Friday, April 1, 2011

Diamond Quilt - A Tutorial

hexagonal, easy, fast, unique, cute, and sophisticated - this baby quilt is all the things!

I recently finished this version of the Diamond Quilt for my sister's new baby. I am in love! I love it's uniqueness and I really love that I was able to make it in about 7 hours. Not bad! I made this quilt almost 7 years ago for my sister-in-law also. Pictures of it follow and the tutorial was written then (I am in the process of updating it.) I hope you can use it to make your own unique quilt or play mat.

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As soon as I saw this quilt I knew I had to make one like it.  But the whole time I was cutting out diamonds I kept on thinking about Lone Star quilts and so this quilt was born.

(can you see one of our chickens?)

I LOVE this quilt.  It is on it's way to my new niece right now.  It was one of the hardest quilts to let go of.  I love pink and yellow together.


I pulled together quite a few lines to make it.  There is Bliss, Meadowsweet, Hunky Dory, Aunt Grace, Heather Bailey and some others that I forget.  I think I am going to make another one out of reds and whites to use as a tree skirt at Christmas.

Do you want to see how I made it?  Easy as pie.

Materials

To make a quilt that is approx. 24" on each side and 50" across the center, you will need to cut 90 diamonds.  You will need (15) 5" width of fabric (WOF) cuts for the quilt top.  

If you do 12 diamonds in each color, you will need 1/3 yard of 7 fabrics and 1/4 yard of another.

You will need:
6 diamonds for the 1st round
12  diamonds for the 2nd round
18 diamonds for the 3rd round and 
24 diamonds for the 4th round
30 diamonds for the 5th 

Keep on adding 6 for each round you want to do - go as big as you would like.  You could make it mixed up and scrappy like mine or do rounds of the same fabric.  

Cutting

diamond and hexagon shaped baby quilt play mat tutorial

Cut a strip of fabric from selvage to selvage (with of fabric - WOF) 5" inches wide.



Starting at the folded end, place the 60 degree line on the ruler along the length of your fabric.


Trim off the fabric to the left of the ruler.


Move the ruler an inch to the right. The trimmed left hand edge should be on the 1" mark and the top edge should still be on the 60 degree mark.


Cut along the right hand side of the ruler. Continue cutting diamonds in this manner until you reach the end of the strip. You will be able to get 6 diamonds out of each 5" strip.


Sewing


Lay out five rings of diamonds as desired.


Separate out a wedge of diamonds. We will sew each wedge together seperately.


Break each slice up into rows and sew each row together.


When sewing the diamonds together, don't line up the point of one with the edge of the other.  Overlap them a bit so that the point of one of the diamonds sticks out a bit.  They should cross 1/4" from the edge. You'll know they are lined up correctly, because the needle will hit right where they intersect as you sew them together with a 1/4" seam.

Iron the seam allowances in opposite directions for each row.


Sew the rows together.  I am  not usually a big pinner, but I pinned this at every block intersection.


To have your diamonds line up correctly, overlap the seams as shown above.  Can you see where the seams cross at the top?  The top of the cross should be 1/4 inch below the edge of the fabric.  I know, it sounds tricky, but it gets almost automatic the more you piece.


Repeat for all 6 wedges.


Sew three slices together.  Repeat for the other three slices.


Sew the two halves together.



Start pinning at the center.  This was the seam I had the hardest time with.  My diamonds did not all line up, but that is how it rolls sometimes.  The most important thing is to make sure the center diamonds intersect correctly, because that is where the eye is drawn.



Quilting:  Quilt as desired.  The tops of the diamonds will be cut off so you do not have to worry about having batting or backing all the way to the tips and do not have to quilt all the way to the tips.


Trim off the excess batting and fabric by cutting the tops of the diamonds off in a straight line.


Voila!  You have a hexagon quilt made out of diamonds.  Bind, wash and love!


 rose, pink, quilt, baby, baby shower, gold, quilted, easy quilt, quilt tutorial, quilt pattern, baby gift



52 comments:

  1. I love this quilt and the tutorial seems so easy. It will go into my I must try this folder.
    Thanks,

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  2. That is the best tutorial for a star quilt. I'm going to try it out right away !!! Thanks so much.

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  3. I love it and the colors are beautiful. I think I will modify it a bit to make a tree skirt. Thank you for the great tutorial!

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  4. This looks like great fun! You have made it look so simple to make such a complicated looking pattern. This is on my list of things to do for sure!

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  5. Love this! I figured there were "Y" seams in there somewhere! Thanks so much.

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  6. Thank you so much for such a brilliant tutorial! I will definitely be trying this quilt :) and following your blog too!

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  7. this is so pretty! :)

    I love the fabrics, and I like the 60 degree diamonds too.

    Won't it make a happy little tummy time quilt? :)

    (P.S. You should submit the idea to the Moda Bake Shop, maybe even as a tree skirt with a Christmas line... it's beautiful). :)

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  8. so so pretty - thanks for sharing - and I'd call it a Hexa-diam Star - it's HEXAgon shape overall - made out of individual DIAMonds and from the center out, each round looks like a STAR, which could be highlighted by using different intensities of fabrics (dark center, medium second round, light third round, etc).

    no matter what you call it - it's beautiful!

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  9. Definitely going on my to do list. LOVE IT!

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  10. I am in love with this! I am peeking at my fabric now seing if I can scroung one up. To me it looks like pink (and yellow) lemonade. Perhaps your name should be something about that? I have a fabulous recipe for Lemonade Stand Pie it is named...I think that title would suit this wonderfully. Love it, the colors, all of it! Thanks for sharing.

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  11. I'm just beginning the process of quilting and trying to read all the information I can before I get started. Please excuse my ignorance but what is WOF?

    Lisa

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  12. WOF = Width of Fabric

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  48. Hi Leila! I'd like to highlight this post on my linky next week (June 3rd) called: Tuesday Archives...the linky party that lets you rejuvenate OLD quilting posts according to a weekly theme. Next week one of our themes is DIAMOND quilts. Stop by and check things out and let me know! THANKS! Val from myplvl.blogspot.com

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  49. Great!

    Thank you for sharing this, Leila. I am making a maxi jean skirt with diamond insert panels at the front and back. I had not a clue how to sew them together properly. Now, I do.

    Cheers,

    Lyric
    http://www.sewlyricallyvintage.wordpress.com

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  51. Still a wonderful quilt. I hope to make it. Just subscribed to your blog.

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  52. what a sweet quilt I hope its going to the baby she looks like a sweetie

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