Quilt Qua

Do you have a fun idea for a Teacher Quilt?

By: Penny Halgren

 We love questions here at How-to-Quilt.com!

It's fun to give quilters a solution to their quilting challenge, and sometimes their challenge becomes our challenge as well - we especially love that.

Recently a quilter sent in a question about a quilt she was asked to make for her child's teacher.

Each child in the class had made a 3 inch by 5 inch drawing on fabric, and she wanted to sew a frame around each drawing and then place them around a center square that had been embroidered with the name of the teacher and the school year.

She needed to know how much fabric to buy for the frames and how large the center square should be.

A quick (ok, so it wasn't really that quick!) session in my EQ6 produced the quilt you see below.

Of course, it isn't a cute as her finished quilt will be, but I thought it was a great idea, and one that I wanted to share with you.

 

This quilt is easy to make as well.

Using 1 inch (finished size) sashing pieces around each of the 3 inch by 5 inch pieces, you would need to cut a center piece that is 23 1/2 inches by 23 1/2 inches.

Once you finish the center with your embroidery or painting, or however you are going to decorate it, you are ready to start assembling the quilt.

First, sew the pieces on the sides together with the sashing strips between. The sashing pieces between the kids pictures should be 1 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches (cut size).

Once your side patches are sewn, add the sashing piece to the center frame. Each of the side sashing pieces should be 23 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches (cut size).

 

Once your center square has its sides on, it's time to add the top and bottom.

Sew the childrens' pictures for the top and bottom together using sashing between the pictures that is cut 1 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.

Once those are sewn together, add the sashing to the center. These sashing strips should measure 1 1/2 by 36 1/2.

After the sashing is on, add the pictures of the kids onto the top and bottom.

Now that the center is finished and all of the childrens' pictures have been added, it's time to add the outside sashing.

I would measure the quilt using the same technique as you would for measuring a border for a quilt. This will ensure that your quilt top is squared up.

Now add the final sashing strips, and you're finished!

 

Your quilt is ready for final borders and binding! There are so many different possibilities for borders and bindings, it's a topic for other articles!

This is a fabulous idea and can be used for many different things. You could remember a trip. Write the places and dates of your trip, and then print photos onto the side pieces as if they were postcards.

You can download a pattern of this teacher quilt here. Please note that in the pattern, the sashing strips include some cornerstones. You can add them as a different color of fabric, or as the same fabric. If you use the same fabric, you'll want to measure your quilt along the way to see how long to cut your strips of sashing.

Also note that the pattern includes two different color variations for the sashing. This was done to make the fabric requirements more easy to understand.

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren

Penny is a quilter of more than 27 years who seeks to interest new quilters and provide them with the resources necessary to create beautiful quilts.

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