This week I am so excited to share a new free quick quilt pattern starting this week at BERNINA’s We All Sew site. This pattern uses a “fabulously fast” technique for making a traditional Churn Dash Quilt.
You may remember some sneak peaks of the work on this quilt over the past months. It’s so fun to finally be able to share the full pattern and tutorial.
This is the quilt we’ll be making. A Churn Dash block is as traditional as it gets, but by playing with colors, prints and solid fabrics, you can create a very traditional or modern quilt design. The method for making this blocks is super slick with very little fabric waste.
For part one of this quilt along, we are talking about fabric choice. For this project I used a collection of solids including RJR Cotton Supremes (colors Sea Glass, Blue Skies, Cove, Notting Hill, Beach House and Nile Green) as well as Kona solids (Aqua and Leaf). I also wanted to incorporate a bunch of the “low-volume” (or low-value/contrast) prints that are so popular right now. This was a big switcheroo for my usual style of colorful prints combined with solid white. (Post edit: I used a lot of prints from Pat Bravo’s Rapture collection as well as Alison Glass text prints and other assorted low-volume prints from my stash. Pink Castle Fabrics has Rapture in stock as well as most of the solids I used.)
The key to this fast design option is having two contrasting sets of fabric, in this case the bundle of solids and the bundle of low-volume prints. The low-volume prints and the monochromatic solids create a really subtle quilt. But this design works equally well in high-contrast, saturated colors and prints. For more discussion on choosing fabric and fabric requirements go Part 1 of the Churn Dash Quilt Along at We All Sew.
Come join the fun. This is a great stash buster. You’ve got a week to gather you fabrics. Next week we’ll work on cutting and piecing the blocks.
Quick links to all the parts:
46 Comments
Sigi G
April 22, 2014 at 11:17 amThis sounds like fun. I just love the colors of your quilt. It has such a relaxed feeling to it. Beautiful job!
Sandy W
April 22, 2014 at 11:27 amlove this pattern, Im in!! Already went over and read the first post!! this is going to be fun!! been wanting to do a green and white quilt, this seems like the perfect project, especially after seeing the red and white one!!
Hannah S.
April 22, 2014 at 11:49 amI'm definitely going to do this! I've been wanting to make a purple and pink quilt for a while, but with no idea of what pattern to use. So this is the one, hopefully!
dolores
April 22, 2014 at 11:50 amWhoa! How did you know I had a churn dash project on the back burner? I want to make one for our boy but I need the blocks to finish at about 5.5"….guess I'll have to see if I can work it out!:)<br />xo<br />btw…your fabric choices are yuummmmmmy!!
Ольга Т.
April 22, 2014 at 12:29 pmКлассно!
Stephanie
April 22, 2014 at 1:54 pmI am definitely joining along! Churn dash has been on my to to list for awhile! Now to choose colors! Should I make this a Fall quilt? Or I've also been wanting to make a yellow and gray quilt. Yikes! Decisions, decisions!
Katy Cameron
April 22, 2014 at 3:14 pmVery nice, and I love your photo backdrops :o)
helloally
April 22, 2014 at 3:15 pmawesome! I've said all along this is the year of the quilt lol .. it's already april and I have yet to choose a pattern .. this may just be the one and the way to keep me going at it!!
Debbie
April 22, 2014 at 5:02 pmBeautiful.
Pat Bravo
April 22, 2014 at 5:37 pmHi Amy! This pattern is perfect for summertime! I love the choice of fabrics you've made and even more to see many of my Rapture prints in there. Thanks so much and happy sewing everyone 🙂
Lauren Deel
April 22, 2014 at 7:45 pmI'm in! I had SOOO much fun pulling fabric for this today. It'll be perfect for the stack of Nicey Jane fat-eighths that were given to me by a good friend and that have been patiently waiting to be put to use in just the perfect project. This is it! Thanks so much – I'm on the edge of my seat! (P.S. I'm sure that my three friends who are patiently waiting for their (overdue)
Patti
April 22, 2014 at 9:45 pmCan a confident beginner accomplish this? If so I will pick my fabrics tomorrow! 🙂
amy smart
April 22, 2014 at 10:32 pmYes! It's a perfect pattern for a confident beginner. There are some good quilting skills involved, but none of it is tricky.
serendipity
April 23, 2014 at 1:31 amThis looks like fun. Count me in too. Now to decide on the colour scheme! xx Debbie.
