Quilting Diaries: Star Gazing
The fabrics chosen for this quilt. They are all pre-washed and pressed - ready to start the process.
If you follow our Instagram account, you may have seen a photo of a quilting project recently. I’ve finally finished it, and now I get to share the process with you! I’ve been super excited about quilting since I completed my first project last year. I’ve started an EPP project, and I’m still enjoying that. I want to keep building my quilting skills, and I honestly find the process (mostly) relaxing. My first quilting project was really simple – it consisted of sewing strips of fabric together, cutting those groups to size, and then putting them back together. Everything is on the straight of grain, no bias seams, no strange shapes. It’s a super foundational quilting skill. I wanted to make another quilt that would still be a fairly beginner level, but would help me build my quilting skills. After some Internet searching, I came across the Star Gazing quilt pattern by Soft Day Quilts. It’s a low-cost pattern available for instant download from the Soft Day Quilts Etsy store.
Star Gazing is a very straightforward pattern completely composed of half-square triangle (HST) blocks. The HST is another foundational quilting skill. It’s a bit more advanced because seams are sewn on the bias, and stitching accuracy is very important. If your stitches aren’t accurate, the points don’t line up. In this pattern, the HST blocks are large, so the quilt top itself comes together really quickly. The outlined fabric requirements are accurate, and don’t make for much waste. The pattern is really easy to follow, and I would absolutely recommend this pattern to anyone who wants a good beginner quilt pattern.
The “Magic Half Square Triangle” Method
The pattern creator suggests using the “magic half square triangle” method, and she outlines it in the pattern. I’d never made HSTs before, so I decided to try this method. A HST is basically a square comprised of two right triangles. It’s a pretty block on its own, and is used to build a lot of other designs. There are so many methods out there for building the block, but the reason so many people like this method is because you get 8 HSTs out of a single large block. The basics are that you cut two large squares of fabric, lay them right sides together, and draw diagonal lines from corner to corner. Using a quarter inch seam allowance, you stitch a seam to left and right of each line. After that, you make four cuts: one on each of diagonal lines, one running from the top center to the bottom center, and one running from the left center to the right center. You press the seams open, and you have 8 HSTs. If you want more detailed information, complete with diagrams, feel free to check out this article.
I’m not entirely sure that this was the best method for me to use the first time I made HSTs. I chose this pattern because the HSTs used to build the quilt measure 8” square. That makes the quilt come together quickly, but in order to get an 8” square using this method, the initial cuts made 17.75” squares. My cutting mat is only 24” x 18”. I had a difficult time measuring these squares. It was just as difficult to cut them apart, and frankly, bias seams stretch. I ended up having to trim every single block I made. That took a lot of time, and frankly was frustrating. I’m pretty sure that this had less to do with the method and more to do with the fact that my cutting mat is smaller and I had difficulty making accurate cuts in the beginning.
Construction Process
The hardest part of this quilt was building the HSTs. Since this was my first time making HSTs, it ended up being a time consuming process. Once all the HSTs were completed, the building of the quilt top was straightforward and was completed quickly. I really loved the end result. Of note: The original pattern calls for an accent colour. I chose not to do that.
Once the quilt top was completed, I spent some time deciding how I wanted to baste the quilt sandwich. The quilt top, batting, and backing when stacked together and ready for quilting is commonly called the “quilt sandwich,” and basting in quilting refers to any method one uses to hold the layers of the quilt sandwich together. There are a couple of basting methods common to quilting:
Pinning: The layers of the quilt sandwich are held together with pins, typically safety pins. There are some specialty quilting safety pins that have a bend in them to make it easier to push through the three layers.
Spray: There are washable, spray adhesives that can be used to hold all three layers together.
Stitching: A long, temporary stitch is run through the fabrics to hold all three layers together.
In my first quilt, I didn’t want to bother with basting anything. I wanted to get through the process, and the piece was small. It proved problematic later, so this time I wanted to baste the quilt well. I chose to stitch my layers into place because I didn’t feel like buying safety pins and I don’t like using spray adhesive unless I absolutely have to. It’s sticky and messy. Besides, I have a lot of leftover threads from old projects, and I’m pretty sure I’ve had the pink thread that I used for about 10 years now.
While I was looking at various videos about quilt construction and basting, I stumbled across the idea of quilting with a small cross stitch while watching a video about basting by the Fat Quarter Shop and Jen Kingwell. I am still fascinated by the idea of hand quilting, but I’m intimidated. The method Jen Kingwill shows in the video was interesting to me because it felt accessible. The Star Gazing quilt is a fairly small quilt, so I decided to try this method. We found a pretty golden yellow quilting thread and thought it would look like small pricks of starlight all over the quilt. I’m quite pleased with it over all. It did take longer than I thought it would, but was much less time consuming than more traditional forms of hand quilting. Once that was done, I was able to complete the binding – still my favourite part! I’m really pleased with this quilt over all. It’s just the right size for curling up with a good book or mobile game.
What I learned:
I liked the “magic half square triangle” method. It’s pretty efficient. Next time I want to use this method, I’ll make sure that I can easily cut out the large squares on my cutting mat. I also did end up purchasing square quilt rulers with a coupon at our local craft store. These were really nice because they have the 45-degree line marked on them. It made the trimming MUCH less terrible, and showed me what bits of my stitching needed some additional work. Since bias seams stretch, I did notice that not all my diagonals were perfectly straight. Again, I think that had a lot to do with the size of the initial squares. I’m pretty sure I would prefer to make more squares than less. Sure, it’s more seaming, but I think I could have been able to be more accurate. These small inaccuracies made it so that I had a difficult time aligning points, but hey, it’s meant to be used. I’m embracing the mistakes because life is too short to sweat the small things. I’ve learned a lot, and I’ll get to apply that to the next project.
Basting is incredibly important! While it’s a time sink – it took me several hours to work out a basting method that worked for me. It made the quilting process much easier. I had confidence that my layers wouldn’t move around, even when I put the quilt in a hoop for quilting. I think that maybe next time I will knot the ends of my basting threads, even though its not necessary. Some of the tails got in the way while I was quilting. I did end up having to snip a lot of threads, so I don’t have long lengths of thread that I can reuse.
Hand quilting is absolutely accessible to me! I’m very excited about this. If you’ve read my other posts, you’ll know that I am intimidated by hand quilting. It’s so beautiful and just felt like something I couldn’t do. While this wasn’t traditional hand quilting, the needle technique is the same, and I feel more confident in trying more hand quilting in the future.
My biggest take away from this project is that I’m not sweating the small stuff. This quilt is FAR from perfect. I’ve continued to research various construction and technique tips and tricks while this quilt has been in my project queue. There are legitimate mistakes in this quilt. I could have spent hours, days, or weeks trying to correct them, but that would be counterproductive. This isn’t a project meant for display. The intent was to create an afghan sized quilt that could be used regularly. I achieved that goal. I’m not looking for perfection, and I’m pleased with the quilt I produced.
