Hot Air Balloon Quilt

You’ll be up, up and away with our hot air balloon Patchwork Block Quilt. Ideal for decorating your little one’s bedroom, this eye-catching design by Corinne Bradd will certainly capture a child’s imagination. Follow the cutting guide to prepare your pieces beforehand, then simply use the layout to work out the perfect palette for your balloon. Your sewing skills will be sky high after mastering topstitching, quilt binding and half square triangle blocks, so come on, get started!

Essentials

Fabric, cotton: assorted plains; assorted prints; patterned white; backing
Quilt wadding

Dimensions List

For each block, you will need to cut the following:
Background: two 6.5cm squares, two 8.5cm x 11cm rectangles, one 3.5cm x 6cm rectangle
Colour A: one 4cm square, one 3.5cm x 6cm rectangle, three 6.5cm squares
Colour B: four 6.5cm squares
Colour C: four 6.5cm squares
Colour D: four 6.5cm squares, one 6cm square
Note: use contrasting colours for best effect, e.g. A and C in shades of orange, with B and D in shades of blue.

Make a block

Download and print the layout diagram from sewmag.co.uk. On the back of the 6.5cm squares, mark a pencil line from corner to corner. Pair up the squares right sides together as follows: two of A with two of B; two of B with two of C; two of C with two of D; one of D with one of A; one of D with one background colour piece. Sew either side of the drawn line with a 4mm seam allowance. Cut along the drawn line, then open out each half-square triangle (HST) block and press. Each HST should measure 6cm square.
Take one of the A and B HSTs and place right sides together onto the remaining background square, leaving an equal border all round. Draw a diagonal line intersecting the diagonal of the HST. Sew either side of this line with a 3mm seam allowance, before cutting along the drawn line. Open out and press; this HST will be slightly smaller than the 6cm square. Arrange the HSTs on a work surface as per the diagram to make a four by four block. Sew the blocks together in pairs, then blocks of four, before sewing into one large block.
Take the 4cm square of A and cut in half diagonally. Place each triangle face up onto the large rectangles on background colour: one in the top left and the other in the top right corners of the rectangles. Flip the triangles over and shift 5mm towards the background corners. Sew along the diagonal edge of the triangle with a 5mm seam allowance, flip the triangles back and press.
Take the remaining rectangle of background colour and stitch between the 6cm square of D and the rectangle of A. Sew this panel between the two tipped background rectangles, matching up the bottom of the triangle in each corner with the seam line of A. Press well and stitch to the lower edge of the main block.

Sew the quilt

Press each balloon block and square up to 21cm x 31cm. Arrange on a flat surface in three columns of two balloons, offsetting the blocks vertically so they overlap by 5cm. Cut three infill panels from the background colour, measuring 21cm square for the centre of the quilt, and four 21cm x 27cm panels for the corners. Sew the infills to the tops and bottoms of the balloon blocks before stitching the columns together.
Layer the quilt top onto wadding and backing fabric, then pin well. Topstitch down each column seam and around each balloon shape. Trim the wadding and backing fabric to the size of the quilt top if necessary and zig zag stitch around the edge. Cut several 3cm wide strip of coloured fabric and sew end to end to make a continuous strip. Bind the edges with this strip, stitching to the back of the quilt and mitring the corners before flipping to the front, turning under 5mm of the binding and topstitching in place.