- When we start quilting, we want fabric,
and we want lots of it. (playful music)
And we want it as fast as we can accumulate it.
But later, as our skills improve,
and we experiment with quilt pattern and colour,
we can look at some purchases
and wonder 'what were we thinking?'.
Today, I have five strategies
to help you deal with ugly fabric.
And stay to the end when I have a fast
and easy quilt pattern.
So, stick with me, and I'll show you how to do it.
Hi, I'm Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts.
If you're new to my channel,
I give you tips, tricks, and strategies
to help you make the quilt that you want to make.
And one of the best compliments you can give me
is hitting that subscribe button down below.
Sooner or later, we all have ugly fabric.
Some we are given.
Some are in fabric bundles with other fabrics we love.
And some we simply grow out of love.
Now, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Sometimes you just realise it's out of your colour zone,
or you no longer like the pattern.
Or simply you've matured as a quilter, found your groove.
You've found your style.
This fabric is no longer appropriate
for the type of quilting you like to do.
The good news is there's lots of places
and lots of ways you can use up ugly fabric.
(upbeat music)
Right now, something very topical is making face masks
and scrub caps.
I'm going to use up a tonne of fabric
that the patterns are just too large
for me to use in my quilting.
I'm not keen on pink.
I'm not keen on flowers.
And I find the scale of this print just too large
for me to quilt with.
So I often use these fabrics to make bags,
whether they be grocery bags, shoe bags, or gift bag.
I'm sure you have lots of other places
that you can use them too. (playful music)
An important part of piecing is having a strategy
to make the block.
Though your pattern may say sew fabric A to fabric B
and then to fabric C,
you might find that after making the block,
your block is small,
and you need to adjust your 1/4-inch mark.
Or it's out of square.
Or you might see an easier way to do it.
Or you find some aspect
of the block construction quite fiddly.
I don't make a lot of curves,
and I can easily get out of practise,
so I always make a couple of practise pieces.
And it's much better to make these mistakes
and find the issues before you cut your good fabric.
I have a stack of fabrics in my stash just for this purpose.
You can also sandwich this fabric with batting scraps
for making practise pieces for free-motion quilting
or testing out specialty stitches
or specialty threads. (playful music)
We have many places that we need fabric
that will never or rarely be seen.
If the fabric is in the colour of a quilt that you're making,
you can cut it up and use it in the back of the quilt.
I love this emu fabric in these two colour ways,
but I didn't like it in the third way,
so I hid it in the inside of my retreat bag.
You could also hide it inside of a wallet.
I'm quilting this block and making a pillow out of it.
No one will ever see the other side of this,
so I'm using some ugly fabric here.
(upbeat music)
I believe it was Bonnie Hunter that said
if you don't like a fabric,
you just haven't cut it small enough.
Simply cut the fabric into five-inch strips.
If you still don't like it,
cut it in half to 2 1/2-inch strips.
If you still don't like it, cut it into 2 1/2-inch blocks.
You can use all of these in scrap sampler blocks.
If you haven't seen my videos on scrap sampler blocks
and scrap string blocks,
I'm going to link them in the notes below.
I've had many subscribers ask me about the quilt pattern
for this ugly quilt.
And in my family, it's also known as the Hospital Quilt.
The block for the quilt can be made in a variety of sizes,
but for this quilt,
we are going to be making a 12-inch finished one.
And we will be making 12 blocks,
three columns by four rows for a total of 12.
And you'll need 12 fabrics.
The quilt will finish 36 by 48 inches,
which is a good lap-sized quilt.
Alternatively, we can make a quilt four columns
by five rows, which means you need 20 fabrics.
And this quilt will finish 48 inches by 60 inches.
So, I'm making this stack of fabrics.
I'm aligning my fabrics along the selvage
and in this bottom corner.
I'm alternating them light and dark.
Square up along the selvage.
Then cut a 14-inch square.
