Wednesday, July 3, 2013

16 patch tutorial.......

 I am using 2.5" strips of batik which doesn't have wide selvages so I can get 2 blocks out of every 2 strips sewn together.  You need enough contrast between the 2 strips that you know which one is the light fabric and which is the dark fabric of the pair.  Sew 2 strips, press the seam toward the dark fabric and then cut it into 2 equal pieces as shown. 

Sew them together and press the seam toward the dark fabric.

Slice it into 2.5" segments.  You should be able to get 8 (4 for each block) from batiks.






Flip strips 2 and 4 so colors alternate.  Make sure that every block has the light fabric in the upper left corner (very important).






Sew seams to make a block and press seams all in the same direction.








The last seams sewn in the blocks should be in a vertical position all through the quilt top.  Vertical seams on the top row go in one direction and row two in the opposite direction.  The crosswise seams will alternate direction automatically because they are all pressed to the dark.

You will probably need to enlarge this last photo by clicking on it to clearly see that seams are going opposing directions at every intersection in both directions.

14 comments:

Sewing Junkie said...

Good tutorial. Pressing and order are important. Makes sewing more fun if it all comes together well. Chris

Karen's Quilts from Cape Town said...

Thank-you Wanda, these are very useful instructions! Karen

Julierose said...

Thanks so much for this tutorial--love your methods...hugs, Julierose

suzan almond said...

What really helpful information ! I hope that you will permit me to pin it to my tutorials n=board on pinterest for future reference !
Many thanks, Suzan.

Impera Magna said...

Thanks for this tutorial! I've been thinking about making a 16-patch quilt and this will help a lot!


:)

Robin said...

I love your blog. It's the one I will read when i have only time for one. Thank you, for the pictures, the tutorials and all that you post. Love it. You are so generous and talented.

Plum Cox said...

I LOVE that you remind us to always keep a light in the top left hand corner. I can just imagine how irritating it would be to spoil the block pattern otherwise!
Thanks for the tute!

Sue said...

This is excellent!! Thank you very much. :)

Nancy J said...

Thanks Wanda, seeing it done in all the stages is great, and the colours show the seams so well. Cheers from Jean.

Nancy said...

Very helpful... this makes sense. Thank you!

O'Quilts said...

Good job Wanda...wish I could start something new...but de-cluttering here:)

JJM said...

Such a wonderful tutorial Wanda. And Tuesdays post was as intriguing as well. It is so great that we can go back and really study each post. I have a house full of company this week and will enjoy your blog soon as the dust settles.

JJM

Sue Malone said...

Thank you so much for your time to make the tutorial. I do love your blog very much, don't often comment because I hate to do that "thing" that just says "good blog", but just wanted to let you know I am another reader who appreciates what you do so much. Thank you.

Sylvia Anderson said...

Good morning Wanda......This tutorial is very much appreciated and I posted it to my pinterest page so I know where it is when I want to use it. Today begins the cookie and pound cake season for me, which will take me 5 or 6 days, allowing for the fact that standing for long periods is a problem. I really enjoy doing this and use a lot of it as gifts for Christmas. Hope we don't get too much snow. I like to ease into the snowy season and not get bombarded right away, although I think they're only predicting around an inch or so. Enjoy your day!