You should have 16 of these created from sewing the 16 light half square triangles with the 16 dark half square triangles cut and set aside for the corner blocks.
Image7 |
CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS
Border & Corner blocks
- 16 light 2 1/2"half square triangles **** Probably already cut and sewn in Part 1 instructions ****
- 16 dark 2 1/2" half square triangles****
Probably already cut and sewn in Part 1 instructions ****
- border strips (2) 2" dark strips and (1) 1.5"
CUTTING THE STRIPS
I like to cut my border strips too big for the quilt. I like to be safer than sorry and anything
that is left over, I try and add to the back of the quilt or use somewhere else
like a pillow or something. I currently
do not own the strip cutter dies for the AccuQuilt Go product. If you had the 2” and the 1.5” strip cutter
dies, this would work great for you as well.
So, if your finished center measured approximate 50+” long and approx.
41+” wide, this is how I generally measure it.
Dark Strips Cut 2”
wide
Since I have two strips of dark on each side of the border, I would cut 3 strips of dark fabric the full length of my fabric width for each side of my quilt. This ends up being 12 strips of the dark fabric cut in total. This was not scraps. The fabric width is usually anywhere from 41-43” long.
I cut 4 strips in half and join each half piece to a full
size piece. This gives me approx. 8
strips at about 61” each of strip. I
know I’m about 10-20 inches too long. However,
I like to use the extra on the backs for use on a pillow in the future.
Light Strips Cut 1.5”
wide
Since I only have 1 strip of light fabric on each side of the border, I would cut 6 strips of light fabric the full length of my light fabric width for the whole quilt. Again, this was not scraps. The fabric width is usually anywhere from 41-43” long.
I cut 2 strips in half and adjoin each half piece to a full size piece. This gives me approx. 4 strips at about 61” each of strip. I know I’m about 10-20 inches too long. I like to use the extra on the backs for use on a pillow in the future.
ASSEMBLING THE BORDER
SIDES
Each side has 3 strips (2 dark and 1 light) 1.5 times the
length of your fabric width. Or
approximately 60” long.
Sew one light strip onto one dark strip right sides facing
each other. Open and iron the seam to
the dark side the whole length of the strip.
Now attach the second dark strip to the open side of the light strip
with right sides facing each other. Sew
the full length of the strip using a ¼ inch seam. When completed, open and iron the new seam to
the dark side of the fabric. Your top
and bottom of the strip will look like the sample below in image8 and image9
below. The borders should measure 4.5
inches wide when completed as in image10.
image8 |
image9 |
image10 |
Repeat this process 4 times to create a side border for each side of the quilt. Once ironed, set them aside.
ASSEMBLING THE BORDER
CORNER BLOCKS
Each corner block is made up of 4 dark and 4 light 2.5” half
square triangles which when sewn together above, gives you 4 half square
triangle squares. I use two different
types of corner blocks to represent the two different centers of the stars on
the quilt. You could very easily use all
4 blocks the same if you would like. The
two layout of square I use are positioned as such:
| ||||
In both cases, flip block B onto block A and sew right sides
together on the right side. Flip block D
onto block C and sew right sides together on the right side. You end up with two rows for each block. Reposition rows to match the photos
above. Flip AB row onto CD row and sew
right sides together. Make sure to match
up your seams and sew the right side to produce the matching blocks. You should repeat this until you have 2
complete blocks to match image11 and two complete blocks to match image12. Your blocks should finish out at 4.5” square.
ADDING THE BORDERS TO
THE QUILT CENTER
I add the left and right side borders first. These are straight basic seams adding the
border to the quilt right sides together.
Trim the top and bottom edges of the added border even with the quilt
center.
image13 |
On the last two borders (top and bottom), I trim one edge on
each border to have a straight edge to sew one of the corner stones to. I leave the rest of the border length and end
alone. I only use one pin on the seam of
the attached corner block to make sure it lines up with the seam of the left
border.
PLEASE NOTE: The following photo examples are from
another quilt I was working on. I did
not take pictures when I added the borders to my hunter’s star quilt. However, the process is still the same.
I stop sewing the top border all the way across the top and
stop about 3” away from the right side seam where the corner block should be.
I then measure with a ruler to mark ¼ inch past the right
border seam to know where to trim my newly added top border.
Then I trim the newly added
border on the line just marked. I
usually just cut with scissors while sitting at the sewing machine.
Next, I pin the last corner
block for the top border to the newly trimmed edge. Reposition this newly added block under the
machine and sew the corner block on to the attached border. This is why I leave about 3” not sewn on the
border. It allows me to rearrange the
quilt to get the border block under the needle to sew. Then I realign my border to my quilt with the
newly attached cornerstone, pin the seams and continue sewing the rest of the
border on.
When the top border is
attached, you’ll see the corner blocks match up perfectly.
REMEMBER: The border photo examples are from
another quilt I was working on. I did
not take pictures when I added the borders to my hunter’s star quilt. However, the process is still the same.
Repeat for the bottom border. However for the bottom border, I start on the
right side of the quilt first. This
allows me to have the border on the top of the quilt when I sew and the quilt bulk is to
the left of my machine. Just a
preference of mine. I try and use the
excess border strips for the back of the quilt or a matching quilt pillow. I hope these instructions allow you to make
a hunter’s star quilt as well. If you
have any questions or corrections, please feel free to contact me.
Thanks for stopping by!
~*~Trish~*~
sewcalgal linked me here for your hunters star pattern ... i had lost mine like this and was delighted to find it here. thanx muchly! i'll put it back on my to do list.
ReplyDeleteTrish, your tutorial was extremely helpful. Thank you for your explicit instructions and mentoring help for those of us who are new to quilting! -Sandra
ReplyDeleteThis is extremely helpful! Can I ask a question about pressing. You say to press the half square triangles to the dark side. What do you do with the other seams - where you are joining the top and bottom sections to create a block.....and when you sew your blocks together? I'm new to doing pieced blocks....I've mostly done strip quilting or applique....and I find knowing how to press my seams confusing. Now that I have my accuquilt, I want to give this a try! Thanks so much for these instructions! Your photos are so helpful! I want to make this quilt for my mother for Christmas!
ReplyDelete