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Vintage Twist Baby Quilt & Tutorial

As luck would have it, I happened across a beautiful vintage quilt on Pinterest which had been posted by Barbara Brackman, renowned antique quilt expert and author. The quilt was a beautiful 1930’s vintage quilt with an unusual design.

Upon closer Inspection I realised that the angles were set at 60° ( I believe). The vertical rows were inversely related to each other. It was obvious that the only way that this quilt could be made was by hand piecing.

You can view this quilt here on her blogspot.

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2016/11/threadneedle-street-free-pattern-for.html

It nevertheless stayed in the back of my mind. I thought about creating a quilt in a similar style but in a fraction of the time.

Obviously the 60° angle is the major determinant/deterrent of the quilt design. Then it struck me that by using a 90° angle, but set at 45°, I could create a similar style quickly.

At this point I should mention that I now considered using a Seminole style of design in order to achieve just that.

Seminole Patchwork involves using the same design but offsetting it repeatedly so that in itself it becomes the design. So that’s what I decided to do. Of course I now contemplated as to how that could be achieved in a timely fashion.

Now, when a dear colleague of mine became pregnant with her first child, I knew that this design would be perfect for her first child.

Of course it goes without saying that it had to be scrappy! In addition to this I chose a palette of fabrics which echo the depression era style fabrics. That is that they are all of limited colour range for each print and mostly a mix of happy pastels and brights. Many modern fabrics possess these characteristics presently.

I used 30 different prints and a pale lemon for the background fabric.

Although I have made this as a baby quilt, it is long enough to cover an adult body. This means it will be a terrific lap quilt, or one which can be used for many years to come.

Finished quilt size 34 1/2” x 64 1/2”. All seams based on 1/4”. Read all instructions before commencing. All fabrics were washed and lightly pressed before cutting.

This is how I went about it.

Here is an image of my 30 differing prints.

Requirements for one Vintage Twist Quilt

90 of 6 1/2” x 2 1/2” oblongs of printed fabrics. (3 from each print). These can be cut from 2 1/2″ strips.

40 of 2 1//2” x 2 1/2” squares also cut from the printed fabrics

80 of 6 1/2” x 2 1/2” oblongs cut from the background fabric (I used a pale lemon homespun)

Construction

Keep 30 of the 6 1/2” x 2 1/2” printed oblongs aside for the border (one of each print).

Make 20 strips from the remainder pieces. To do this begin with a 2 1/2”x 2 1/2” square. Join a background 6 1/2” x 2 1/2” oblong to one side. Now join a 6 1/2” x 2 1/2” print oblong to the background oblong. Follow with a background oblong, then a print oblong, background oblong, print oblong, background oblong then finish with a 2 1/2” x 2 1/2” square. This will yield a strip which is 46 1/2” x 2 1/2”.

Repeat to make 20 strips altogether the in the same manner.

Lay out the pieces at 45 degrees offsetting each strip as shown above. Ensure no two same fabrics are together.

Sew the strips together in groups of four or five panels, offsetting each row by 2”. Alternate the direction of sewing for each row to prevent bowing of the quilt.

Now the quilt should look like this. It’s a parallelogram.

Now for the magic.

Count up 11 squares from the lower left hand side. Pin mark from the bottom right square across to the top of the 11th square on the left hand side. I hope you can see the pin line in the above photo.

Take the whole piece to the cutting mat. Very carefully cut along that pin marked line.

Now move the piece that has just been cut off, to the top of the quilt as pictured above. Sew it together in the same manner as the previous panel pieces.

Now construct the borders using the remaining 30 of 6 1/2” x 2 1/2” oblong prints. Sew 5 pieces end to end and make a strip. Repeat to make a second strip. Sew 10 pieces end to end. Repeat to make a second strip.

Carefully pin the two strips of 5 evenly to each of the short ends of the quilt top. Please bear in mind that at this point we are dealing with bias edges so be careful not to stretch them. Sew on. Now carefully add the two long strips of 10 to each long side of the quilt. Check as you pin that the points will be nice after the border is sewn on. Sew carefully. Trim the excess scrap triangles after the border is sewn on. Press.

Now here is the Vintage Twist ready for quilting. I quilted this quilt on a vintage treadle, a Singer 31K20.

I quilted Lily of the Valley Flowers. Here is the link to the tutorial.

Free Motion Lily of the Valley Treadle Quilting Tutorial