deep blue sea baby quilt tutorial

I am excited to share this tutorial with you today.  This quilt is pretty quick to put together and is a great introduction to curves since these are pretty easy.  You can read more about the quilt in my original post here.

If you have any questions or if you make your own, I would love to hear from you!

Cutting Instructions

When cutting your shapes it is faster to leave your fabric folded in half. 

Kona Navy - 

• Cut 1 strip 4.25" x WOF.  Subcut into (4) 4.25" x 10".  
• Cut 1 strip 7.5" x 40"

Kona Celestial, Cyan, Capri, and Aqua - 

• Cut 1 strip 6.25" x WOF.  Subcut into (4) 4.25" x 10".
• Cut 1 strip 4.25" x WOF.  Subcut into (4) 6.25" x 10".

Kona Sky -

• Cut 1 strip 6.25" x WOF.  Subcut into (4) 6.25" x 10".
• Cut 1 strip 3.5" x 40".  

You can download the templates for the quilt here (the original link was incorrect, if you downloaded it before the afternoon of 8/26 you should re-download).  Make sure that when you print that you printer is set to 100% and not "scale to fit."  You will know if you have printed the correct size because the template should be the same size as your cut fabric like the photos below.  If you have trouble getting the file to download to the correct size just send me an email and I can send you the file.  (This type of template is very easy and quick to make in EQ7.  You can read more about my thoughts on EQ7 here.)

Once you have your templates cut, place them onto your fabric.  The "A" template goes with the 6.25" x 10" pieces and the "B" template goes with the 4.25" x 10" pieces.  If you left your fabric folded in half you can leave the pieces together to cut 2 templates at a time.

Since 3 sides of your template are already cut, all you need to do is cut the curve.  You can either use a marking tool (I like Frixion pens) and then cut the curve with scissors or you can cut very carefully with your rotary cutter.

Piecing the curve

There is definitely more than one way to piece curves.  I like to use pins so that is the method that I am going to demonstrate.

You are going to piece 20 total curves.  Sew the "B" Navy pieces with the "A" Celestial pieces, the "B" Celestial pieces with the "A" Cyan pieces, and so on.

Fold the pieces in half and pinch it to crease on both the A and B pieces.

They should look like this.

Line up the creased marks on the A and B pieces and pin.
And then piece at each end of the curve.

Now this part is a little tedious, but it doesn't take that long and it makes sewing the curve go pretty quickly.  You want to use enough pins to make the edges of the A and B pieces line up all the way along the curve.  Be careful not to stretch the fabric as you pin.

It should look like this.

When you piece the curve just go slowly and remove the pins as you go.  You might want to lift up your presser foot occasionally to adjust the fabric.  

Once your you have pieced the curve, it should look like this.

Very carefully press the seam toward the darker fabric 

And you have just pieced a curve!  Pat yourself on the back.

Once you have all of your curves pieced you are going to sew them together into rows.  Since your fabric may have gotten a tiny bit wonky when you sewed your curves, match the curved seam first and pin.  Then if the top or bottom of the blocks didn't quite match up it will be less noticeable.  

When I sewed together the rows I pressed my seams open but you can do whatever you prefer.

Once you have sewn your rows you can sew the rows together.  Sew the 3.5" Sky strip to the top of the quilt and the 7.5" Navy strip to the bottom.  Your strips are a little wider than the quilt, but this way you can trim the edges to make them nice and straight.

Baste, quilt, and bind as desired.

Finished size: 38" x 48"