Diamond Quilt - A Tutorial

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

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!