Farewell Folk Sampler Sew Along
Well this is sure bittersweet! It’s been so lovely to do this Folk Sampler Sew Along with you all. Thank you for joining and for all the astoundingly beautiful work you have created. I know for certain that without this project I would not have given myself time to spend a few hours in the studio every week through the bustling farm season. This sew along commitment showed me that the time is there if I take it. An hour here and there over a span of 20 weeks became enough blocks to make 2 quilts.
If you’ve made a quilt before you’re familiar with the final steps in transforming these blocks into a finished quilt. Many of you have reached out to say that this is your first quilt (yay!!) and have asked for guidance in these final process steps. I will walk you through these finishing steps and link you to previous tutorials I’ve published much like I did in the block tutorials. You’ve got this!
So you have your 20 beautiful quilt blocks! The next step is to sew them together to form a quilt top, and then there are a handful of further steps to transform the quilt top into a finished quilt. I’ll begin by making a list of the final processes in chronological order, then I’ll walk you through each step. I highly recommend you read through my Nine-Patch Tutorial post at this point because it will give you a clear understanding of the first three steps on our list.
Make a quilt top
Make a quilt back
Make a quilt sandwich & baste it
Hand quilt
Bind your quilt
Make a Quilt Top
In this step we will first commit to a block lay out and then sew all the blocks together. If you have a design wall you can arrange the blocks on the wall and move them around until you’re happy with the flow. If you don’t have a design wall lay your blocks out on the floor. We have 20 blocks so make 5 horizontal rows made up of 4 blocks each. Whether the blocks are on the wall or the floor, use your phone to snap photos as you play around with arranging them differently. Seeing the blocks in their reduced form on your phone really helps to see things that you might miss by looking at them as their actual size.
Our sampler quilt example has red sashing which frames each block. The sashing in our example is pretty narrow—I’m guessing it’s about an inch wide. The following instructions are for a 1 1/4” wide sashing. Sashing is optional so if you’d rather not add it that’s totally fine. If you do want to add sashing you can audition different color options by laying your blocks out on different fabric colors to see how they look. You will need approximately 1 yard of sashing fabric. Once you commit to a color it’s time to cut your sashing.
Cut
30 squares: 1 3/4”
49 rectangles: 1 3/4” x 12 1/2”
Once your sashing is cut lay out the blocks and sashing pieces as shown in the diagram below. As you can see I did not make an illustration for each block. This is because I’m short on time and more importantly because I didn’t want to influence your decision in sewing your blocks together. Sewing a quilt top together is the same process as sewing a quilt block together. Sew the pieces together to form 11 horizontal rows. Press the seams open or to the side if you prefer. Then sew the rows together being careful to match the seams by pinning. Press the seams open or to the side if you prefer. And there you will have yourself a quilt top!
Finished quilt top size: 54 1/4” x 67 1/2”
Make a Quilt Back
If you would like your quilt back to be one continuous piece of fabric you can purchase 2 yards of 60” wide fabric. I often piece my quilt backs to use up fabric remnants. In my book Farm & Folk Quilt Alchemy I share my best tips for making pieced quilt backs and I share several photos of my favorite quilt backs as examples. Make your quilt back slightly larger than your quilt top. Somewhere around 57” x 70” is good.
Make a Quilt Sandwich
Once you have your quilt top and quilt back complete it’s time to make a quilt sandwich. Refer to my Nine-Patch tutorial for step by step photos of this process, or refer to the detailed quilt sandwich tutorial in section 4 of my book. A quilt consists of three layers: a quilt top, batting, and a quilt back. Begin by pressing your quilt back, then tape it to a hard surface such as a wooden floor. Cut your batting the same size as your quilt back and place it on top of the quilt back being sure to smooth out all the wrinkles. Any type of batting will work. I prefer organic cotton or wool batting and I share my favorite sources on the Resource page at the back of my book. Now center your quilt top on top of the batting layer with the right side facing up. Smooth out all the wrinkles. As explained in my book and in my Nine-Patch tutorial, if you would like to mark quilting guidelines this is the time to do it. Once your quilting guidelines are marked use safety pins to pin the 3 layers together spacing them roughly 6 inches apart. Remove the tape and your quilt sandwich is ready to be quilted.
Hand Quilt
The next step is to sew the three layers together. This can be done either by machine or by hand. If you would like to machine quilt I recommend heading over to YouTube where you’re bound to find many tutorials. I prefer to hand quilt and I shared a detailed hand quilting tutorial in my book Farm & Folk Quilt Alchemy which can be purchased from your favorite book seller. Be sure to check out my story highlight titled “🧵Tutorial” on Instagram where I share a hand quilting video tutorial. In that video series I also share my favorite threads, needles, and tools for hand quilting. My Instagram username is @farmandfolk.
Bind your Quilt
The final step in the quilt making process is to bind the raw edges of the quilt. You will need approximately 1/2 yard of fabric. Head over to my Quilt Binding Tutorial or follow the one in my book. Savor that final hand stitch when you get to it then take a bow and give yourself a pat on the back. A finished quilt is something to be deeply proud of!
If you have any questions please ask in the comment section below for all to reference. Please be sure to share photos of your work on Instagram using the hashtag #folksamplersewalong. I can’t wait to see your quilts come together. Eeeeeep!! I’ll be sure to share photos on IG as my quilts come together and I’ll also publish a blog post about them as well. It’s truly been a great pleasure working on this project with you all and I hope you will join me for another sew along in the future. I have a series of natural dye posts that I’m working on next so please check in here next week if you’re interested in natural dye recipes. Leaving you today with so much gratitude!
