- So you've finished your quilt top.
- [Crowd] Yay!
But now you have all the left over scraps to deal with.
- [Crowd] Boo!
- And since you still need a back for our quilt,
let's make an afterquilt.
You'll save money, use up all your scraps
have a fun and creative exercise,
so stick with me and I'll show you how to do it.
(upbeat music)
Hi there, 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.
Once you finish your quilt, you're going to have scrap.
When I was working on my first quilt,
by the time is was finished making the top,
I was so sick of the fabric,
and then I realised I still needed to make a back.
I decided I was going to use up each
and every little scrap on that back.
And the afterquilt was born.
I ended up truly loving the process,
so now I do it for almost every quilt.
It saves money, I know the colours match,
I also use up any leftover blocks, any mulligans.
And sometimes it's even more fun
than making the quilt top.
Now I now know that I was not the first
to think up this idea.
Many people have written in
that they've done wonderful
creative projects this way for years,
but I might be the first to call it an afterquilt.
So let's get going.
(upbeat music)
So for the afterquilt,
there are only two rules.
Otherwise anything goes.
The first one is it has to be flat.
So make sure you're using a good ironing technique
and square up often.
If you haven't seen my video on a good ironing technique,
I'm going to link it in the notes below.
And the second rule is,
is your backing must be larger than the front.
If you're long arming, it needs to be eight inches taller
and eight inches wider.
If you're free motion quilting,
you can get away with something a little bit smaller.
Maybe four inches and four inches.
(upbeat music)
Take a look at what you have,
because every scrap pile will be different
as they are an echo of the quilt that you have made.
I like to sort them into piles.
First, width of strip fabrics,
then unused or partially made blocks,
triangles, small rectangles and large rectangles.
You also will want to take a look at your colour
and fabric distribution.
Do you have a lot of one and very little of another?
Where will the fabrics clash?
And what fabric combinations will give you
the best contrast?
Now we know what we have,
the next thing we need to figure out,
is where are we going?
Are we going to make a simple, horizontal band,
using up our blocks?
Or perhaps a vertical one?
Or even a combination of both.
Or are we going to use up every single scrap that we have
to make a full back.
Let's start with the simplest.
As an example, we're going to use a quilt top, 60 by 80.
That means the quilt back will need to be 68 by 88 inches.
If you use a length of fabric across the top of the backing,
then use another length of fabric
across the bottom of the backing,
you will still have band in the middle
that you will need to fill in
and this is the perfect place
to use your scraps.
Do you remember my economy block quilt?
Well this is where we put the extra blocks.
If you have any half made blocks,
or ones that you might consider a whoops,
this is where you use them up.
If you have any pieces that should be made into blocks,
this is where you use them up.
You can set them in a line,
you can set them on point.
I have also made a video on scrap sampler blocks
and scrap strip blocks.
This is the perfect place to use them
and I'll leave a link in the notes below.
You can also make totally improvised blocks.
Just remember to square up at some point,
'cause it needs to lie flat.
So you can stop here or add a couple of strips to your band.
I prefer to use my smallest pieces first
and make my strip scrappy.
Then I repeat with my larger scraps,
using as many scraps as possible.
Even if it means my big pieces of fabric
fall off the edge.
If you've seen my video on scrap management,
you'll know that I like to take those big pieces
and trim them down to two-and-a-half inch strips for binding
so I have binding all ready for my next quilt.
Even if I don't trim it down,
a big piece of fabric is much more versatile
than a pile of small scraps.
The next way to do an afterquilt
is to do a vertical band on the side.
In this example, it's more involved
because the band is bigger.
So if you're incorporating blocks, you might need more.
If you're going to use a long strip,
you need a longer piece,
but you can also keep it simple
and just stack strips, or strips in a combination of sizes.
Be careful in this method
not to put small designs close to the edge
because when you trim up your quilt,
you will lose part of your design.
It's much better to cut your length of fabric in half
and move your band of scraps to the middle.
And or course you can combine these two methods together,
by taking a length of fabric,
cutting vertically, cutting horizontally
and then moving those four pieces to the corners.
This was the method I used
on the back of my first UFO.
So let's talk about using up all your scraps,
like on this quilt back.
For me, personally, I have imposed on myself one more rule.
I try to avoid cutting fabric to make anything.
I trim up to make things square,
but other than that, I use what I shown in front of me.
Which means, if I have half square triangle blocks
I turn them into pinwheels or diamonds or flying geese.
If I have pieces that are already sewn together,
I do not split them apart,
I incorporate them the way they are.
I use my strips, I either sew them into coin block
or I use them as frames or log cabins around smaller blocks.
And I build them into bigger and bigger blocks.
And sometimes, some really longs strips.
Remember, it must lie flat.
I found if I use the edge of the boards in my flooring,
it was easy to keep my long piece straight
and identify where I needed to make adjustments
to keep it lying flat.
Another favourite technique is stacking.
This combines blocks with bigger pieces of fabric
and you just stack them on top of each other.
(upbeat music)
Since my bed is the largest flat surface in the house,
I lay out my quilt top with my afterquilt on top of it
and that's how I gauge
whether I've made something large enough.
(upbeat music)
Just a few more things.
I always start with the smallest pieces first
and then grow it from there,
because at some point, scrap fatigue is going to set in.
(exhaling loudly)
And if it happens, sorry, I mean when it happens,
'cause it will happen,
you'll have your biggest scraps left over
and those bigger scraps are so much easier to deal with.
You don't have to stick to just scraps
from your current quilt.
You can bring in scraps from other quilts
that you've worked on as well.
Look through your orphan block pile.
Can you incorporate any of those in this back.
Even if they're not the same size
as other blocks in this quilt,
just use your strips to frame them up until they are.
Contrast is key, this is my Victoria and Albert quilt,
I had a big plan but as I started working with the fabric
I realised that there's not enough contrast
to do what I was thinking.
I had to bring in an extra fabric.
This Kona solid in muchroom,
just to provide enough contrast
that all this was worth it.
And the last thing is, you don't have to make an afterquilt.
If you are tired and fatigued
and you don't want to look at these again,
don't feel the pressure that you have to make one.
Put them in a bag, leave them for a little while
and then bring them out.
When I finished making my husband's quilt,
I couldn't stand the blue any longer.
But after a two month break,
I was able to get the scraps out
and make this simple baby quilt.
You also don't need to do a big project.
You could just make an after-pillow.
And then donate whatever scraps are left over
to someone else.
So, when you make your afterquilt,
please post it online with the #afterquilt
and tag me, @justgetitdonequilts, so I can see them.
If you want to watch any of the videos that I have referenced,
I'm going to link them in the notes below.
I also have more stash buster videos.
Put that link in the notes below as well.
I'll also make a playlist and I'll put it right here.
If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up.
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at Just Get It Done Quilts.
So take care and I'll see ya next time.