DIY Block Design

I had this flash of an idea in my head recently and I knew I wanted to sew it up. Immediately if possible.

The idea was a low volume quilt with rainbow “bites” throughout the patchwork. There was nothing terribly innovative about it, but as someone who usually sews from a tutorial or pattern I needed some help to get my measurements right.

Enter my quilting and blogging buddy Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts, who is the go-to quilting maths whiz. She’s got a talent for quilt design and the maths behind it, and has just published an extremely helpful e-book called DIY Block Design. If you have an idea for a quilt design but are not sure how to bring it to life, this is the book for you.

I decided to give it a go in a small scale for my first try. (Small patchwork is HARD. I find accuracy very difficult to achieve.) As you can see, each square or mini block within is a low volume square with a small coloured triangle. Not quite a HST, but just a ‘bite’ of colour. Alyce’s book gives a full run down on HST sizing, and I was able to use that information and adjust it to cut my coloured pieces at the right size for the effect I wanted.

I love the outcome and I think I will quilt and bind this as a mini to hang in my sewing area, but use Alyce’s sizing references to scale it up and make a large quilt next time. It would make a great cot quilt – I love a rainbow palette for a baby.

Thanks Alyce for such a great reference. It’s a book I’ll go back to again and again. You can check out all the details here and see all the fantastic quilt inspiration and designs popping up on instagram using #diyblockdesign and there are weekly challenges happening on #mydiyblockdesign. You can also follow Alyce @blossomheartquilts .

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