basics to a planned scrappy quilt.

Color Mapping

How do you plan a scrap quilt using any one block pattern? I’ll show you how I do it.

First I choose a block design, how many blocks I want and how many colors I want to use. Then I make a diagram using a drawing of the block. I call this method “color mapping”.  I number my chosen color prints and then on a printout of the blocks in the quilt, I place the color number(s) in units of the blocks. Then I note how many blocks from each combination.

Here’s an example of one of my color maps showing nine different color prints numbered 1-9:

Notice how the numbers are in different parts of the blocks. That’s what helps achieve the scrappy look.

Once I have this done, then I can figure out how many pieces I need to cut from each color based on the diagram above. It does take a little time and math, but by doing this planning first, you end up with a beautiful planned scrap quilt.

So that’s it for this week and my two lessons on scrap quilting. Leave a comment or ask a question below to be entered into a drawing for my quilt pattern, Country Square.

The drawing will be on Monday, April 21st.**We have a winner! Congrats, Deborah A. Keno!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Scrap Quilts – My Tips to Create Your Own

Hi Everyone! I had fun sharing tips on scrap quilting last week, so I decided to continue this week with more. Specifically on how to build one. Since we covered color theory, choosing fabrics and building a stash in earlier posts, I think you are now ready to play in your stash and create your own masterpiece. This week, I will cover tips I have relied on over the years to build some of my scrap quilts. Hopefully these will inspire you. Let’s get started!

Simple One Block Quilt Scrappy

Now that you learned to build a stash from last week’s post, let’s put it to good use. The easiest way to learn how to build a scrap quilt is by starting with a simple one block quilt. I touched on that briefly last week, but here is a more detailed explanation with tips.

Let’s start with a simple three color, one block quilt. I’ll make my example easy by using a 36 block quilt with a yard each for each color print. Here’s an example of three colors:

Now, when I make twelve blocks from each color print, this is a drawing of what the quilt would look like:

That makes a nice looking scrap quilt, right? However, what if you wanted to make it even scrappier? You can expand the color choice. Instead of one yard each of the three color prints, split those yards into 1/3 yards so you will have nine 1/3 yard cuts of coordinating fabrics. Here’s what it looks like when I took those three fabrics above and chose six additional coordinating fabrics:

So now that I have nine color prints, here is a drawing of the same quilt pattern from above with four blocks made from each color print:

Wow! All the sudden your quilt is scrappier with not too much effort. Yes, it will take a bit of math to figure out how many pieces to cut from the assorted fabrics, but not much.

Scrappiness Within Blocks

Now look what happens when you combine the colors above within each of the blocks:

Let’s take a closer look at playing with blocks that are more than one color and showing what happens when we play with that. We’re going to use this block below:

One way to play with this block above is to add blocks with a different color print substituted for the green print and also shifting where the black print is placed in the block.

In the example above, I added a red print for some of the blocks and I shifted where the black print would be. In the red print blocks, I used the black as the center of the focus where in the green print blocks, I used the green print as the center focus.

Now look what happens when I add in more color prints and alternated where the black print fabric is:

You can get even more adventurous by putting two color prints in each block with the black print. Here’s how some of those blocks would look:

Doesn’t that look like fun? If you want to really go crazy, sit in from of a scrap bin (like I did with some of my examples last week) and just pull out a different color for each block unit. Here’s an example of what you can get:

I kept the black print accents in each of the blocks to add the secondary design effect (and also the calming down of the chaos) I talked about last week.

Some Additional Scrapping Tips

Tip #1: When you decide to make a scrap quilt that is not completely random, planning helps. Make a copy of the finished quilt from the pattern and color it using colored pencils to represent the fabrics you want to use. You can also do this with individual blocks.

Tip #2: Be bold with color! In a scrap quilt, you can play with joining many colors you wouldn’t ordinarily pair up. I mentioned this last week, but it’s worth repeating. Since there are lots of fabrics in the quilt, the chaos seems to work.

