It'd be beautiful in a beach house, or just when you think you're going to need a little beach in your life. This is a very simple project and you can use any panel that is going to start off about the same size. I would recommend ising a light gray for piecing the quilt. The light gray will blend very very well with all the light colors, but it will also blend in with the darker blues, so you won't have to continually change your thread.
Because this panel has definite lines, I'm going to use the printed lines, not the edge of the fabric, so it might not look like it's square, but it'll be square when we're done. Find a measurement that's going to be equal from that obvious border over, and trim all the way around. I was able to have " all the way around with this beige fabric. The next I want to add a larger border than what I need and trim it down to the right size.
This is now approximately 40" and this works out to be very close to 23". You will need to add a 3" to 5" border all the way around. That way we can trim it to the proper size, which is going to be 28" by 48". A really good border to put around is going to be a "wonky" border.
That's going to be something that does not have a very definite pattern. If I was to cut a piece off of this, your eye is not going to notice that that fabric is not straight anymore. So you need a pattern with Irregular shapes. With that wonky border on, you are not going to be able to notice when I trim it down.
After your wonky borders have been sewn on you can square this up to 28" by 48". What I like to do is match up some obvious marks. In this case it's going to be the beige frame. So I match up the two corners.
Smooth the fabric out so it lies flat. I'm going to take the measurement from the fold so this will be half the measurement. So I'm going to need 24". I like to use more than one ruler if I can.
The total measurement is going to come from here. 24" Up to this edge of the ruler. Even though I've counted to make sure that I'm right, I do like to take a tape measure and measure the rulers at 24". Now I'm able to trim off and straighten up the one edge.
Using this big square ruler as a guide, I'm able to move this ruler and cut off the edge. When it's opened up its going to equal 48". To trim the sides you're going to find the center of that panel. From that center line I'm going to measure over half.
By using the two rulers again you're going to take the big ruler and have one line following the fold. And then from your mark that is your center over you need to have 14". To test, I'm going to take the tape measure, put it on my center mark, over, make sure that I'm going to be able to trim at the 14" mark. Then I'm going to be able to do the same to the other side.
Now we have a perfectly squared-up panel. To do the border we are going to make a checkered border all the way around. We're going to need a total of yard of dark and yard of light. You can get this just from a bunch of fat quarters or you can do long strips.
Cut these into strips at 2" and keep your lights and your darks in two separate piles. Once the 2" strips have been cut you need to sew them together in strips sets of three, and you need to have light in the middle with the two dark on the outside, and dark in the middle with the two lights on the outside. You need equal amounts of the strip sets. So out of three fat quarters that are dark and three fat quarters that are light, once you make these strip sets you will need a total of twelve, so I have six of one and six of another.
Now we need to cut these into 2" strips. Once we have all our stacks we're going to be able to sew a light and a dark together. You're going to make four long strip sets of the dark and light together. The first set you're going to need fourteen of these little pieces for the top and the bottom of the quilt.
We're going to be able to add those on now. When you sew all the pieces together, on one end you're going to have two lights; on the other end you're going to have two darks. When you go to sew these borders on you're going to have to have two lights on one side, and the opposite side is going to be two darks, so at the end you're going to have opposite. Then when you go to match this border up, the colors are going to match perfect.
When the top and bottom piece borders are on you're going to be able to do the sides. You will need to sew thirty of these little strips together and that's going to give you the perfect size to match. You will be able to match up the patterns with the light and the dark being opposite, because on each end you have two lights, and on the other end you have two darks. So if it doesn't match, just flip it.
Match up your seams and sew the other two sides on. With those wonky borders on and the pieced border, your eye will never notice that that panel was never square. You will be able to now just continually add borders until you get to the size that you would like. This is a great method for fooling the eye.
Can you tell if that panel was crooked? With that wonky fabric and that pieced border it, definitely gives the illusion that it was very straight. Only you will know how straight it was. I do hope you give this a try. It is a quick and easy way to finish off a panel.
Thank you for joining me today on SewVeryEasy. Feel free to subscribe and, as always, come on back. Let's see what we're saying next time
in the sewing room. Bye for now!.
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