Charm-ing Chevron Tutorial

Zig Zags are so HOT right now, are they not?  I think I could go dizzy walking the aisles of Target with how much I see them.  Still, they are so fun and timeless.  Everyone needs a touch of Chevron in their home.  Even me!

Back in January I posted about going to my first Quilt Show, here.  And I picked up this lovely 6" Charm Pack of Reproduction prints with out a hint of what I would do with them.  99 prints = scrap quilt I guess, but what kind of pattern?   Then I saw the quilt pattern 40s Chevron by McCall's.  

40s Chevron by McCall's

 

I contemplated for months how to cut up the charms since they were only 6".  I knew I'd have to break a few rules.

Since I didn't have the same size fabric available for the pattern I ended up coming up with a plan of my own using what I had to make the half squared triangles.   I thoughtfully paired prints that would both compliment and contrast each other.  Its possible too much thought went into this step;-)  Running out of options, left me with a couple blocks I don't particularly like, but thats fine, its a scrap quilt, right!?!

Anyway, taking the first two blocks I layered them right sides together.  You can do this two ways.  Sew along all four outside edges, then cut from corner to corner.  And then corner to corner again.  I know this isn't the best technique in quilting.  But, again its a scrap quilt, so I said to myself, "what the hey!"  Not every block turned out super square, but I just tried to not let that bother me this time around.

Option two is to cut corner to corner first then sew your 1/4" seam along the longest edge of each triangle sandwich.  Either way you get the same result.

Next press seams open trying not to stretch the material.  Trim your dog ears, and square up the half square triangles as best you can. 

Next lay your chevron out the way you want it to appear.  Sew the top two HST together first, then the bottom two.  Press seams open for the least amount of bulk. 

Now sew the top and bottom rows together.  I pinned in this step, using the center as my guide to align the top and bottom rows.  Press seam open.  Be sure to square up, trimming off any irregularity. 

Here is my first finished block.  

Honestly, I wasn't loving the scrappy randomness of these prints at first.  The prints were a little busy for my taste, so I grabbed a few 30s Kona solids (lapis, bubblegum, canary, black, red, and turquoise) to give the eyes a bit of a rest.  It'd be too busy if not for the solids.  You'll see...

Up next I'll have my quilt top to share with you.

hugs,

lindsay