Accuquilt: Bunting Quilt Tutorial

This post is all about how I made my bunting quilt with the Accuquilt GO! Cutter and the Triangles in Square die. Geez, that is a lot of links.

I was only using the triangle (A) part of the die, not the half triangles (B).  The area of fabric needed to cut the triangle part is 4x6".  So for the white fabric, I used three strips 4 inches across the width of the fabric. This seemed like the way to waste the least amount of fabric, as opposed to cutting lengthwise strips as Accuquilt advises. A few of the white triangles did seem a little stretched out compared to the other triangles but it didn't seem to affect my final results.

I layered my die, fabric and cutting mat. It makes me a little crazy to send the die through the cutter without using half of the die, since those blades are cutting into the mat anyway and deteriorating it over time. But I didn't really want any half triangles hanging around so I just cut the whole triangles and sent the die through without any fabric over the half triangles.

There was not much fabric wastage as I cut the white triangles, because the trailing edge of the first cut could be lined up with the leading edge of the next. The only significant waste was at the beginning and end of the strip. Three strips gave me about 54 white triangles.

Of note, my sister called me as I was about to cut the white triangles and I was able to cut all of them while talking with her on speaker phone. I don't think I would have tried that if I was cutting these triangles with a rotary cutter! This is all that was left of my strips after cutting my white triangles.

Then I picked some fabrics for my flags. I made myself a little template and used it to cut 4x6" rectangles from 25 different fabrics. Then I stacked those up and cut them, four layers at a time, for a total of 8 triangles per pass.

 
Using individual rectangles instead of strips resulted in a little more fabric wastage, but I think you'd have most of that cutting it with a rotary cutter too, simply because the triangle shape leaves odd scraps. 

This kind of gave me chills. They look so beautiful and perfect! They stack up quick.

Piecing triangles does not come intuitively to me. But with these dog eared corners, anyone with a pulse and a sewing machine can get it right.  Why not have a margarita? No, wait. Two margaritas.

I started by piecing 50 units of one white and one colored triangle each. I think this would make a great "leaders and enders" project. That was my original intent but I ended up grabbing it on my way to a guild sewing night at Modern Domestic and doing it all in one sitting. You do need to make sure you piece the units consistently (white on the left, colored fabric on the right, for instance).

After piecing all the two piece units, press seam allowances toward the colored fabric. Then piece the units into four strips of about 12 units each.

You may want a little helper to figure out your preferred arrangement. Lengthen or shorten the strips as needed. Use the remaining white triangles to add to the ends that need them.

Lay out a single piece of white fabric, about 36"x44". Lay your bunting strips where you want them to go. Then slide your fabric ruler 1/2" underneath the top edge of your first strip, then carefully lift the strip up and mark the cutting line on the fabric (I used a regular pencil). Replace the strip and repeat along the bottom edge, marking a line 1/2" above the bottom of the strip. The fabric between these lines will eventually be discarded. Repeat, marking lines for each strip.

 
Cut and sew these seams one at a time. Do not try to cut them all at once. Even cutting one at a time you will have some crazy bias situation and pins are the answer to that problem. Pin it to death before you even pick it up. This is coming from someone who almost never pins anything, so you know it's serious business. Sew with the pieced strips on top to reduce stretching in the bias edge.

Square it up, congratulate yourself heartily, and finish that sucker.

Whew! I can honestly say I only did this project because I had the Accuquilt GO! cutter. If I'd had to learn how to cut all those triangles on my own I'd still be in the design stage for sure. The GO! cutter made a somewhat challenging design more doable. I'd say it's a pretty handy tool. A handy expensive tool. If mine disappeared and I had to decide whether to buy a new one, I'm honestly not sure what I would do. I might take the middle road and get the GO! Baby because of the big price break between the two. The GO! cutter does seem like a quick way to get scraps cut into usable consistent sizes and that's how I've been using it lately. I keep some squares I've cut handy so we have something to use when my toddler heads to the sewing machine saying "Mama, sewing?".

I really think one of these cutters would be a good thing for a group of quilters to share. Unless you're pumping out a quilt a week, this thing is going to sit in your closet most of the time. I'm hoping to make mine available at guild sewing events, and PMQG members, if you have a project the Accuquilt GO! could help you out with, talk to me about borrowing mine!

If you make a quilt using these directions, I hope you know I'd be tickled pink to see a picture! Now let's see about getting an Accuquilt GO! into the hands of one of you lovely readers... soon, soon, soon!

Accuquilt: First Impressions

Way back when I learned I was getting an Accuquilt GO! cutter, I also learned I could choose three dies to go with it. I took that decision very seriously. Like, obsessing about it for two weeks seriously.  I even woke up once in the middle of the night thinking about it. No joke.

Mostly this problem occurred because I am a weirdo, but I also had a hard time figuring out from the Accuquilt site how their dies fit together. For instance, with the chisel die they tell you that another die will finish the shape out to a rectangle, but is there a triangle that you can sew to the shorter side to finish it out to a half square triangle? They don't say, and their information about the shape doesn't give you the height of the short side, so you can't even go researching their other triangles. Trying to figure that kind of stuff out took way too much time and energy.

Finally, after I woke up thinking about it in the middle of the night, I just made myself decide. My first decision: no strips and no squares. I occasionally do bonehead things with my rotary cutter but can generally be counted upon to manage these straightforward tasks. So, angles and curves only. Yes, I know I could do these things with my rotary cutter too. But, let's face it: I'm lazy and I probably won't.
I chose the triangle in a square. It seemed versatile.

And the isosceles triangle. I like the idea of making a kaleidoscope quilt.