Tip #3: Use what I call “color mapping” prior to starting a project. This kind of ties into the example I showed above with the nine different fabrics. Make a copy of the diagram of the block that makes up your quilt. If there is not a clear diagram in the pattern, pull out some graph paper and draw one, then make copies. Then assign a number to each of the color print fabrics. Once that is done, number each block element showing where you want that color to appear. This will help you calculate how many pieces to cut from each color print.

Tip #4: This kind of relates to the above tip. Once you have your color mapping and it’s time to cut out your pieces, keep them organized by labeling and stacking up each set of pieces cut from each color print. For example using the above map, I would cut out and keep the color print 1, 2, and 3 pieces for each block separated into three separate stacks based on the combinations shown above. By being organized, you won’t accidentally stitch the wrong piece into a block.

So I hope these tips help build your confidence to tackle a scrap quilt. Leave a comment or ask any question you may have in the comments below. I will enter you in a drawing for my quilt pattern, Twilight Desert.

This pattern will give you the opportunity to use my tips above, especially the organization tip when cutting out the block pieces. The drawing will be on Monday, March 25th. Good luck! **We have a winner! Congrats, Cheryl Nesbit!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Scrap Quilting Tips and Techniques

Hi everyone! Since I am having a busy week preparing for the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival, I thought I would share some tips and techniques for my very favorite form of quilting: scrap quilting! By the way, if you are in the Kansas City area from June 15th through June 17th, come say “hi” to me in my booth. The show is at the Overland Park Convention Center. So let’s talk about some of my favorite tips and techniques for scrap quilting.

To Get Started

One key for successful scrap quilting is to have a stash with a wide variety of small cuts of fabrics. I’ve shared how I achieve this in the past. I cut up larger pieces of fabric into 1/2 yards, fat quarters, fat eighths and strips so I have each particular fabric in just about every size. That way, I don’t have to cut into a large piece of fabric if I only need a few pieces. Here’s a recent mini video where I cover my routine:

Once I have my fabrics cut, I store them in tubs. The strips I cut used to be stored all together in a large bag or basket. I have since found these shallow tubs and have my strips separated by color and width.

Good organization is a big help when it comes to scrap quilting because you are not spending too much time hunting and sorting.

Planned and Unplanned Scrap Quilts

If you have been to one of my lectures, you heard me talk about “planned” and “unplanned” scrap quilts. What’s the difference? I consider an unplanned scrap quilt as one where you sit in front of a tub of fabrics and pull out a different piece for each element of a block. An example of a true unplanned scrap quilt that I have made is my pattern Crisscross Cabin Blooms.

As you can see from the close-up photo on the right each of the blocks have different fabrics. Some have the same fabrics because I probably had a long strip of that fabric and put it in a few blocks. But, I basically pieced all 100 of these blocks by just pulling out strips from my stash. The only consistent fabric is the black print.

Now onto a planned scrap quilt. This is where I take a pattern I want to make and decide ahead of time the number of different color prints I want to use and then decide how many blocks will be made from each color combination. This type of quilt takes a little more planning than an unplanned scrap quilt.

Here’s an example: Let’s say the quilt you want to make takes a yard of each color fabric (not including the background) and has 12 blocks from each color. Here’s an example of the 3 colors:

So you can either make 12 blocks from each color (left) or you can mix colors within each block, alternating how you combine them (right).

Both are eye catching scrap quilts. One appears more scrappy because of combining the fabrics within each block, but both good! 

Now, it’s time to add in more fabrics. Instead of just three fabrics, I will choose six more that coordinate, do a little math, and come up with an even scrappier quilt. Here’s the stacks of fabric now:

And here are the two different combinations using all nine fabrics:

Like I did above with the three colors quilt diagrams, here I came up with two variations. The one on the left has four star blocks from each color. The one on the right has the colors combined within the blocks for an even scrappier quilt. See how that works?

So here are a few tips

Tip#1 – Be bold with color! In a scrap quilt, you can play with joining many colors you wouldn’t ordinarily pair up. Since there are lots of fabrics in the quilt, the chaos seems to work!

Tip #2 – Use what I call “color mapping” prior to starting a project. This kind of ties into the example I showed above with the nine different fabrics. Make a copy of the diagram of the block that makes up your quilt. If there is not a clear diagram in the pattern, pull out some graph paper and draw one, then make copies. I then assign a number to each of my color print fabrics. Once that is done, I can number each block element showing where I want that color to appear.

