Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Twister in Progress

Cutting out the Blocks

My husband and I recently watched this twister tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  He thought it was really neat and encouraged me to make a twister quilt.  I knew it would drive me crazy to sew a quilt top only to cut it up and make a smaller quilt top, so I tried to figure out a different way to do it. 

I first drafted a twister quilt on graph paper. 


Then I drew large squares on a big paper and tried to figure out a different way to cut out the blocks.  I realized that instead of cutting a piece out of each corner leaving a square in the middle, I could just cut a square in quarters making them equal in size.  Kind of like a crazy 4 four patch.  There is minimal waste doing it this way.  (Just when squaring up the blocks.)

I decided to use some of my pink fabric to make the quilt. 


I pulled out 17 fabrics, but only ended up using 16. 


I cut four 10 inch squares out of 15 of the fabrics for the middle, and I cut twenty 10 inch squares out of my border fabric.  (3 of the border squares will be for the center of the quilt.)

I wanted to add that when pressing the fabrics, I used some Best Press spray starch.  I knew I would not always be sewing on the straight grain and didn't want the pieces to stretch.  I am so glad that I did!


Then I made a template out of paper and taped it to the bottom of my 12.5 inch ruler.  The template was made from a 10 inch square with a diagonal from 2.5 inches on top to 7.5 inches on bottom.  I did a test cut to make sure it was accurate.  I learned from similar quilts that you must make sure all fabric is right side up so the blocks will all twist the same way. 

I carefully stacked 4 squares on my rotating mat and made one cut. 


Then without moving the fabric, I rotated the mat 90 degrees and made a second cut.  After making the second cut and separating the pieces it looks like this.  All four pieces are the same size, and what you see is enough for four blocks. 


Then I cut out all the squares this way.  I separated it into piles so that I could distribute it more evenly on my design wall.  There will be 63 center twists plus the border half twists.  I really like doing all the cutting before I do all the piecing. 


Then the fun part of playing with my design wall began.  I think I really like this layout.  (I realized once I put it on the design wall that my twists are going the opposite direction of my drafted pattern.)


I am excited to get sewing the blocks together.  I will sew each block together carefully like a four patch.  Then I will sew columns.  Then the columns together to make the quilt top.  I am estimating that the quilt will finish at 72 x 90 inches, if each block finishes at 9 inches. 

After sewing a few blocks, I know that they will finish at 8.75 inches.  I square them up at 9.25 inches.  So the quilt will finish a little bit smaller, about 70.5 x 88 inches. Click here to see how I pieced the blocks together, and click here to see the finished quilt.  

I just wanted to add that I think that the normal way for sewing twister quilts is really cool, and the rulers are an excellent design.  I just know that this will work better for me.  :D

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts,  Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict (I am totally dancing for joy that I can make the quilt this way). 

27 comments:

  1. Congratulations on working all this through! This will be beautiful!

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  2. I love twister quilts! They are fun to make huh! Yours came out great!

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  3. You are sew clever! I have never made a twister quilt, but also never thought to work it out without the ruler. Looks great on the design wall!

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  4. Very clever. The waste with the ruler made me crazy and I only did a small one.

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  5. Very cool! I don't think I've ever seen someone make a twister quilt without the specialty ruler. Looks good!

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  6. aren't you a smarty pants!! :) Great job figuring that out! Can't wait to see the finished project

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  7. Wow, Jasmine! You clever girl! I love it ... this is going on my list, can't wait to see you finish it :)

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  8. Way to go!! This is awesome!! I saw a quilt a couple weeks ago and asked how they made it, said the twister tool. I just can't wrap my head around sewing together an entire top and then cutting it apart!! Now this I can do :) I can't wait to see it all come together!

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  9. wouldn't have ever thought that cutting way through myself lol brilliant!

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  10. Brilliant Jasmine! Not only did you figure out how to make the twister pattern but you saved on not having to purchase a specialized ruler. It is going to be quite lovely! I hope to see it finished. Thanks too for stopping by my blog :).

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  11. So clever figuring out a better way to make the blocks! the fabrics are great!

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  12. I am really impressed with your design ability! And I think that your pink quilt will look great.

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  13. You are one smart cookie to figure that out!! I admire people that think outside the box! I have done the twister ones a few times and I do enjoy the process and finished product.

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  14. I did play with a friend's twister ruler and the Missouri Star method. There wasn't much waste, because I used the left over part to make other scrappy crazy blocks. It was much easier to keep track of pieces, but you can still make mistakes - of course!

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  15. Looking good. I made a mini twister and it was fun. You pieced squares and then cut the block. Wastes some fabric though.

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  16. This is neat! I have always loved the way Twister quilts look, but I have never made one because of the fabric waste. great idea to make it this way!

    Thank you so much for sharing at Needle and Thread Thursday!

    :) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

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  17. Wow! You did an incredible job figuring out how to make the quilt without the special ruler. My head would have exploded just thinking about it. Thanks for sharing. You really deserve a Whoop Whoop!!

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  18. That is a generous design with the exact amount of blocks, their fit is neat. Twister is a new idea to me. I love yours.
    Well done.

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  19. Jasmine, thanks for coming up with a way to avoid my biggest pet peeve with the twister blocks - the waste of time and fabric! I'll have to give this a try sometime! Whoop whoop!!

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  20. Awesome, I've always wanted to make a twister quilt but don't like buying rulers that I'll never use again. Great tutorial. Thanks!

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  21. I have specifically avoided making a twister because of the fabric waste. I may actually try this method!

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  22. This is genius!!!! I wish I had read this before searching the world over for the rulers. That you for the tutorial!

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  23. Congratulations on a brilliant innovation. I've admired twisters for some time but what held me back was exactly the waste of fabric as you said, and the cost of a ruler that's only good for one thing. Jasmine, you're a genius!

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  24. Have been making them like this (or just cutting charm squares at a diagonal) since the late 90's. Hate it when someone gets rich off rulers that are not necessary and waste loads if fabric. Kudos to you for posting this. Now to get it out there for the masses to see that they don't have to go broke buying specialty this and specialty that! Hmm, perhaps a booklet is in your future. Something like, "Do the Twist(er) ~ Simplified" (The no waste method)

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  25. I really like that you have figured out how to do the twister without all the fabric waste. That really put me off. maybe now I'll make one as I do like the way they look! Thanks. It looks great.

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  26. I had a twister quilt task last month from our local quilt group, and you know what, I have a same thought as you , happy to know that it's work 😊👏👍

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