Peg Spradlin is responsible for making many of the quilts you see in QM’s pages. Peg has sewn for us and our sister publications for many years. She’s a master.
Peg Spradlin
We asked Peg to share tips she found helpful as she created Quiltmaker’s Garden, the 30th anniversary commemorative quilt seen on the March/April ’12 cover.
Quiltmaker's Garden is a series quilt presented in 2012 issues of Quiltmaker. It commemorates QM's 30th anniversary.
Part 3 of Quiltmaker’s Garden appears in the brand-new July/August issue, on newsstands now.
July/August '12 Quiltmaker
Peg shares the tip below from her experience making this quilt.
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I’m not a fan of bias seams and will go to great lengths to avoid them. A good example of this is the way I joined the E, F, and C/C patches in the butterfly unit of Quiltmaker’s Garden Part 3.
Instead of actually trimming the fabric away as illustrated in the pattern (which would have resulted in a bias edge), I first marked the trimming lines on patch E.
Mark trimming lines
Next I laid a ruler on patch E diagonally from corner to corner to find and mark the center of the trimming line. I did this on both trimming lines.
mark center of trimming line
Now find and mark the middle of the long edge of patch F (cream in this photo) and, aligning the center marks, lay the long edge of F along the marked trimming line on E.
Sew a seam 1/4″ in from the long edge of F. Because I didn’t trim the corners of patch E, I didn’t have to deal with sewing two bias seams together. Add the C/C unit to patch E in the same way and iron open the triangles.
Turn the E, F, C/C unit face down and trim the excess from patches F and C/C that might be showing. This results in an exact 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ unit for the butterfly block (another advantage to using this technique).
trim excess edges
Now you are ready to trim away the corners of patch E from behind the F, C/C patches to reduce bulk in the unit. Just don’t get in a hurry and trim away the F and C/C triangles as I did here.
Don't make my mistake!
This unit is now ready to be sewn into the butterfly block.
Finished butterfly unit
Just a note: the method given in the instructions does work, but if bias edges give you fits, give this a try instead.
Peg’s method is great! I don’t always follow the pattern instructions, either, especially if I am making something from an older, vintage pattern. The butterfly block is so attractive. You could make these for a number of different projects, not just the gorgeous feature quilt. Have a super day!