Tuesday, November 10, 2009

 You need 3-4 yards of flannel fabric.


1-Top piece (i call it the cute piece) It will be the one that shows the most
2-Solid Coordinating color to the top piece

3-(optional 2ND coordinating solid color)

4-Polka Dots (there are TONS of different options with polka dots.) Unless you are magic, and trust me you aren't, you need to pick a coordinating color with dots. This will be your guide to sewing straight lines.


(Walmart sells fabric for @$2-3 a yard so you can make these really inexpensively.)
Scissors
Coordinating thread
@ 2hrs

 Place the Polka Dot fabric on the ground polka dot side down. Smooth out any wrinkles.

 Place 2ND piece on top matching corners/edges facing right side up. Smooth wrinkles until it lays flat.

 Do the same with fabric facing right side up with 3RD piece


Do the same with Top fabric facing right side up. Smooth all.

 Trim your edges so they all match up. It would KILL the workers to cut them straight/even at the store at the time of purchase.


 Pin your layers together so they stay smooth and stay put.


 Flip that sucker over so the polka dots are facing up and get ready to sew your lines.
 
 Sew 5 straight lines in a row, connecting the polka dots.
  STOP.
Count out 5 rows of dots and skip them.


Begin sewing again on the 6Th dot, leaving a 5 dot gap in between each sequence of 5 lines sewn.


(Sew 5, Skip 5 Sew 5 Skip 5)


The larger your polka dots are the faster the quilt will be sewn. If the dots are smaller, thus there are more of them and they will be closer together, you'll be sewing more.

 As you sew a bit, say half your quilt, roll the sewn part up so you'll be able to fit it through the arm of your sewing machine and continue on with the rest of your quilt without all that bulk in the way.


 Once you've sewn all your lines, sew a 1.5-2 Inch seam around all the edges.



Sew a 2Nd seam 1/4 Inch apart from the first. Time to cut. This is the fun part.

You are going to cut alternating layers of fabric.

You're going to cut in between the lines you've sewn. Since you've sewn 5 lines, this means you'll make 4 cuts total, since you'll be cutting in between the lines.


Begin with cutting only the TOP LAYER, revealing the coordinating solid underneath.


Next Row: This time cut the top layer AND coordinating solid, revealing the next coordinating solid. 'bottom' or 'wrong side' of the polka dots. DO NOT CUT THROUGH THE BOTTOM LAYER or you will have ugly holes in your quilt hun.


You can make a pattern by cutting ONE piece, then TWO then ONE then TWO or whatever you can think up. It looks great even if you just cut them at random with no 'pattern'. JUST DON'T CUT THROUGH THE BOTTOM LAYER (DOTS)
 
 When you're finished cutting your lines, cut your edges. Don't cut through your seam.


Cut all the way around your quilt. This will create frayed edges once you wash and dry it.
Wash and Dry.


Isn't it cute?
I call it a Rip Quilt because of the 'Rips' that you cut through your seams.