When I have a 14-inch stack,
I make a diagonal cut on the left side of the block.
So I take the right piece from the top,
and I put it on the bottom.
Then I make pairs, the top two together.
And as you line them up,
they're not quite going to match up perfectly.
They're just going to be a little bit of overlap on both sides.
Then we sew.
This is a bias seam, and it's very stretchy,
so be sure not to pull.
Continue to sew the pairs together until they're all done.
And then I press.
Now, I'm using my really good ironing technique.
If you haven't seen my video on this,
I'm going to put a link in the notes below.
This makes a big difference in the quality of your blocks.
And then I stack them again.
And this time, I make a diagonal cut
on the right side of the block.
And I take the top fabric from the right pile,
and I put it on the bottom.
Then I pair.
I sew.
And I press again.
Now we restack the blocks.
This time, we're going to turn the pile 90 degrees.
But you're going to find
that your edges are not going to line up very well.
But that's okay
'cause we're going to trim them down at the end.
And we're going to make a diagonal cut
on the left side of the block.
And this time, we are taking the top three fabrics,
and we're putting them on the bottom.
Then we follow the same procedure.
We pair, we sew,
and then we press.
And we stack them again.
Do a diagonal cut on the right side of the block.
And then take the top three fabrics,
and we put them on the bottom.
We pair, we sew, and press.
Now I chose starting with a 14-inch block
so that I could use my 12 1/2-inch ruler to square up.
You may find you have a couple of blocks
that are smaller than the 12 1/2 inches.
My personal rule is
as long as I can get an eighth-of-an-inch seam,
I just trim them up at 12 1/2.
But if you find that some are even smaller than this,
you might just want to trim all your blocks
a little bit smaller, maybe at 12 1/4 or even 12 inches.
And then I just lay these out on the wall.
I get a lot of questions on what is my design board.
It's just sewing hack number four
from my video '10 Sewing Hacks from the Dollar Store'.
I'll put a link to that in the notes below.
I have two different types of blocks,
one with the dark pieces in the corner
and the other with the light pieces in the corner.
And I am alternating these on the wall.
This is a part that I try not to overthink.
I usually put on my timer, and I put them up on the wall.
And the only rule I'm trying to follow is
I try not to have two same fabrics touch.
In the end, I normally end up with one,
and I don't really worry about it too much.
And isn't it funny how these are all very different fabrics,
very different pattern,
but somehow your eyes just kind of pull it all together.
And it's not quite so ugly anymore.
Some of you might have noticed this really rough cut.
When you're cutting through a large stack
of fabric like this,
not only do you have to use your sharpest blade,
but you should use your largest blade.
So, I have changed here to my 60 mm.
Alternatively, you can also divide the stack
into smaller stacks,
and each one can have a different cut pattern.
Now, you can make this block any size.
You can use layer cakes.
You can also make other size blocks
with the leftover fabric from your original pieces.
And I did that with my hospital quilt.
If you use a different block size,
just take a piece of paper
and practise with a couple of cut lines
just to ensure that you have consistent piecing sizes.
Just note that you'll use up at least 1/2 an inch
within every seam that you make,
and you'll want an extra one inch for trimming.
People might ask, why make an ugly quilt?
It's a WOMBAT, a waste of money, batting, and time.
But the great thing about an ugly quilt
is you use it where you wouldn't dare put a precious one.
You can use it outside and not care if it gets dirty.
You can take it on a picnic
and not care whether food spills on it.
Or like me, bring it to the hospital, bringing warmth, love,
and colour into a scary, lonely experience.
And the funny thing is is that
because you're using it in all these places,
there's wonderful stories
and experiences that get attached to the quilt,
and it becomes quite precious for those.
For a hard copy of this pattern
and any of my other free stash-buster patterns,
find them on my website at Just Get It Done Quilts
under Patterns & Downloads.
So if you like this video, please give it a thumb's up.
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So, take care, and I'll see you next time.
(electronic pulsing)