Hi, I’m Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. Today I’ve got a great quilt to
show you and it’s made with the other half of the stack of wedges that I used last time.
So, last time we did the pennant quilt, and this time we’ve got the double diamond.
Take a look at this quilt. Isn’t this beautiful? It’s so amazing how you can use the same
shape and come up with so many different ideas. So, let me tell you what you need to make
this quilt.
To make this quilt we used a layer cake and we used Daysail by Bonnie and Camille for
Moda--beautiful line of fabric. We also used a yard and a half of background fabric and
about a yard and a quarter for a border and it’s going to give you a quilt that is 62”
by 62”. We just made this square. So you’re going to need 42 colored wedges to make this
quilt and 42 of your background--your solid wedge. So, let me show you how to do that.
So, you’re going to be using this simple wedge template, which is, I mean, I love this
template. The reason we came out with this template is because most of the templates
that are out there, again, sit right in the middle of the fabric--there’s a lot of waste.
But with this template, if you put your wedge to the edge, just like this, line up the long
side of your wedge right on the edge, you’ll be able to get two cuts out of one layer cake.
So, I love that. So, we’re just going to cut this, right here, and I’m going to watch.
Be very careful not to go too far over that line right here, I mean, over this edge right
here, and hang on. There we go, and we have our wedge cut. And I’m going to move these
out of the way and then we’re going, I’m going to turn this around and then, again,
I’m just going to put my wedge to the edge, right here and make that same cut. So you
have to be careful because you barely have any extra room there and you want to be sure
to get two wedges out of there. So now we have our two sets of wedges.
So, let me show you how to put this together. This is really fun because it goes together
in a more round kind of block. So, what we’re going to do is, we’re going to take, remember
you’re going to cut the same number of white wedges out and I actually did that. Because
we’re dealing with yardage, it’s a little easier. And I just cut out the yardage that’s
the width of my wedge. And you cut your ruler, this way, and then you flip it, this way,
and then you flip it, this way, and you’ll be able to cut a whole long row of them and
it makes for just really efficient cutting. So, I have some already cut here and I’m
going to show you how we’re going to put these together.
So, we’re going to take a background color, which is our white and our colored wedge,
and we’re going to lay them right sides together, exactly the same direction. We’re
going to match them up, point to point, like this, and we’re going to sew, we’re going
to sew a quarter of an inch right down the side. Now we’re going to sew four sets of
these, so four, you’re going to need four colored wedges and four background wedges
because what we’re making is a block like this. So you’re going to need four coloreds
and four background. So we’re going to lay them right sides together and head over to
the sewing machine and we can do them one after another after another, so let’s head
over there.
Alright, we’re just doing a quarter of an inch. We’re making sure our edges are lined
up. The other thing you want to make sure is, you want to make sure that your, your
solid color is always on the bottom and you’re always sewing then on the same sides, so I
sew my solid color on the bottom and then I put my colored one on the top and I always
sew on the right hand side. If you do some one direction and some the other, you won’t
have this pattern. It will be something else, but it won’t be that. Alright, so let’s
take these over and iron them open.
To do that we’re going to lay our dark color on the top and we’re just going to roll
that back. Now you’re going to have four of these. I have two because I’ve already
sewn some together. Alright, hang on a sec. So we’re going to set and roll.
Now, one of the things I want to point out is that in this layer cake there are several
striped patterns. Don’t worry about which way the stripe goes, it doesn’t make a bit
of difference in this pattern. Actually in most of my patterns, I don’t worry about
which way the stripes go, I just go ahead and use them, and it comes out great. So then
you have these two pieces, like this, this is your piece. We’re going to sew four of
those together but we’re going to join them two and two. So, I have my two pieces here.
Again, I’m going to put them right sides together, matching up all my points. Now,
right down here, because you’ve ironed with your fabric to the dark side, these will nest
up very nicely. Here, let me show you this right here. I’m going to clip those threads.
So see how these lay together nicely, like that? That’s called nesting where the center
seam is right with the other seam and you can feel that with your fingers if they’re
lined up and you want them to be. So, we’re going to go ahead and make sure that’s lined
up. You can put a pin in there, if you want, and we’re just going to sew a quarter of
an inch right down the side.
Alright, here we go. I like to sew a little bit and then make sure my seams at the bottom
are still tucked in there really nicely. There we go. And then we’re going to press this
open. So you’re going to do this with, with two sets and then you’re going to do the
two other ones, which is going to give you a circle, like this. I want to be sure you
can see this. Now, one of the things I want to point out on this, this is a really cool
tip, is that, right here, you can see that’s about a quarter of an inch and whenever you
have fabric or thread that crosses, let me get the pen here so I can show you this. So,
right here, you can’t, you have a hard time seeing these stitches because they are white,
but I’m going to draw on them, hopefully, and you can see, right here, see how your
stitch line, I’ve drawn right on the stitch line both directions. Do you see how it crosses
right there? As long as you stay on the seam side of that cross, you will never lose your
point. And this works anytime you’re going to put a point in anything. It works perfectly.
You’ll never lose that point.
So we’re going to put these right sides together, like this, and then we’re going
to nest our seams here in the middle and this would be a good time to pin. So we’re going
to nest that, put a little pin right there, make sure they stay lined up, and, again,
we’re just going to lay these right on top of each other and sew a quarter of an inch
and when we get to this center part right here, you want to make sure you do not sew
past that criss, where it criss-crosses right there. You have a seam coming up and a seam
coming over, you don’t want to sew past that because, you know, you just stay on the
seam side of that so you don’t lose your point. So, let’s see if it works. We’re
just going to give it a try over here.