I also chose the 7 inch drunkard's path. I read Heather's review and got excited about the little notches to help you match the curves up. I'm kind of impressionable.

While waiting for the Accuquilt GO! to arrive, I tried to figure out what I was getting into. I watched some of Accuquilt's YouTube videos. They cleared up the general confusion I had about how the cutter worked. The one video that stuck with me was "Lee's Stripper Tips" (you can see why I had to click on that one). I dare you not to laugh while watching this.

When the box was delivered I busted it out right away, and grabbed some scrap fabric to try it out.

When I unwrapped the dies they looked like big pieces of dense dark foam. The blades are under the foam. I followed a tip I saw on SewCalGal about marking the cutting lines with a silver sharpie, making them easier to see. I also used the sharpie to mark the size of fabric piece necessary to make the cut, so I wouldn't need to remeasure it every time I went back to use the die.

I tried the cutter out like I'd seen in the videos. You make a "fabric sandwich" with the die underneath the fabric and a cutting mat on top. As the sandwich moves under the rollers, the blades are pressed through the foam in the die and cut the fabric against the cutting mat, upside down compared to how you use your rotary cutter.

The dies are supposed to last, but the cutting mats will give out eventually from repetitive cuts. When you run the die through the cutter it leaves cuts in the mat each time.

Reading the instructions I learned that for accurate cuts you are supposed to feed the fabric through the cutter along the lengthwise grain. If you are working with a scrap and you don't know which is the lengthwise grain, Accuquilt has some tip about how to yank on your fabric and listen to which direction makes a higher pitched sound. This totally cracked me up. My rotary cutter does not ask me to listen to my fabric! I have a lot of scraps and I am not really into precision piecing so I decided I would probably ignore this advice, for my sanity. 

I loved that I could cut fabric with my toddler crawling all over me and the cutter without anyone getting hurt. But the first few times I tried to pass a die through the cutter I couldn't get it to go through and I honestly thought it was broken. It took more strength than I expected to get the die to catch under the rollers.  Soon I figured it out and after a few cuts I felt familiar with the routine. So I embarked upon my bunting quilt. And that's what I'll show you next time!

A pieced bunting quilt

This is a tiny quilt, but I am over the moon about it. A third quilt finished in 2010! It's for my new little niece, Alaina. Hi gorgeous! I love your mama and I already love you too.

I have seen lots of lovely bunting quilts, but I always feel a little let down when I realize most of them are appliqued. I certainly am not hating on applique. But for my own aesthetic, I do prefer piecing when possible. So I was interested to see if I could get the lighthearted feel of a bunting without the curved drape. I know there are quilters out there that can figure out how to piece stuff like this on a curve, but I do not have the patience or time for that. Check back in 30 years and maybe I'll be into that.

The triangles for the bunting strips were cut with the Accuquilt GO! Cutter. The layout of the strips looks random and effortless and so I'm sure it'll come as no surprise that I wrestled with it for over a week before landing on this arrangement.

I experimented with an all over continuous line starburst quilting pattern. I wasn't sure it would work but now I can say it was a resounding success! I love how dynamic it is. I went for a super sketchy look, as a bit of a counterbalance to the rigid perfection of the piecing.  I will definitely do this quilting pattern again. It was easy, quick and high impact.

I generally have a hard time choosing quilt backs. This one involved some divine intervention. As I stood in line at the cutting counter I saw a bolt that said "The Cara Collection". My sister's name is Cara. As a young girl she loved anything rainbow. As an adult she hates red. So there could be no fabric more perfect: a sort-of rainbow with no red. I was pretty psyched to get a divine order to buy some fabric. (Usually I feel it's the opposite: uuuuuse your staaaaaaaash)

I love the way the quilting looks on the back. I stared at/petted it for at least half an hour. And hey! I used dots instead of stripes on the binding. These are from the Eric Carle/Very Hungry Caterpillar line. I tried using flannel for the batting and can't say I noticed much of a difference from my usual Warm and Natural except more fluffy lint during quilting.

In general I think baby quilts with lots of white are a terrible idea. But I just couldn't resist the white with those happy bunting flags. Forgive me, sis. I'll send you five bucks for some stain remover. It's tiny, about 36" by 45". At first I worried it would be too small to be useful but then I remembered that's what I thought about this quilt and that got used plenty:

Ah, such a short time ago she was that small. Now she's helping me quilt. Here she is "sewing" the binding.

I'll be back with a photo documentary of constructing this quilt, and then we'll move ahead with that very exciting Accuquilt business.

Part of the problem

When my husband moved into management from web development he liked to joke that he had become "part of the problem". Well, today I have to admit that I, too, am part of a problem. The problem of quilters coveting Accuquilt Go! cutters. As you can see here, the eagle has landed and inspections are under way.

When I first heard of the cutter I immediately dismissed it as unnecessary, expensive gadgetry. And it may be. But after I spent a humbling afternoon ruining some fabric (and my good mood) with my rotary cutter I  decided it might not be such a bad idea. I am also the child of a woman who stashes all the free hospital socks and pens that she can get her hands on. So I'm going to claim there was some genetic influence leading me to investigate the Accuquilt blogger program. Speaking of genetic influence, I thought I'd use the toddler for reference: that drunkard's path die is huge!

Accuquilt's plan to take over the quilting world one blog at a time is pure genius. I know this because after not winning about twenty Go! giveaways I stopped to ponder the cutter at Joann's, thinking to myself "well, maybe I could buy one...".  That's how it happens! And now, here I am, with my very own Go! cutter. I'm going to cut and sew, photograph and write, and eventually even host a giveaway. And that, my friends, means I am definitely part of the problem.