Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Twisted Ribbon Rainbow Tuturial Part 2

Alright, by now you should be ready to start constructing the main part of the quilt. 

But first - MEA CULPA!!!  I have to start off by making a correction to the first part of the tutorial. 

It involves the third diagonal row of purple squares.  I realized that if I had followed the pattern, it should have been three dark purples and one light purple square, so I have amended my directions.  You absolutely don't have to go back and correct this if it doesn't bother you; but I'm rather annoyed by it and wish I had caught it, so here is what to do to correct it:

Light Purple:  16 total  2 1/2" squares and 19 total half-square triangles (10 white 2 7/8" squares and 10 light purple 2 7/8" squares)

Dark Purple:  17 total 2 1/2" squares and 14 total half-square triangles (7 2 7/8" white squares and 7 2 7/8" dark purple). 

I apologize sincerely; I didn't even notice the pattern mistake until I was looking at it today, sadly.   In case you have already cut up all the squares and don't have any fabric left, I will also give the directions for the first way, too.  

Now, back to the tutorial!   

It's a little tricky to keep everything in order, and I had some seriously frustrating moments, so I'm going to share with you some tips on how I finally made it a little easier.  

1. Line up all the squares and HST's by color in order of the rows diagonally. Put the squares next to the HST's. 


 (Please note that I am using leftover squares and don't have all the colors; this is just to give you an idea of how it looked on my table.

The order would go like this:


  •  light blue (LB), dark blue (DB)*
  •  light green (LG), dark green (DG
  •  light orange (LO), dark orange (DO
  •  light purple (LPP), dark purple (DPP)
  •  light red (LR), dark red (DR)
  •  light yellow (LY), dark yellow (DY)
  •  light pink (LPI), dark pink (DPI)
*Note the abbreviations next to the colors, I use these in the directions for sewing the rows below.


2. Pick up the squares according to the sewing directions below laying them kitty korner so they would be easy to pick up.  Each stack will have 19 squares and look something like this**:  




It's quite important to pay attention to the direction of the white of the HST's ; I messed up here several times!  They should go (and pay attention to the direction of the slashes too): white/color; solid square; color/white; solid square




**I only did about three to four rows at a time because I didn't want to have to mark them all, but you can pick up all the horizontal rows ahead of time and mark them with a piece of paper and put a pin through the stack.  I suggest putting a pin ALL the way through top and from the bottom of the stacks to hold them together.  (Learned this the hard way! ;) **

3. Sew the squares together by twos, using a scant quarter inch seam and stringing them together, in order. 







4. Cut them out and lay them on top of each other in reverse order with the first two squares on the bottom.  Be extra careful to keep them in them in the right direction! Since there is an odd number, the last one in the string has three squares instead of two.

5. Flatten or iron the seams out.  I did it open.  Yes I said open!  You can certainly flatten or iron one row all one direction and the next row the opposite direction and have the seams nest up against each other, but there are a lot of seams and I found it a pain, so for me, I just opened them all flat and matched them exactly - obviously, do whatever works best for you. ;)  

 I used this excellent roller tool, but you can iron them if you don't have this handy thing.




Just make sure you keep them in reverse order, with the row of three on the top. (If it doesn't bother you to not have them flat, you can skip this step and just sew the two-squares all together and then iron the entire row at once.)

6.  Now you have 8 joined two-squares and 1 row of three.  Starting with the row of three, begin to sew them together, adding to the left side of the three rows.  Pay attention and make sure you are never sewing whole squares next to whole squares or HST next to HST; that means you have switched the order OR flipped your two-squares upside down. 


7. Once you have a row sewn together, iron it and put it on your design wall. (I personally use a lot of starch to keep everything crisp, but it's up to you whether this works for you.) 

8. Sew together, row by row, pinning often and being extra careful to line up the seams, until you 10 rows sewn together.   Then start with row eleven and sew the next nine rows to each other row by row. 

9.  Last, sew the top half with 10 rows to the bottom half with 9 rows.  You now have most of the top complete, Hooray!

Here is the order for sewing the rows.  Please note that the rows are sewn horizontally, so it will look a little strange at first because you'll have all these seemingly random patterns on the first row or so. Remember the pattern is square, HST, square, HST - you should never be sewing a square next to a square!  


****Important to Note: Boldface below indicates a solid square.****  

 PLEASE NOTE: The first set of directions gives the sewing order for following the correct pattern of light/dark with the purples.  If you did NOT go back and cut the number of purples in today's instructions (meaning you kept the first number of purples given in the last tutorial) AFTER Row 15 below, skip down to the directions for Rows 16-19 on the bottom.  

If you DID re-cut the purples, just follow these directions below. And again, sorry for the mistake!