Alright, I lined those up exactly, make sure they stay together. Make sure my middles are
still together, lined up nicely, make sure that I’m on this side of my seam of my,
where my stitches cross, and then continue sewing down the other side. We’re almost
there. Alright, so now the big reveal! We get to look and see. I’m going to iron first,
press it open, press that seam down there, roll it back. Ooh, these are points you’re
going to want to show off! Alright, so take a look at that. That looks pretty good.
And so this is really fun block because, because when you think about the different things
you can do with this block and the different looks you’ll get, you know, depending upon
what you do, it’s very cool, but it’s not actually a block. We have to make it a
block. So, to do that, what we’re going to do is, we are going to add corners to our
white squares and those corners, let’s see, are a six-inch block, right here. So, six
inches and we’re going to cut them on the diagonal and that will give us our little
half blocks to make our corners. Let me see, I need a ruler and my rotary cutter. Oh, there
it is. So I’m going to stack these. I’m going to put two of them together because
I need four per block and remember this is a six inch square. Line it up diagonally,
corner to corner. And we’re just going to cut that diagonally and make our half blocks.
So then what we’re going to do is, we’re going to bring our block over here, and we’re
going to sew these right here, onto the white corners, just like that and what that’s
going to do is that’s going to square up our block and gives us a square which enables
us to sew them together one after the other.
So, let me show you a little trick that I do when putting these on because I want to
make sure that they’re right in the middle. I take my little triangle and I fold it in
half, like this, and right here on this fold, I’m just going to finger press it and give
it a little crease. So, you can see that little crease, I know that’s the middle of my triangle.
I’m going to do the same thing to the piece I’m putting it on. So, I’m going to lay
this over here and make sure it’s folded in half, put a little crease, and then I’ll
just lay this crease into that crease and stick a pin in there and I’m going to do
this on all four corners. So, again, let’s fold it in half, crease, and then we’ll
fold this one in half.
You have to kind of match up those seam allowances to make sure that you get, you get it right
in half and then we’re going to take our little triangles, fold them in half, finger
press a little, a little seam line or not a seam line but, I can’t even think what
to call that--just seam. Make a little dent right there so we can line them up, and then
we’re going to go over to the sewing machine and we are going to sew this down. Stick a
little pin in all of these, and we’re ready to go. So, let’s go to the sewing machine
and sew these down. Now, you’ll actually see, these are kind of sticking off the sides.
Just go ahead and start at your quarter of an inch, sew straight across. We’re going
to square them up when we get them done.
So, you’ll see that’s kind of sticking off the side there. I go ahead and line up
my edge and we just sew straight across and I pull these pins out before I get to them
and I’ll go to the next one and we’ll just rotate right around the circle. And one
more. This just, this goes together so quick. It’s just such an easy, fun block, you know,
it’s just really gratifying because you get lots of, lots of fun out of it. Then we’re
going to come over here and we are going to iron this out and I just roll them back, roll
them back, and roll them back.
Now we have to trim this up and make it square. So, I like to square up my corners a little
bit. Let’s see if this ruler will work for me. So, I line up my ruler on this side of
my square, right here on this side, along the edge of that wedge and along the edge
of this wedge and it enables me to go ahead and trim up this corner and then we’re just
going to do that on all four sides. So, line it up again with the wedge, make sure it’s
lined up at the top with the wedge. Trim and trim. People ask me a lot about how to square
up blocks and you just have to kind of find a point of reference on your block to do that
with. And make sure that you’re not taking too much out of the middle, and that you’re
just, you know, sticking to the edges. On this one, I can just line it up with the other
two wedges. That’s my point of reference. Makes a nice square block. Here we go, oop,
it’s got to come down there. And when you have a straight edge on either side, that
enables you to get that square. Okey doke!
So, here is our block. This is what we’re looking for. This is how the block works in
here. See how it goes right in there? And so you want to lay your blocks out and then
all you’re doing is sewing together big blocks. So, let me get rid of this. And then
we’re going to sew these together. And actually you’re just watching these edges right here
and because, again, you’re doing that quarter of an inch, you’re going to have two seams
that cross again and you want to make sure that you stay on the right side of that. Now,
because this block is so large it makes a real big quilt, real fast. So, let’s head
to the sewing machine. I’m just going to show you how I put one of these together,
again, watching to make sure that these edges here line up. And you want to make sure that
you’ve got that lined up to keep your points all nice and safe. There we go. A little more,
and again I’m just, you know, I like to sew a little bit and make sure I’m still
lined up, still lined up.
Alright, so let’s press this open. Now, there you go. So,so this quilt behind me,
we’ve sewn three of these together and it gives us this double diamond. Now, I have
a confession to make. So, when I first made this quilt, I made it by putting my, my square
on my corner on the colored block and so, when I got this quilt all together, I was
like, “well that isn’t what I was thinking”. So what I did on this one was I put my corner
square on the white block. If you put your corner square on the colored block, the color
is over here with the white square is in the middle and you can see that definition and
so if you want to change the look of this up a little bit, you can add a different color
out here and you’ll get a secondary block.
You can also put your corner square on the color, you know, just rotate that block one
and put your corner square on this color and it kind of does this dancing pinwheel, triangle
thing. So don’t be afraid to try some things with this. It’s very fun. So we went ahead
and sewed our three rows together. We have three rows, a two and a half inner border
and a four inch, four inch? Five inch outer border, and you’re going to need about a
yard and a quarter for that outer border and it makes a 62” by 62” quilt. So, we hope
you have fun with this and try some new things. Be brave! And we hope you enjoyed this tutorial
on the Double Diamond Wedge from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.