I was recently contacted by JOANN Fabrics and they asked if I'd like to try some of their new cotton quilting fabric. Is the sky blue? Of course I'd love to try the new fabrics and create a quilt pattern for you to enjoy. Learn about the fabric and how to make the Double Basket Weave Quilt in this new tutorial:
Click Here to find this free quilt pattern
Beautiful Fabrics Woven Together
I decided to keep my quilt simple and picked my two favorite prints from the box to create the Double Basket Weave Quilt. I used Modern Print Triangle Watercolor fabric, Keepsake Calico Purple Mosaic Fabric, and Kona Cotton Solid Snow from Jo-Ann Fabrics for this quilt.
The Double Basket Weave blocks are super simple and easy to piece using strip piecing. I love how the vertical strips of fabric are super wide to show off the focal fabric. If you've had a fabric in your stash that was just too pretty to cut, maybe it's time to pull it out and use it in a Double Basket Weave Quilt of your own!
There is one tricky part of this quilt pattern - the cutting.
Watch out as you cut the Fabric A rectangles. As I mentioned in the video it's really easy to accidentally cut squares, which will not work for the pattern. Double check your ruler and make sure you're cutting each piece and strip the right size.
Another thing you might have noticed in the video is I press all my seam allowances open. Yes, I know that not all quilters like to do this. Sometimes it's confusing when one quilting teacher has one method and another quilting teacher has the complete opposite method.
The best thing to do when you run across techniques like this is to keep an open mind. Try it both ways and see what works best for you. I came to quilting from sewing garments where we press most seam allowances open to reduce bulk and make the garment hang better on the body.
Now as a quilter, I like to press my seam allowances open because I find my blocks are more accurately pieced and it's much easier to machine quilt over the surface without such bulky spots under the surface.
There's no single right or wrong method here so just pick the method that works best for you!
Note about Fabric Quality - I've received a lot of questions about using JOANN Fabrics and the quality. Before agreeing to make this video, I drove an hour to my local JOANN Fabrics store and checked out the fabric in person. It passed the feel-test to me. It feels sturdy, with a nice tight weave and on par with fabrics I use often from Kona, Moda, and Craftsy.
Many quilters can have a strong opinion about using fabrics from a big box store like JOANNs and a few members of the Quilting Police let me know they didn't like it. Personally my opinion is to use fabrics that feel good to you and fit your budget. Not everyone can afford $12 a yard on fabric and that's okay! All quilters have to figure out what works individually, from where to purchase fabric to pressing seams open.
Personally I think these new bolts of fabrics added to JOANN's quilting collection are great and I plan to use more. Find what works for you and enjoy creating beautiful quilts!
