Easy Squares

I have a lot of things to do.

That being said, I am always looking for ways to maximize my minimal amount of time in a day. Thus, I give you ... easy squares. This is a good way to do watercolor quilts. It allows you to see where colors will be before you sew them down.

You will need ...
1" gridded Pellonsquares of fabric (I used 2" squares)
1 hot iron

I always start out with a drawing or a computer generated image of what I'm making. I quickly made a pattern of what my finished product would look like.




Then lay your Pellon sticky glue bumps up. Arrange your squares where you want them. Be sure to keep them in the grid lines. Press to anchor them down (only on the fabric squares!).




I just mark the squares off as I go to keep track of where I'm at. Follow?




This is my layout before sewing. Notice that there are very few and slim lines of the white Pellon showing through. Never fear, this will be caught up in your seam allowances.




This is a pic of the back. Can you see the grid lines? Because you have used squares, the next step will be very easy.




Working from the back, fold over on a "seam" or the edge of a row of squares. Sew down the entire length of the piece.




Then repeat all of the vertical "seams". It should look like this when you are done.




This is a view from the front. All of the vertical seams have been sewn. Sidenote: I suppose this is what it would look like to Dumbo after he drank the bath water! *wink*




Then, again working from the back, sew all of the horizontal seams. Some of you might prefer to press all of the seams the same way. I am lazy ... lots to do you know? I just make sure when I come to a seam that I flip it to face the same way. Sew all the horizontal seams across the whole piece.




Finished result. An easy way to do squares. If you are making alot of these "gridded" pieces and you're not sure when you will get around to stitching them ... the Pellon holds your squares in place until you are ready to sew. Tadah! The magic of Pellon!


This is going to be a wall hanging for one of my teaching colleagues. He is an Ohio State nut. This will hang on his door. I just have to sweet talk my mother into embroidering his name on the top.