Once you have a plan like this, you can then figure how much of each color print fabric you need for the whole quilt.

Tip #3 – Stay organized by labeling and stacking up each set of pieces cut from each color print. For example using the above map, I would cut out and keep the color print 1, 2, and 3 pieces for each block separated into three separate stacks based on the combinations shown above. By being organized, you won’t accidentally stitch the wrong piece into a block.

Tip #4 – Once units are pieced and then need to be pieced into a block or border, consider labeling them with small stickers to keep them in the order you want. This is really helpful with scrappy pieced borders.

So that’s it for this week! I hope this post inspires you to rummage through your stash of fabrics, get organized, and play. Scrap quilting is relaxing and fun because you can let loose and put fabrics together that you wouldn’t normally pair up in a regular quilt. 

Happy Scrappin’
Deanne

2022 Block of the Week – Block 9

The final block in the series! All the patterns from block 1 through today are still free for you to download. These are easy to piece 6 1/2″ blocks. After you make all the blocks, including today’s block 9, you can use them any way you want. I will be presenting a finished wall hanging next week that features all the blocks and providing free instructions so you can make it yourself if you choose. If you just found my blog today, here are the links to the previous week’s posts: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7 and Week 8. OK… let’s get started on the last block!

2022 BOW Block 9 – Crosses & Losses

Now that you are an expert in HSTs, this block will be a breeze. This is basically a 4 patch block, with each “patch” made from HSTs. The instructions to make this block are found here: 2022 BOW Block 9.

The block made it’s first appearance, like many others in this sew along, in the late 1800s. Published first by the Ladies Art Company in 1897. It’s also known as Bouncing Betty (1933), Fox and Geese (1929) and Hour Glass (1932). It’s believed this block got its original name from the Bible, sometimes the only book that accompanied families in the 19th century to their new homes.

Scrap Quilting

Since the blocks we have been making are from our “scraps”, I think it’s time to talk scrap quilting! Scrap quilts can be planned or unplanned. Planned you say? Isn’t the definition of “scrappy quilt” a quilt that is made from scraps you just randomly pull from your stash? Yes, I call those “unplanned” scrap quilts. These BOW blocks are like that. I just picked scraps out of my stash to piece each of these blocks. But, you can carefully choose an array of color prints and make blocks from various combinations and that is what I call “planned” scrap quilts.

I will use a simple 3 color quilt as an example. To make it easy, let’s say this quilt takes a yard of each color fabric (not including the background) and has 12 blocks from each color. Here’s the 3 colors:

Using these colors above you can make a simple scrap quilt with each block using only one color (left) or you can mix the 3 colors within each block and use each color in different units of the blocks (right).

Both are nice scrap quilts, but the one on the right definitely reads as more scrappy, even though it’s the same 3 colors. You can make the quilt even scrappier, by adding in more colors to each of the ones above. Instead of buying a yard each of the 3 main colors, by 1/3 yards of those fabrics and then an additional 1/3 yard each 6 other color prints that coordinate.

To the dark blue fabric, I added a light blue and a purple. To the red fabric, I added pink and brown (both fabrics have red accents) and to the yellow fabric I added green and orange. So, now I have 9 colors which I can distribute through 36 blocks giving me 4 blocks from each color. Or I can mix and match those colors within each block.

Now, all of the sudden you have a real scrap quilt even though you planned it.

So how do you plan a scrap quilt using any one block pattern? First I choose a block design, then how many blocks I want and then how many colors I want to use. Then I make a diagram using drawings of the blocks. I number the colors I am using and then on a the printout of the blocks in the quilt, I write in the color number(s) in the units that make up the blocks. Then I note how many blocks I have from each combination to help me calculate how much of each fabric I need.

Here’s an example of one of my color maps showing that I am using nine different color prints that are numbered 1-9:

Once I have this done, then I can figure out how many pieces I need to cut from each color based on the diagram above. It does take a little time and math, but by doing this planning first, you end up with a beautiful scrap quilt.