 Sewing Order for Twisted Ribbon Rainbow:

Row 1: LB,DB,LG,LO,DO,LO,LPP,LR,DR,LR,LY,DPI,LPI,DPI,DB,LG,DG,LG,LO

ROW 2: DG,DG,DG,LO,DPP,DPP,DPP,LR, DY,DY,DY,DPI,LB,LB,BL,LG,DO,DO,DO

ROW 3: LG,LO,DO,LO,LPP,LR, DR,LR,LY,DPI,LPI,DPI,DB,LG,DG,LG,LO,LPP,DPP

ROW 4: DG,LO,DPP,DPP,DPP,LR,DY,DY,DY,DPI,LB,LB,LB,LG,DO,DO,DO,LP,DR

ROW 5: DO,LO,LPP,LR,DR,LR,LY,DPI,LPI,DPI,DB,LG,DG,LG,DO,LPP,DPP,LPP,LR

ROW 6: DPP,DPP,DPP,LR,DY,DY,DY,DPI,LB,LB,LB, LG, DO,DO,DO,LPP,DR,DR,DR

ROW 7: LPP,LR,DR,LR,LY,DPI,LPI,DPI,DB,LG,DG,LG,LO,LPP,DPP,LPP,LR LY,DY

ROW 8: DPP,LR,DY,DY,DY,DPI,LB,LB,LB,LG,DO.DO,DO.LPP,DR,DR,DR,LY,LPI

ROW 9: DR,LR,LY,DPI,LPI,DPI,DB,LG,DG,LG,LO,LPP,DPP,LPP,LR,LY,DY,LY,DPI

ROW 10: DY,DY,DY,DPI,LB,LB,LB,LG,DO,DO,DO,LPP,DR,DR,DR,LY,LPI,LPI,LPI

ROW 11: LY,DPI,LPI,DPI,DB,LG, DG,LG,LO,LPP,DPP,LPP,LR,LY,DY,LY,DPI,DB,LB

ROW 12: DY,DPI,LB,LB,LB,LG,DO,DO,DO,DPP,DR,DR,DR,LY,LPI,LPI,LPI,DB,DG

ROW 13: LPI,DPI,DB,LG,DG,LG,LO,LPP,DPP,LPP,LR,LY,DY,LY,DPI,,DB,LB,DB,LG

ROW 14:LB,LB,LB,LG, DO,DO,DO,LPP,DR,DR,DR,DY,LPI,LPI,LPI,DB,DG,DG,DG

ROW 15: DB, LG, DG,LG,LO,LPP,DPP,LPP,LR,LY,DY,LY,DPI,DB,LB,DB,LG,LO,DO

*ROW 16: LB,LG,DO,DO,DO,LPP,DR,DR,DR,LY,LPI,LPI,LPI,DB,DG,DG,DG,LO,DPP

ROW 17: DG,LG,LO,LPP, DPP,LPP,LR,LY,DY,LY,DPI,DB,LB,DB,LG,LO,DO,LO,LPP

ROW 18: DO,DO,DO,LPP,DR,DR,DR,LY,LPI,LPI,LPI,DB,DG,DG,DG,LO,DPP,DPP,DPP

ROW 19: LO,LPP,DPP,LPP,LR,LY,DY,LY,DPI,DB,LB,DB,LG,LO,DO,LO,LPP,LR,DR


Now for the directions if you did NOT go back and cut new purple squares.  


*ROW 16: LB,LG,DO,DO,DO,LPP,DR,DR,DR,LY,LPI,LPI,LPI,DB,DG,DG,DG,LO,LPP

ROW 17: DG,LG,LO,LPP, DPP,LPP,LR,LY,DY,LY,DPI,DB,LB,DB,LG,LO,DO,LO,DPP

ROW 18: DO,DO,DO,LPP,DR,DR,DR,LY,LPI,LPI,LPI,DB,DG,DG,DG,LO,LPP,LPP,LPP

ROW 19: LO,LPP,DPP,LPP,LR,LY,DY,LY,DPI,DB,LB,DB,LG,LO,DO,LO,DPP,LR,DR



Here is a photo of the quilt.  Print it out and use it, it will help!






Is it rather challenging?  I'm not going to lie - yes it is.  But YOU CAN DO IT!  Just remember, it's the doing, not the finished product.  Be in the moment and don't try to rush, and it will go smoothly. If you get frustrated, stop and come back another time. ( And remember, I speak from experience because I didn't follow my own advice - see my blog titled " These are not my pillows..."   

These directions will be here, floating in cyber space, whenever you need them.  It's not worth not having fun. 

And please, please, please let me know if you have questions, I promise I will answer asap!


 Next time, adding the white borders and the last two rows and putting it all together.

   





No comments:

Post a Comment