Spiderweb Quilt Tutorial

Introduction and making the templates - Lesson 1

My quilt is based on the quilt Mapleleaf Rag in Material Obsession 2 by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke and the Spiderweb Quilt on the Nifty Quilts blog.  I have made some changes in construction methods that I think simplify (and definitely speed up) the process. Here is a picture of the gorgeous Nifty Quilts version:

The final size of my quilt is 92.5" x 92.5".  100 blocks arranged 10 x 10.

To make the templates:
  1. Draw a square the finished size you want your blocks (mine measured 9.25 x 9.25").  You can make them whatever size you want, just remember to allow for these changes when cutting fabric strips later.
  2. Draw a diagonal line from the lower left corner of the block to the upper right:
  3. Fold the paper in half vertically and crease.  Reopen.
  4. Next measure the distance from the lower left corner, up the diagonal line, to the place where it crosses the crease.
  5. Use this measurement and, on the left side of the block measure up from the bottom left corner.  Make a dot.
  6. Draw a line connecting this dot to the intersection of the diagonal line and the crease.
  7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 on the upper side of the block, making a kite shape as below:
  8. You now  have your "finished templates".  But you need cutting size templates, so make yourself a copy of the block page you just finished and using both it and the original, add a quarter inch seam allowance around the kite shape on one sheet and around the triangle on the other.
  9. (Tip: Now, to make your life easier, on the kite template,  at the bottom cut off the point one quarter inch below the seam line, being sure to cut straight across.)
  10. Next, I had my wonderful husband make me an acrylic template for the kite shape and I used the Quilt Sense Kaleidescope ruler for the triangles.  The template my husband  made for the kites worked great, but I kept aligning the Kaleidescope ruler wrong...I think if you mark your alignment line carefully on the ruler with tape, you can avoid that.
  11. Last thing!  Poke a hole in your templates at the bottom point of the seam allowance on the kite shape and in the lower left corner of the triangle shapes (For matching seams).  I couldn't poke holes through mine, so I made another set in thinner template plastic to use later marking the dots to match seams.
Woo hoo!  You did it!  Now on to fabric......

 
 

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