Starring role table centre mat

I know that stars are not the usual go-to motif for spring time projects but I was looking through my fabric the other day and this sort of just, well, grew as things tend to at this time of the year!

I wanted to make a quilted table centre mat and I wanted it to be a bit on the modern and up to date side.

As anyone who follows my work regularly through the press will know, I like my HSTs too so naturally, this make had to have some of those too!

So this is what I came up with! It is just under a metre square and it is not too thick to sit nicely on a table, it is channel quilted and vibrant. Very happy. Oh, did I also mention that it was rather easy?

So what do we need to collect to make this one then.....

-Fat quarter text print fabric (fabric A)

-Fat eights of 2 other fabrics (fabrics B (navy floral),C (mustard floral)

-85 cm x 85 cm 279 cotton mix 80/20 wadding (Vlieseline)

-85 cm x 85 cm  backing fabric

-Binding – this can be shop bought or made from one of your fabrics. If you make your own, you will need a fat quarter extra of that fabric. I used an orange because this orange occurred in the navy fabric a few times and using it again for the binding brought it out beautifully. If in doubt, let the fabrics choose each other!

-Your usual quilting needs

Here’s How:

NB: all seam allowances are ½ cm unless otherwise stated and please read all instructions through and assemble the supplies before beginning.

Make the HST units: cut two squares 15cm each, one of text print (fabric A) and one of a coloured (in this case fabric B – navy floral).

Place the squares right sides together and make a diagonal mark on the wrong side of one of them.

Sew with a normal seam each side of this line

and then cut along the original line.... 

Open out and iron for two HST blocks 

This is my favourite method for making HST units. You can make four at a time but with that method, you end up with a lot of bias edges (they are essentially almost ALL bias and can stretch). This method yields two units and the bias edges are protected a little bit by the stitching.

Anyway, this is the basic unit for this quilt. You will need to make the following (note that the one that you have just made is listed here as Fabric A/B so you don’t need to make it again).

For the side chevrons, you will need:

-       -8 HST units fabric A/B

The corners are a little bit different – the HST units are made the same way though. For a corner, you will need to cut a square of fabric C (mustard floral) measuring 14 cm x 14 cm, a square of text print A the same size and two HST units which are made from squares 15cm x 15cm. Make up the HST units as before.

The centre square is text print A and it is a square measuring 26cm x 26cm.

Putting it all together: to make a side chevron, take two of your HST blocks and sew them together similar to a flying geese block 

The remaining two units are sewn together with the text as the flying geese unit. Now attach them together and iron.

Repeat for the other four sides.

To make a corner, sew a HST unit to the left side of the text square 

Attach the another HST unit to the right side of the coloured square and then sew them together  

Repeat for the other three corners. Here is a close up of a completed corner block so that you can see what is going on...

They really spring to life (pun very much intended) when you sew the navy and the yellow together....

To sew the top row of the mat, one corner block, one side chevron, and one corner block. Row two is a side chevron, the centre text square and the other side chevron. The final row is the same as the first one. This is the aimed-for layout...

Iron the patched panel. Make a ‘quilt sandwich with the backing fabric (face down), the wadding and the patched panel (face up).

Quilt with a narrow channel pattern (lines about 1.5 cm apart) 

Trim the mat and bind with your chosen binding. Mitre the corners neatly too...

If you have decided to make your own binding, you will need a fat quarter of fabric extra to make the cuts on the bias. To make bias binding, Cut 3.5 cm strips on the diagonal (bias). They need to be long enough to go around the entire border so cut and measure. Join them if necessary. When you have enough, in one continuous  strip, fold in half lengthwise and iron. Fold the raw edges into the centre and iron. Hand or machine sew into place. You can use a bias strip maker if you like.

If you have loved the fabrics and interfacings that I have used, you can get them here....

Stockist's info-

Art gallery fabrics from - Hantex- www.hantex.co.uk/mystockists

Vlieseline from www.vlieseline.com Ph 01453883581 crafts@stockistenquiries.co.uk

This mat was sewn and quilted on my beautiful....
Janome Horizon Memory Craft 8200 QCP Special edition sewing machine from www.janome.co.uk

 

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope that you have enjoyed this tute. I will look forward to seeing you again next time.

Love and hugs

Debbie

xx