April Showers: 3-D Bowtie

Thanks to all who left comments about their favorite quilting tool, gadget, or notion on the blog post below.  I asked Matthew to pick a random winner, and he chose Jeanne Gwin. 

Jeanne, please send your mailing address to dakotacabinquilts@ndsupernet.com, and we’ll send you your packet of Wonder Clips.  Congratulations!

Soooo…. I’ve been collecting Bonnie & Camille cut goods for a couple of months now, and finally finished enough other projects to treat myself.  I couldn’t wait to start stitching with the fun & fresh April Showers collection.

First, a tough decision… fat quarter bundle, layer cake, mini charm, charm… hmmm…

I would have loved to unbundle those fat quarters and start a bed sized quilt.  But, not today.  Hopefully, soon!

Instead, I settled on a charm square quilt (the pattern actually specified (3) packs of mini charms, but I thought it would be easier to work with 5” squares rather than 2.5. This little 3-D Bowtie pattern in the Moda Candy Book  has been calling my name for a couple of weeks now, and I thought it would look cute in the bright small scale April Showers prints

First, I sorted off  suitable charm squares:

Some of the prints were either too white, or too large in scale:

Then, I cut (4) 2.5” squares from each of the 5” charms. The bowtie blocks took a little bit of practice to master, but I quickly got the hang of it. 

First, fold a print wrong sides together.  Lay it on a 2.5” background square:

Put a matching print, right sides together, on top, creating a little “sandwich”:

Align the edges, and stich down the side, creating a little folded tab:

Set the tab on top of a print square:

Add a background square to make a second little sandwich, and, again, stitch along the side:

The result is two sandwiches with a central tab:

The tab gets tucked between the two sandwiches, as they are sewn right sides together,  and forms a little 3D pouch (the center of the bowtie):

When the final seam is sewn, the result is so dang cute!

I had to really think about fabric placement for the directional stripes.  First this:

Then, this:

Then, this:

 

To make these:

This is a better picture of the little 3D center than the one above.  The little pouch in the center gets neatly tucked into the final seam.

The striped bowties are so crisp and pretty!

Fluffy helped  me sew, until she was booted from the cutting board, so I could carefully arrange…

More bowties!  The pattern only called for twenty, but I just couldn’t narrow it down to any less than 30.

I added a 2” inner border, and a 3 inch outer border:

Ta Da!  Ready for quilting.  Finished size: 28” x 32”

Kits are now available:

You can find one here. 

Kit sells for $35.00, including backing, plus you do need the Moda Candy “Oh So Sweet” Pattern Booklet ($10.00).

~ Happy Quilting.