chevron bandana quilt ? The Pleated Poppy

i recently received a shopping spree opportunity with ConsumerCrafts.com, an online craft store. ?it took me forever to decide what i wanted to buy because it was like walking around a craft store and being told, ?get whatever you want! ?what are you going to make with it??. ?kind of stressful, but oh so fun! ?the site is amazing and i had to focus on making a fun craft ? i kept getting distracted by all the supplies that would be great for a variety of homeschool activities.

since my strength is in sewing, i deciding to narrow my focus on something i could sew. ?i found the section with bandanas and was lured in by all the color options! ?and at 97 cents a piece, i was able to get a bunch! ? Consumer Crafts has amazing prices!

with us smack in the middle of soccer season, i thought we could always use another picnic blanket to throw on the grass for watching games. ?i really wanted to do a rainbow colored pattern, but decided to go much more masculine since 2/5 of my family members are of the male species ;) ?i chose navy, grey and white.

after making this quilt with a little strip of chevron on the back, i really have been wanting to do another on a larger scale.

i ordered 8 navy, 8 grey, and 3 white bandanas for this project.

materials needed:

21 bandanas

full size sheet for backing

quilt batting (i prefer warm ?n? natural brand)

thread

sewing machine, cutting mat, rotary cutter, and ruler

patience ;)

?1. ?first things first, wash and press the bandanas. ?and because bandanas are never truly square, i needed to even them up a bit. ?i followed a thin black line on the outer printed section of the bandana, measured an inch out and cut off whatever was beyond that.

2. ?next i cut the square into 2 triangles, cutting from one corner to the next, using the rotary cutter. ?its ok if it doesn?t line up perfectly straight since you?ll be squaring it up later.

3. & 4. ?cut the 2 triangles in half again, making a total of 4 smaller triangles from each bandana.

?1. ?see those angled lines on the cutting mat? ?i used those for the first time!

2. ?i stacked up the smaller triangles 4 at a time, lining up one corner and the base line. ?then i lined them up along that 45 degree line and whacked them off so they were all even.

3. ?then i turned the stack of triangles around and evened out the other side along the 45 degree line. ?then i did this to all the other bandanas.

?1. ?now comes the fun part! ?i just wanted one row of white chevron and then alternating rows of navy and grey. ?as you can see in the first pic, i basically made a bunch of squares out of all the triangles.

2. ?then when all the squares are lined up, they make rows or chevron stripes. ?now this is important: ?take a picture of this part! ?you?ll use it soon?

?1. ?now comes the sewing, and even though its a lot, it goes really fast. ?just a bunch of straight lines. ?first i sewed each of those squares, then set them right back on the ground in their place to make sure i kept the pattern in order.

2. ?once i sewed all the squares i pressed all the seams open.

3. ?then i layed them all out again in order (referring back to that picture i took earlier). ?then i stacked them all up in their rows.

4. ?working at my machine with my computer right next to me so i could refer to the picture, i started sewing all the squares together in strips.

1. ?next i pressed those seams open and then sewed all the strips together. ?then i pressed those seams open and voila! ?the quilt top is done!

2. ?i just wanted to show you a picture of the quilt batting i use. ?its so much softer than the yucky cheap batting. ?i used a 40% off coupon at my local fabric store.

3. ?i layed out the batting nice and flat, making sure that there were no wrinkles, then spread the quilt top (right side up) on top. ?i started at the edges and smoothed it out nice and flat.

4. ?then i trimmed the extra batting off and pinned the top to the batting at each triangle point. ?i pinned a ton because i didn?t want the batting to shift at all.

this next section is where i cheat as a quilter! ? i don?t like to bind quilts (ok, i?ve never bound a quilt!), so i figured out a way around that to finish the edges:

1. ?i bought this sheet set on sale at target ? it just went perfectly with the bandanas. ?i like to use sheets for quilt backs because they are inexpensive and huge! ?for an inexpensive option, you can get flat sheets at walmart.

2. ?now i spread the sheet out on the ground, face up, and layed the quilt top/batting on top, face down. ?i pinned the sheet to the top/batting around the edge. ?then i trimmed the extra sheet off.

3. ?starting in the middle of one edge, i used a slightly larger seam allowance (to make sure i captured all 3 layers) and stitched all around the edge, leaving a gap about 1 1/2 ? 2 ft wide.

4. ?see the opening? ?thats where i turned the quilt inside out. ?i was really careful to go slowly so i didn?t stab myself with the pins i had on the quilt top.

?1. ?i trimmed the excess fabric off the corners.

2. ?then i used a chopstick to poke out the corners. ?tools of the trade ;)

1. ?see the opening? ?i pressed the edges under while i was pressing all the edges of the quilt to make them nice and flat.

2. ?i stitched the opening shut using a really small seam allowance, going as close to the edge as possible.

3. ?then i topstitched all around the perimeter.

4. ?then i layed out the whole quilt flat again and repinned the pins that were still holding the quilt top to the batting so that they now went through all 3 layers. next i did what?s called ?stitch in the ditch? ? where i stitched down the middle of a seam. ?i did this along the chevron pattern so that on the backside of the quilt had a chevron pattern stitched in it.

last step: ?wash it! ?i love the way a quilt puckers and puffs when its been washed and dried a bunch of times.

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?right now consumer crafts is running a??Refer-a-Friend Contest?. who doesn?t love free crafts supplies?

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i wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with consumer crafts and blueprint social. the opinions in this post are my own.

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Source: http://thepleatedpoppy.com/2012/10/chevron-bandana-quilt/

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