Twisted Xmas Wreath Quilt - Tutorial

Here's the finished quilt.  It measures 22-1/2" square.

Layered, Quilted and Bound

This quilt was started as a Christmas in July project, just after I'd acquired the Li'l Twister tool.  It simplified the construction of this quilt because of the little feet on the underside of the ruler that grip the fabric and raise the ruler off the seams to make it easier to cut out the 3-1/2" squares.

Or you can make your own template using a 3-1/2" square ruler.

Make your own template

I used a charm pack called Winterscapes, manufactured by Benartex, which was purchased from Craftsy.

Winterscapes 5" square Charm Pack

The inspiration for this quilt came from a post on The Knitting Quilter.  I imitated the fabric configuration to achieve the wreath effect and used gridded paper and colored pencils to keep the design straight.

 

The pink, red and blue squares can be replaced with pure red fabrics and the light green, dark green and light blue fabrics can be replaced by pure green fabrics.  The white squares form a cross in the center and cornerstones in this configuration.  The whole block is then surrounded by a 3-1/2" border.

Red, White and Green Fabric Configuration

The 3-1/2" squares that make up this wreath are cut using the Li'l Twister ruler which is positioned at each and every intersection of four 5" squares.  I made sure to consistently place the logo on the ruler in the bottom right hand corner of each square.  I also made a conscious decision to cut the squares from top to bottom and left to right.  The third tip is to cut each square and place it immediately on a design wall in the same order it came off the above block.

Placement of the Li'l Twister ruler

Once all the 3-1/2" squares are cut and placed on the design wall, the pinwheels (a.k.a. whirlygigs) become noticeable.

Cut squares are placed on work surface

It's now time to join the squares together.  Working in columns from left to right remove Unit 1 (row1, column 1) and unit 2 (row1, column 2) from the design wall.

Prepare to join unit 1 to unit 2

Unit 1 is placed face up on the table, unit 2 placed face down on unit 1 and pinned.

Pin unit 1 to unit 2

Sew the two units together and leave them under the presser foot, setting up for chain stitching.

Leave sewn units under the presser foot

In the same way, remove unit 3 (row2, column1) and unit 4 (row2, column2) from the design wall.

Work from top to bottom, left to right

Place unit 3 face up on the table, unit 4 face down on unit 3, pin and chain sew to keep the design intact.

Chain sew the units to maintain order

Continue in this manner until the first two columns are worked.

First two columns on the left are removed from design wall

Chain-sew the units from the first two columns, then remove from sewing machine.  Open up the first two units to reveal unit 1 from column 2.  Remove unit 1 from column 3 from the design wall and place face down on unit 1 from column 2.

Do this for all the units from column 3.

Pin units from column 3 to units from column 2

When all the columns are chain-sewn, each row will be attached to the row below it and the entire block will look like a holey curtain. Press odd rows to the left and even rows to the right so that seams can be nested while sewing.

Columns are chain-sewn

Row 1 is then sewn to row 2, which is then sewn to row 3 and so on down the line.

All the rows are sewn down

I chose a Christmas fabric for the borders.  The quilt was measured down the center, horizontally and two borders were cut to this length and sewn to the top and bottom.

Horizontal borders are attached

The quilt was measured down the center vertically. after the two horizontal borders were added, and two borders were cut to this length and sewn to the sides.  A multi-colored rickrack was sewn along the seam between the quilt top and borders.

Multi-colored rickrack sewn along seams

The quilt top was layered with batting and the same border fabric was used on the back.  I chose to quilt around the outline of the pinwheels.  This quilting is more visible on the back of the quilt.

Quilting on back of quilt

I made straight-edge binding from the same Christmas fabric that is on the borders and the back.  The mitered corners came out really well because of a neat trick I tried for the first time.  I was aiming for a half inch binding. After quilting the quilt, I trimmed the batting and backing a quarter inch away from the four sides of the quilt top.  During the binding step, I stopped stitching 1/4" from each corner, turned the quilt and back-stitched all the way off the top of the quilt. I then removed the quilt from the sewing machine, folded the binding up at a 45 degree angle to the corner and folded it down along the top edge of the batting (instead of aligning it with the quilt top) and then down the side of the quilt.  I then sewed a 1/4" seam beginning from the top of the folded edge down the side of the quilt.

Perfect mitered corners

The binding was folded to the back, pinned to make sure the binding on the back covered the sewn line and was sewed in the ditch along the seam of the binding on the front.

Binding is machine sewn on the back

This was a most interesting project, and I hope you will give it a try.  There are still two and a half months to Christmas, so there's lots of time to get it done!

Cheers!