Quick and Easy Christmas Quilt Tutorial

Today I've got a great, very easy tutorial for you on making a quick quilt from charm packs! This is a great project for anyone new to quilting, and can be made with any fabric.



Supplies: 
3 charm packs of your choosing
Sewing machine, thread, bobbin, scissors
Backing fabric - two yards
Binding fabric - half yard
Batting - a piece at least 42"x 65"

Directions

Take the papers off of your charm packs. Holding them over the trash can, give them a good shake - this helps get all the little bits and fuzz off so you don't get them all over you! After their shake, place them in some type of basket or container. 

I usually use a larger basket than this, but this was what I had available. Mix them up, if possible. Choose 14 squares and set them aside. Make sure they are a variety of prints. 

Now you will start chain piecing your squares. Choose two squares and place them rights sides together, with the edges aligned. 

Sew your squares together with a 1/4" seam allowance. When you finish sewing one set of squares, place another set under your presser foot and continue sewing. Leave a small gap between sets. You don't have to stop and remove the first set of squares. Continue in this manner until all sets are sewn together. You will have one big long chain of pairs of squares. You should have 56 sets. Now you will trim the threads between the sets. I find a small pair of embroidery scissors works well for this, but you can use any scissors. Take care to not cut your fabric! 

Now you will do the same thing with your sets of two - choose one set, and another, place them together and sew them up, right sides facing and edges aligned. Chain piece your sets of two into sets of four. You will end up with 28 sets of four when you are finished. 

Carefully cut them apart as before. Now you will pair up your sets of four, and sew them together, right sides facing, edges aligned. Chain piece these sets. You will have 14 sets when you are finished. Trim them apart as before. 

Now grab those 14 squares we set aside. Sew one of those squares to either end of each of your rows of 8. You can chain piece these as well. Trim them apart as before. 

Lay out your rows and choose a pleasing arrangement. Press your seams - I like to press mine in opposite directions to 'lock' my seams and make them not as bulky when I am sewing my rows together. So I press one row of seams to the right, and the next to the left, continuing in this manner until all 14 rows have been pressed. 

Now you will sew your rows together. Take time to match your seams, and use pins to help you align things! Go slowly. There is room for adjusting if you've made small errors in piecing (which I always do!). Take your time - this is the most difficult part, I think!

When your rows are assembled into a top it is time to baste, quilt and bind! There are many many resources available for how to do any of these things. I like to pin baste (I would put at least one pin in each square), I quilted this quilt with diagonal lines through the corners of each square, and I use 2.5" or 2.25" binding strips. 

Now gift your quilt! This is a great way to give a special gift that doesn't take months to make. Two charm packs make a good size baby quilt as well!