C&T Publishing is a group of quilters and crafters dedicated to publishing products tailored to our audience. This blog is where we break away from book schedules and marketing campaigns to focus on what drives us to be creative and how this creativity manifests itself in our every day lives.
Quilting Tips: Calculating Yardage for Bias Binding
Most of the times we can get by with straight-grain binding. But some projects really call for bias. Bias curves much easier than straight-of-grain and holds up longer. So for quilts with curved edges or ones that will take a “beating”, bias binding is a good choice. Here is another excerpt from our All-in-One Quilter’s Reference Tool that gives the yardage needed to make bias binding.
Measure and add up the lengths of all 4 sides of your quilt, then add (Continue Reading...)
Quilting Tips: Calculating Yardage for Straight-Grain Binding
Binding is something we all need for our quilts and there certainly are mathematical formulas for calculating yardage for it. But what could make it easier than a chart? Here is an excerpt from our All-in-One Quilter’s Reference Tool.
Measure and add up the lengths of all 4 sides of your quilt, then add 10″. Find that number in the column on the left and look across the row to see how many strips you’ll need to cut and how much (Continue Reading...)
Quilting Tips – Cutting Triangles
Triangles are such a common shape used in quilts. There is a simple method to determine the size to cut the shape so it fits in the quilt top.
For Half-Square Triangles:
These triangles are commonly used to make corner setting triangles when the blocks in the quilt top are set on point. They also form the basis for many quilt block patterns. Typically, the straight of grain of the fabric is on both short sides. To obtain 2 triangles, cut a square (Continue Reading...)
Quilting Tips: Binding
Here’s another excerpt from our Quiltmaking Basics. Once you’ve basted together and quilted the 3 layers of your quilt (backing, batting, and pieced top), you’re ready to finish it with binding.
After the quilting is completed, trim excess batting and backing from the quilt even with the edges of the quilt top.
Double Fold Straight Grain Binding
If you want a 1/4″ finished binding, cut the binding strips 2″ wide and piece them together with diagonal seams to make a continuous binding strip. Trim the (Continue Reading...)
Quilting Tips: Making the Quilt “Sandwich”
Here’s another excerpt from our Quiltmaking Basics. The quilt “sandwich” consists of the backing, batting, and the pieced top. Layer these 3 together, baste then quilt them, and, voilá, a quilt is born! (See our excerpt on binding, coming in 2 weeks, to complete your quilt.)
Backing
Plan on making the backing a minimum of 8″ longer and wider than the quilt top. Piece, if necessary. Trim the selvages before you piece to the desired size.
To economize, piece the back from any leftover (Continue Reading...)
Quilting Tips: Adding Borders
Here’s an excerpt from our Quiltmaking Basics. Quilters find butted borders to be the easiest to apply, but if you want to add something special when finishing your quilt, consider mitered borders.
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Tips for Sewing a Perfect 1/4˝ Seam
Are you frustrated because your pieced blocks are either slightly smaller or slightly larger than the stated size in the project directions? Or perhaps you are making a quilt using 2 different kinds of blocks and they do not match up when you sew them together. This may be because your 1/4˝ seams are really not exactly 1/4˝. Follow the following steps to find a solution.
Step 1
Find out what the issue is by sewing a test piece to see if (Continue Reading...)
Quilting Tips: Calculating Yardage for Quilt Backing
The width of fabric used is an important consideration when calculating the yardage used for a quilt backing. The C&T standard is to assume a 40″ width of fabric (WOF) which conservatively describes quilting fabrics. You may use a different number as long as it matches the fabric actually used in the project. Add from 4″ – 8″ to the width and length of the finished size of the quilt to determine the needed size of the quilt backing. This (Continue Reading...)
Quilting Tips: Nesting Seams in Quilt Blocks
Some quilt blocks require that small, pieced units be joined together to make a larger block. Oftentimes, there are individual seams that should be aligned and straight within the larger block. These continuous seam lines that need to be lined up will look better if you plan ahead and press them in opposite directions, so their seam allowances fall on alternate sides of the crossing seamline.
Follow these steps to join 2 such units.
Place the 2 units with their right sides (Continue Reading...)
Quilting Tips: Completing a binding with an invisible seam
With raw edges even, pin the binding to the front edge of the quilt and leave the first few inches of the binding unattached. Sew the binding to all sides of the quilt. Stop stitching a few inches (4″-6″) before the end tail meets the beginning binding tail.
Fold the ending tail of the binding back on itself where it meets the beginning binding tail. Finger press. From this fold, measure and mark the cut width of your binding strip. Cut (Continue Reading...)