So, I hope this gives you a bit of an idea on how to make a quilt pattern scrappy if it isn’t already that way. I think it’s fun to do and I just love the look of the “riot” of colors. You’d be surprised that colors you think would never look good in the same quilt, look great in a scrappy one!

Come back next week for the Block of the Week wrap-up where I will reveal my wall hanging made from these blocks and give you those instructions. Remember, comment or ask questions throughout this series. At the end, I will have a grand prize giveaway. This will include my book, two of my newer patterns, some fat quarters and sewing scissors!

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

More Scrap Quilting Tips for Fun!

Last week I talked about quilting with strips and scraps and shared some links to some history, including a look at the quilts of Gee’s Bend and crazy quilting. Here’s the post if you missed it. This week, I thought I’d continue with the scrap quilting fun by showing you two ways I scrap quilt. Making what I call “planned” scrap quilts and true scrap quilts. I’ll show you examples with my quilts and explain how I either plan a scrap quilt or just “fly by the seat of my pants”! 

How to Plan a Scrap Quilt

Sounds kind of funny planning a scrap quilt, right? Well, I know some quilters do not like the complete chaos of a scrap quilt and want to still have some harmony among their fabrics. Here’s an example of how I teach people how they can turn any quilt into a scrap quilt.

I use a simple 3 color quilt as an example. To make it easy, let’s say this quilt takes a yard of each color fabric (not including the background) and has 12 blocks from each color. Here’s the 3 colors:

Here’s what a quilt would look like with those 3 colors in separate blocks.

Pretty quilt, huh?

One way to make a scrap quilt from just these three fabrics is to mix and match the colors within the blocks. For example, make some blocks gold/blue and some blocks red/gold and some blue/red:

This makes it a little scrappier! However, you can turn this even scrappier by substituting three 1/3 yard cuts for each yard of fabric from above. I’ve done that here:

To the dark blue fabric, I added a light blue and a purple. To the red fabric, I added pink and brown (both fabrics have red accents) and to the yellow fabric I added green and orange. So, now I have 9 colors which I can distribute through 36 blocks giving me 4 blocks from each color. Or I can mix and match those colors within each block.

The quilt on the left is scrappier than the 3 color quilts from above. And the quilt on the right is even scrappier when you mix the colors within each block. So that’s the basics to a planned scrappy quilt.

Color Mapping

So how do you plan a scrap quilt using any one block pattern? First choose a block design, then how many blocks you want and then how many colors you want to use. Then I make a diagram using a drawing of the block. I call this method “color mapping”.  I number the colors I am using and then on a printout of the blocks in the quilt, I place the color number(s) in units of the blocks. Then I note how many blocks from each combination.

Here’s an example of one of my color maps showing that I am using nine different color prints that are numbered 1-9:

Once I have this done, then I can figure out how many pieces I need to cut from each color based on the diagram above. It does take a little time and math, but by doing this planning first, you end up with a beautiful scrap quilt. My Scrappy North Stars is an example of one planned this way (although I had more than 9 different fabrics in this one):

Unplanned Scrappy and Color Fun

Now for the unplanned scrap quilt or what I call “chaos”. That’s when I sit beside my tub of assorted strips and make one block after another. As I am making each block, I put them up on a design wall and try to avoid putting the same color strip into a block, at least not in the same place. The two quilts below are examples of some unplanned scrappies.

CrissCross Cabin Blooms
Hugs & Kisses

Yes, I do have colors repeated, but when that happens, it’s generally a different print from one in another block.

As you can see from some of the quilts I have shown in this post, I’m not afraid of putting interesting color prints together. That’s the fun of scrap quilts. You may think certain colors do not belong together, but in a scrap quilt you can get away with it!

Don’t be afraid to play with all different color fabrics and prints in a scrap quilt, whether it’s a planned scrap quilt or an unplanned scrap quilt. You’ll often be surprised with the results!

I hope you enjoyed this scrap quilting discussion and a look into my process. Comment or ask any questions you may have below and you will be entered into a drawing for my Scrappy North Stars quilt pattern (shown above)! **We have a winner… congrats, Ariel!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne