Butterfly Quilt

With spring on the way, Corinne Bradd’s delightful quilt will be a welcome reminder of brighter days to come. Look out for prints in bright jewel shades to really stand out! Simply use a fabric cutter to make trimming perfect patchwork shapes a breeze. If you ask us, this colourful block quilt is ideal for breezy picnics in the garden, or as a funky table runner to spruce up lunchtimes.

Essentials

Cotton: assorted prints; solid peach, 2m l Quilt wadding, 2oz, 1.5m
Fabric cutter
Value die

Sizes

99cm x 1.3m

Sew the butterfly block

Open the fabric cutter and lay it out flat. Place plain peach cotton on top of the 6.3cm square section of a value die. Make six peach squares; to save time, concertina the fabric to cut them all in one go. Lay the white plastic mat included on top.
Place the die onto the fabric cutter and turn the handle to roll it through. Slide the mat off, then lift away the excess fabric to reveal the shapes. Place four of the peach squares to one side.
Select three cotton prints and label them A, B and C. Cut another two 6.3cm squares from print A, and two of print B. Using the 6.3cm half square triangles (HST) section of the die, snip five pairs in plain peach, two pairs from print A, and three pairs of print C.
Lay out the cut pieces in the butterfly design, using the picture as reference. Stitch the pairs of HSTs right sides together and press the seam to the darker side to make blocks. Join the blocks together in pairs, then sets of four and finally into a 16 patch block measuring 20.3cm.
To bring the block up to size, cut four 6.3cm x 21.6cm strips of a different print fabric. Stitch two strips to opposite edges of the block. Sew the remaining peach squares to each end of the last two strips, before stitching these to the other edges of the block, lining up the seams carefully.

Make the butterfly quilt

Create three blocks in four different colourways. Arrange the blocks in rows of three and sew together into strips. Stitch the strips together to make a quilt top and press. Cut several 4cm wide strips of a strong coloured fabric and join end to end. Sew these around the quilt top to make an overlapped border.
Lay the backing fabric, wadding and quilt top on a flat surface and pin together at regular intervals. Topstitch the layers together along the main seam lines. Trim the excess backing and wadding to the same size as the quilt border.
Cut several 1.3cm wide strips of a contrasting fabric and join end to end. Stitch these around the edge of the back of the quilt, mitring the corners. Fold the binding to the front of the quilt and turn under 5mm. Pin and topstitch close to the hemmed edge.