So, we have had a very busy few weeks at the Pattern Poole studio. We received our first ever paid collaboration on YouTube from Spotlight which was really exciting! Spotlight has a younger audience of crafty/thrifty people and we have also noticed a lot of new members joining our Facebook group who have never made a quilt before. Therefore, we decided to take this opportunity to create an extremely easy, modern quilt as you go quilt from start to finish to hopefully capture the interest of some of the next generation of modern quilters in Australia and to also gift a free pattern to our wonderful existing audience, (you)! Also, did we mention I made this quilt in a week?
So meet The Pattern Poole String Quilt!
(Free PDF pattern at the bottom of this post)
This quilt is super easy, fun, and simple. It is perfect for beginners who have never made a quilt before but it is also perfect for more advanced quilters looking to transition into quilt as you go or looking for a quick and easy quilt design to make up for charity/gifts! Other reasons you will love making this quilt are: 1. It is only the one-block design keeping it really simple!
2. It is a stitch and flip block so you are piecing and quilting at the same time.
3. Historically string quilts were made from scraps of fabrics or strings, sewn together to form a stunning geometric pattern. Because they were made from scraps, not all points lined up. Therefore, it doesn't matter if yours don't, however, we designed it so your navy and white strips will easily line up drawing the eye to the diamond design giving you peace of mind!
4. It is quilt as you go using my Easy Cover Strip Method on the back. This is my easiest quilt as you go method which is perfect for beginners and it's fully machine sewn.
5. It has a fully machine-sewn binding.
6. The cover strips on the back give the opportunity to make it reversible so you can use lots of different backing fabrics and make two quilts in one.
You can watch that video here:
In the video, I show how to join the blocks together. However, this is unlike any other quilt as you go video we have ever done before as we show how to join the entire quilt together. I use my easy cover strip method with the joining strips on the back and start by showing how to join two blocks together. Then I show how to join blocks to form a row and how to join those rows together. I also give a lot of tips for joining a full quilt together quilt as you go and can recommend this video to every quilter interested in seeing more about my quilt as you go process.
With the binding, we ran out of fabric so I had to invent a new machine-sewn binding method on the fly. This binding method is suitable for quilts joined together using my easy cover strip method on the back. It looks like a regular binding on the front but is 1" wide on the back to tie in with the width of the cover strips on the back of the quilt.
Here is the free pattern for you to download and get started:
We really hope you enjoy this project! You can use this string quilt design to make your own stitch and flip blocks with strips in any size you like.
If you have just found us, we are Pattern Poole, a Mother (Monica) and Daughter (Alaura) design team from Australia, we have a fantastic YouTube channel with almost 60 free quilting tutorials, a supportive Facebook group and a website that has a giant pool of sewing patterns.
We hope that you enjoy our latest video!