Sew Very Easy Quilt Favorites: 12 Skill-Building Projects from Laura Coia

By Laura Coia

Learn quilting basics from a YouTube sensation and practice your skills with 12 fun projects suitable for all skill levels.

Her instructional videos have inspired thousands to start sewing. Now for the first time, sew-lebrity Laura Coia shares written patterns for the most loved video tutorials on her “Sew Very Easy” YouTube channel! Learn the basics of quilt making, from cutting and pressing to borders and finishing. Then practice your skills with a dozen beautiful projects—quilts you’ll come back to time and time again—all suitable for beginners and beyond.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Mar 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781617459269

Laura Coia

Laura Coia is the host of the inspiring and award-winning SewVeryEasy YouTube channel. Laura’s greatest joy is helping and encouraging others to enjoy sewing and quilting through her videos, patterns, and speaking engagements. She lives in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. youtube.com/SewVeryEasy

Book preview

Introduction

Quilting is a wonderful hobby. We quilters have so much to give us inspiration: beautiful fabrics, outstanding tools and notions, and great quilt shops and teachers, along with amazing quilts. Inspiration makes quilting so incredible; it allows us to express ourselves in our own personal way.

I started sewing as a young child and thus did not know the rules. This allowed me to be creative and follow my own inclinations—there was no such thing as right or wrong. As such, my style and most of my tips and techniques were developed over time by a trial-and-error method.

It is important that we do not stress over the rules but rather enjoy our time in the sewing room and be happy with our creations. Quilting can be a relaxing and enjoyable hobby. It should only bring us joy. The more we quilt, the more we want to quilt!

This book contains patterns that I hope will be inspirational and, most of all, fun for you to make. The patterns are a reflection of the techniques I use to help make things sew very easy.

Be creative and use fabrics and colors that speak to you. It is the selection of fabric that will change the look and feel of a quilt. For example, a timeless pattern can be turned into a modern quilt and vice versa by virtue of fabric selection alone.

Regardless of your level of sewing expertise, you will find that the quilt projects in this book are not only easy to make but will also produce stunning results. I have really enjoyed making these patterns and quilts, and I hope that you will love making them, too.

Have a sewtacular day,

Laura

Beards and Beer

Designed by Laura A. Coia, quilted by Barb Baker

FINISHED QUILT: 63½˝ × 78½˝

FINISHED BLOCK: 15˝ × 15˝

What do you do when you love a certain special fabric but don’t want to cut it up? Make a quilt that showcases the fabric you love, of course! The block for this quilt starts with a big 8˝ square surrounded by triangles on all sides—not once around, but twice—to make an even larger 15˝ finished block. Echoing your favorites again in the border is another great way to enjoy them as a frame for the quilt. But if your favorites are directional prints, what then? In this case, consider the how-tos of border construction when using directional fabrics in order to get the look you want.

Materials

For more information regarding abbreviations, see Terminology.

First focus fabric (beards): ½ yard for blocks

Second focus fabric (beer): 2 yards for blocks and second inner border

Charcoal: 1¾ yards for blocks and outer border

Dark gray print: ⅝ yard for blocks

Dark gray script: ⅜ yard for blocks

Light gray print: ⅞ yard for blocks

Light dot: ⅜ yard for blocks

Red accent: ¾ yard for blocks and first inner border

Binding: ⅝ yard (Or use the extra backing fabric for the binding.)

Backing: 5 yards

Batting: 72˝ × 87˝

Laura’s Tip

Before cutting fabric strips that will become triangles, starch the fabric and press until thoroughly dry. This will stiffen the fibers and any bias edges, reducing the chance of stretching.

Cutting

Whenever 5˝ squares are cut into triangles, keep half the triangles in one stack and half in another.

First focus fabric

•  Cut 2 strips 8˝ × WOF; subcut 8 squares 8˝ × 8˝ for the center squares.

Second focus fabric

Cut in the order described.

•  Open up the fabric and fold the selvages in half.

Cut 2 strips 3½˝ × LOF (parallel to the selvage); shorten each to 3½˝ × 70½˝ for the sides of the second inner border.

•  Open up the fabric and refold the matching selvages along one edge.

Cut 3 strips 3½˝ × WOF for the top and bottom of the second inner border.

Cut 1 strip 8˝ × WOF; subcut 4 squares 8˝ × 8˝ for the center squares.

Charcoal

•  Cut 2 strips 9˝ × WOF; subcut 6 squares 9˝ × 9˝. Cut each once in half diagonally for 12 large triangles.

•  Cut 2 strips 5˝ × WOF; subcut 12 squares 5˝ × 5˝. Cut each once in half diagonally for 24 small triangles.

•  Cut 7 strips 4½˝ × WOF for the outer border.

Dark gray print

•  Cut 2 strips 9˝ × WOF; subcut 6 squares 9˝ × 9˝. Cut each once in half diagonally for 12 large triangles.

Dark gray script

•  Cut 2 strips 5˝ × WOF; subcut 12 squares 5˝ × 5˝. Cut each once in half diagonally for 24 small triangles.

Light gray print

•  Cut 3 strips 9˝ × WOF; subcut 12 squares 9˝ × 9˝. Cut each once in half diagonally for 24 large triangles.

Light dot

•  Cut 2 strips 5˝ × WOF; subcut 12 squares 5˝ × 5˝. Cut each once in half diagonally for 24 small triangles.

Red accent

•  Cut 2 strips 5˝ × WOF; subcut 12 squares 5˝ × 5˝. Cut each once in half diagonally for 24 small triangles.

•  Cut 6 strips 2½˝ × WOF for the first inner border.

Quilt Center Construction

All seam allowances are ¼˝ unless otherwise noted.

Blocks

Square-in-a-Square: Round One

1. Arrange all 8˝ squares into 1 stack, keeping the prints organized with the exact same orientation. Identify the bias edge of the small triangles: It will be the longest side directly across from the triangle’s 90° corner. These bias edges will become the new, larger outside edge of the square.

2. Lay the triangle stacks in their correct positions around the stack of 8˝ squares.

Starting with the small charcoal triangles, position the stacks on either side of the center stack’s lower right corner. The bias edges of both stacks will form one continuous line. Fig. A

3. Repeat Step 2 using the dark-gray script triangle stacks for the upper