Mincraft Quilt. Quilting for Beginners!!

MINECRAFT CREEPER QUILT

    Ok this was something that I made as a gift, I've always wanted to learn how to quilt, but never really learned. My Grandmother was a fantastic quilter so I did have some knowledge in sewing machines. This quilt was actually super easy to make, I was really surprised; I made it in 3 days!!
You don't have to do this face like it did, you can do any pattern or color! It's the same technique. INVOLVES A LOT OF MATH!!!

Hard Part First

(Math)

    The first thing you'll need to do is decide how big you wan't your quilt to be and how big you want your squares to be. The one I made is 16 squares across the top and 11 squares down. Which is a total of 176 squares. My squares are each about 3.5 inches.

    To figure out what size you want (smaller is better for first timers) take 16 squares times 11 squares ( or how ever many you want as the length and width) This equals 176 total squares, divide this number until you get an even number. I used 4 and got 44 which means I should cut each of my squares 4X4 inches.
    Then you need to decide how many colors you want to use in your quilt. Because I have the face in the middle made of black squares, I take how many will be black (20) and subtract it from the total number of squares. 176-20= 156. You want to have the same amount of each color so take that number, 156, and divide it until you get an even number. I used 6 because it equals 26. This then tells you that you will use 6 different colors each with 26 squares.
    Now you know that you will have 6 different colors and 26 squares of each. take 26 X 4 (4in was the length of each square) this equals 104. divide this by 36 (36 inches in a yard) and you get almost 3. This means you will need at least 3 yards of every color. You add the face you will need about a yard and a half of black.
    As for the black border around the quilt, I bought a single sheet from Walmart that was larger than my actual quilt for the back, then I used the extra around the edges for the boarder.
    If you are unsure of how much fabric to get, it's better to get to much (go half a yard larger!!!) Otherwise you'll have to go back and get more. So to be safe, add half a yard to what I have listed, especially if you are a beginner.

Here are my 6 colors and my black, each cut at 4X4 inches. Remember 26 of each color, and at least 3 yards of fabric of each color.

    Picking out your fabric is the best part I think, there are so many options! You can make baby quilts with different colors, or a quilt of shades of your favorite color, or even all different colors and patterns! It's so hard to choose colors! I used a mix of plain colors and patterned colors.

You will also need:

  1. Several Yards of yarn (your choice in color)

  2. A Large needle (Large enough to thread the yarn through it)

  3. A sheet of Batting (Large enough to fit your quilt)

  4. A sheet, or piece of fabric large enough to cover your quilt for the back. (Buying a sheet is cheeper than buying fabric)

  5. Lots and lots of pins

  6. SEWING MACHINE!!

  7. Rotary cutter. This isn't needed you can use a scissors but it Makes cutting the fabric so much easier and Faster!! I recommend getting one!!

  8. A self healing mat if you use the rotary cutter.

  9. A 5x5 inch plastic square measure. This makes measuring your square pieces and cutting them out so much easier! I also recommend this.
 10. Sandwich sized plastic bags

              Ok so now that all the boring stuff is out of the way, we can start to make our quilt!
    The first thing to do is wash and then iron all your fabrics.
Next, fold all your fabric evenly, lay your square plastic measure on the fabric close to the edge, place it on the self healing mat, and cut along the edges with your rotary cutter.
Make sure that you cut out enough squares!! Do this to each of the fabrics until you have enough, or more, squares of each one.
    Go to a large flat surface and lay our all your pieces exactly how you want your quilt to look

I ended up rearranging my squares because I didn't want light and dark green stripes.

After you lay out your quilt, start with the first row on the left at the bottom. pick up each piece in that row in order. At the end the bottom piece should be onto. Place this row in a plastic bag and label it ROW 1. Continue to pick up each row in the exact same way, placing them into bags and labeling which row it is.

    Go out to your sewing machine and make sure it is set up properly. If you aren't sure follow the instruction manual.

    Take out your bag labeled ROW 1 and grab the first 2 pieces, which are the bottom 2 of that row. place the front sides of the fabric together and line up the edges. Pin the fabric so it wont move while sewing, and so that the sewing machine needle can pass over the pins easily. I used the edge of the foot as my guide. The seam is about 1/2 an inch from the edge if you put the edge of the foot along the edge of the fabric. Do this for all the seams!!

    After you have sewn these to pieces together open it up so the from sides are up. Take the next piece of fabric and place it face down on the already sew fabric. Pin these to together and sew them. Continue like this for all the squares of this row.

    When you have finished this row, you will need to iron the seems all flat in the same direction. I ironed my first row so all the seams were laying flat towards the top. Sew the next row just like you did the first. When you are done with this row, iron all the seams down in the opposite direction of the first row.

    This next step is a little trickier. take your 2 rows and lay them front to from, like you did with the individual squares. take your pins and pin them together through the seam, so the corners of the squares will line up. If you don't pin them through the seams they wont line up and the quilt will be off. When you have done this, go to the sewing machine and sew these two rows together, making sure that the seams stay down in the direction they were ironed. Use the same distance for the seam as you did before, the edge of the foot to the edge of the fabric. 

    Continue to sew together the rows, making sure to iron the seams in opposite directions, and sewing them together.

This is my quilt after sewing together a few of the rows. Notice how all the corners of the squares line up.

Here is the front of my quilt finished.

    Now you will need to lay down your sheet or large piece of fabric, and place your length of batting on top of then, and then place your quilt front on that. Cut the batting to be a little longer than all the sides. This will be how much of a border you will have. My length border was 3 inches, and my height border was 5 inches.

I have a white sheet underneath on the floor to keep our dog hair off the black sheet. I also cut the corners out of my batting, but DON'T DO THAT, its unnecessary and adds more work later.

    Take your yarn and thread your large needle. Start on the top of your quilt at one of the intersections of the corners of the squares. Push the needle through all of the layers, and come back up right next to where it went in. Pull the tread all the way trough, cut the yarn and tie it. This requires a lot of patience and arm strength. Continue to do this across the quilt, ever on alternating squares and rows. Don't tie them to much or the fabric on the back will bunch a lot. This keeps the batting and backing from moving around inside the quilt when you use it or wash it. This also helps to keep the layers from moving when you sew it all together. You can see on the photo above where I placed my ties. 

Finishing UP!

    The Next thing to do is to fold the edges of the black fabric over to cover the batting and about half an inch of the front piece, fold the 2 long sides first then the 2 short sides. They should overlap in the corners. Pin everything together. More pins are better!! Keeps the fabric from moving around.

    Go to your sewing machine and change the stitch to a zig zag. Use some of your extra fabric to find a wide zig zag to use, and practice with it.  Grab you folded quilt and bring it to the machine. The zig zag should go right on the edge of the border and the front. Mine went over both, half the zig zag was on the front, and half was on the border. Sew all the edges to the quilt. YOu will get little pockets where the fabric is folded over each other. Go a head and sew those pockets shut with the same zig zag.

    Make sure you remove all the pins from the quilt, and go rinse it in the washing machine, and dry it. When it comes out of the dryer, iron it to get all the wrinkles out. Congratulations! You finished your quilt!!

   A lot of these instructions are things that I've found work for me. The more you work the better methods you'll fins that fit your working style!!

I'm looking forward to making this quilt again, but with out the Mincraft creeper face, and in other colors. 

Please leave comments telling me what you thing and any suggestions or questions you have!! Thanks

Other Crafts by Me!

"Tie Dye" Coasters

Easy Heart Bracelets