Welcome to my String of Pearls Quilt Along. Please work at your own pace and remember, these posts will be a permanent part of my quilt along series, so you can refer back to them whenever you like!
String of Pearls 66″ x 66″
Designed in EQ7
About This Quilt
Each of the Pearl Blocks is made from one pearl “square” surrounded by a strong black accent, floating against a sea of grey.
It’s an efficient quilt to cut because it makes use of the leftover pearl fabric for the binding.
I used 12 different Pearl Bracelets fabrics (3 squares each) but you can make yours as scrappy or as coordinated as you like.
The quilt size is 66″ x 66″ and is made from a total of 36 blocks that are 11″ finished. If you’d like a bigger quilt, just make more blocks or add colorful borders!
Total cutting time for today’s lesson took approximately 2 hours. Note, “WOF” means “width of fabric”. My measurements are based on 40″ of useable width.
Step 1 – Cutting The Pearls (45 minutes)
Wash and press your pearl fabrics and starch them if you like. You will need exactly 7.75 inches inches of usable width out of 9 inches. It’s ok if your fabrics shrink up a little, but take care when you cut so you don’t lose too much waste.
Hint: wash lights and darks separately in a garment mesh bag on gentle cycle. Throw a dye magnet in the wash to catch any excess dye.
String of Pearls Fat Eighths Bundle
From each of twelve 9″x20″ fat eighths of Pearl Bracelets, cut:
- 1 (5.5″) strip and subcut into 3 (5.5″) squares
- 1 (2.25″ x 20″) strip for binding
For a total of 36 pearl squares and 12 strips of scrappy binding. By the way, I just love the Olfa Splash rotary cutter I’m using. Its cute and ergonomic!
Step 2 – Cutting the Backgrounds (1 Hour, 15 Minutes )
There is very little waste when cutting and you may lose an inch or two to washing and trimming. If you are new to cutting, be sure to add on an extra 1/8 to 1/4 yard to the measurements below.
Hint: Be sure to measure twice, and cut once.
For those of you purchasing kits, I’ve thrown in a couple of extra inches of black and grey solid just to be on the safe side.
From 1.5 yards of black accent fabric cut 34 (1.5″ x WOF) strips.
Cut 34 Black Strips – 1.5″ Wide by WOF
- From 14.5 strips, cut 72 (1.5″ x 7.5″ ) rectangles – you should get 5 per strip.
- From 10.5 strips, cut 72 (1.5″ x 5.5″) rectangles – you should get 7 per strip.
- Cut 1 strip in half so that you have 2 (1.5″ x 20″) strips and set aside.
- Set aside the remaining 8 strips for strip piecing in lesson 2.
Hint: if you stack them up 4 per pile as you cut, it will take 18 piles of each. That helps me count!
72 (1.5 x 7.5 in.), 72 (1.5 x 5.5 in.) 2 half strips, 8 full strips
From 2.5 yards of grey background, cut 9 (5.5″) strips and 9 (3.5″) strips
- Cut one of the 5.5″ wide strips in half so you have 8 full-length strips (5.5″ x WOF) and 2 half-length strips (5.5″ x 20″).
- Cut one of the 3.5″ wide strips in half so you have 8 full-length strips (3.5″ x WOF) and 2 half-length strips 3.5″ x 20″).
- Set aside for strip piecing in lesson 2.
Grey Strips – 9 (5.5 in.), 9 (3.5 in.)
That’s it for today’s lesson. Now you’re ready to sew!
String of Pearls Pieces, Ready to Sew!
Now it’s your turn – show me whatcha got! Please share pictures of your fabric selections and your cutting progress on my flickr group: Christa’s Quilt Along.
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