Twister Quilt Tutorial

This tutorial is for a quick baby quilt called Twister Quilt. I'm using stash, so it's geared toward that, but I will give you directions for using a purchased layer cake as well.

First of all, you'll need 12 10" squares for a baby quilt.  I also make a large lap quilt using 42 10" squares. If you're like me, and you're out to do a little stash busting, this is a great project.

I pressed a bunch of KP kids fat quarters that I had and I cut two 10" squares from each fat quarter. Then, I cut a 6" strip from the remainder (I cut on the cross grain, so my 6" strips were 6" X 22"). There's not much left of a fat quarter when you do that. Keep the 6" strip and I'll show you what to do with that later.

When you have your 12 squares, sew them together 3X4...like this:

Next, use a piece of yardage (3/4 yard) to cut a 6" border.

Cut four 6" WOF (width of fabric, so they should be roughly 42") strips and then cut two 6" X 38 1/2" and two 6" X 40" inch pieces and attach to your quilt. I attached the sides and then the top and bottom, but you can do it either way. If you decide to do it the other way, you'll need to measure and fit your borders accordingly.

Here's a picture with the borders on:

Whose piggy toes are those?????

Next comes the fun part. You'll need this ruler:

It's called The Twister.

This ruler has been one of the best investments I every made! It's been a HUGE stashbuster! If you'd like to see another picture of what this quilt looks like when it's finished, pop over to Mary's blog. She just quilted one up that I sent her last fall.

There are actually two sizes of The Twister. The one I'm showing here starts with 10" squares (think Layer Cakes, or major STASHBUSTING!) and then you cut 8" squares which, of course, finish at 7 1/2". There's a smaller size that starts with 5" squares. I haven't used it yet.

You'll need lots of room to cut this quilt...especially if you make a large one. This one is just a baby quilt, so it's not that bad.

Place the ruler so the black lines are on the seam lines...like so:

Here's what it looks like with that first block cut out.

Then, you march down the row like this, cutting each block:

Last block cut.

Now, you need to lay your blocks all straight and get ready to sew them together.

I like to cut each row and then sew it together, but you can cut out the entire quilt and then sew. You just need to be careful that you know which block goes where. This is where a design wall comes in handy, but I find that the floor works just fine!

A note about directional fabrics...You can use directional fabrics in this quilt. You just need to realize that they will be tipped a bit.

Here's my first row all sewn together.

Now is the time to talk about bias edges.

Because these blocks are cut at an angle, the edges are all bias, so handle with care. This isn't a quilt that you can start and then stuff in the back of your closet to be rifled through seven or eight times before you finish it.

If you need to put it away, try to stop after you have your border on your 10" squares and not after you've cut out a bunch of the bias edge blocks.

Be careful when you're pressing and if you have to rip out seams, be EXTRA CAREFUL.

Keep cutting rows and sewing them. After the first row, you'll get these little bonus squares. I keep them and cut them down to 4" to use in other scrap quilts (keep in mind that they have bias edges as well). You'll get ten bonus squares with this baby quilt.

You can also use them in the border, but I'm doing the border a bit differently this time.

This is what the quilt looks like when the middle is finished...Cute, huh?

Ready for the final border?

Remember those 6" strips that you cut from your fat quarter? Go get eight of those and sew them all together. Cut them into four borders: two measuring 38" and two measuring 41 1/2". Add the side borders, then the top borders. Your quilt should look something like this:

It finishes at 41" X 48 1/2".

Once you've done one of these quilts, it goes together really quickly. And as I said, it's a real stashbuster. I used around 1 1/3 yards on the front of this quilt.

Goodness...Doing this tutorial REALLY makes me appreciate all the tutorials that are online! It takes a lot of thought and preparation!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and will consider The Twister ruler. It's fun, fast and a GREAT stashbuster.

Have a quilty day!