Maria
April 23, 2014 at 3:28 amThis sounds like so much fun. I'd love to take part but can't commit to doing it just yet. I may fall a little behind. I have to go away in a weeks time for a few days so will look out for fabric while I'm out shopping, then hopefully when I come back I'll be able to join in and hopefully won't have too much to catch up on.<br />Your quilt is so pretty and fresh looking and I
Suze
April 23, 2014 at 3:30 amThe churn dash block is a wonderful block and I am thrilled that you are hosting a QAL. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am sure you will have amazing tips embedded for us. You are very generous to share your knowledge.
Jeannette
April 23, 2014 at 8:58 amI'm in also. Just have to find fabric in my stash. I guess the amount of fabrics needed will be discussed next. Thanks.
amy smart
April 23, 2014 at 9:14 amGreat! All the fabric requirements and instructions are on the BERNINA We All Sew blog. The direct link is in this post, right before the last picture.
Barbara McD
April 23, 2014 at 9:43 amI ADORE Churn Dash quilts!! I just wish I had the time to join in this time!! :(<br /><br />Will definitely be saving the blog posts/tutorials so I can make it at a later date!<br /><br />Barbara<br />ps Love your color choices, too – you just happened to pick one of my most favorite quilt patterns and one of my most favorite color palettes – I heart this quilt!!!<br />
Katie
April 23, 2014 at 11:43 amYay another QAL — as one ends so another begins.
Nancy Conley
April 23, 2014 at 12:33 pmYAY!!! I've always wanted to do a QAL – you'll be my first. So excited. I'm not the best at choosing fabrics, but I've already read the first set of instructions over at Bernina and it seems simple enough for me!
Judith Blinkenberg
April 23, 2014 at 12:43 pmI love the churn dash pattern and look forward to this qal. I'm in and thank you ever so much.
andrea@tidelinequilts
April 23, 2014 at 5:36 pmI'm defs in! Been wanting to make a churn dash quilt for sine time now. Thanks for the opportunity and what should be a great QAL.
Sheri
April 23, 2014 at 7:03 pmI hope I can get caught up on my current quilt alongs so I can join in!
Kelly Scott
April 24, 2014 at 1:38 pmI'm just putting the finishing touches on my first quilt. I follow your posts for expert advice and inspiration but I cannot add another quilt to my to-do-list so I will enjoy watching what others make. By the way, I love the wavy stitch you make using the walking foot in the 2nd photo. I didn't know that you could do something like that! I may give it a try!
amy smart
April 24, 2014 at 9:01 pmThis quilt was my first time trying that wavy line quilting – it was so fun! There are more details about it in this post: https://www.diaryofaquilter.com/2014/03/new-blocks-new-machine-quilting.html
Kelly Scott
April 25, 2014 at 8:06 pmThanks Amy. I really want to try it now!<br />
Nicole
April 25, 2014 at 6:30 amWow!!! Another blog to read that will keep me mesmerized for days. Beautiful colors used. I will have to bookmark your blog to come back to. Thank you for sharing. I came by the way of RJR fabrics.
Marsha Brown
April 25, 2014 at 6:32 amLove it can't wait to get started. I may reuse some old cotton shirts to make this with different solids.
Susan Davis
April 25, 2014 at 6:38 amI am so ready to start. Love the pattern and love the colors.
Rita McCart
April 25, 2014 at 6:58 amWhat perfect colors for a spring quilt, looks like blue sea glass! 😀
Cynthia H
April 25, 2014 at 7:13 amSuper cute!
Jackie Mulkey
April 25, 2014 at 7:14 amBeautiful colors! Looking forward to learning something new…count me in!
Bert K
April 25, 2014 at 7:38 amLove the fabric choices and can't wait to try the pattern.
Sortahwitte
April 25, 2014 at 7:53 amLove the churn dash pattern, and all the blues and greens. The small prints add so much color. Love it all!
GranChris
April 25, 2014 at 10:33 amLove your fabric choices. I haven't made this quilt in years so I can't wait to learn the shortcuts.
Natalia Tyapina
April 25, 2014 at 1:19 pmSmart and stylish! And fits the time – full of spring spirit 🙂
Brett Collins
April 25, 2014 at 3:49 pmI just love this block pattern and also the colors that were used!!!! I love the quilt!!!! 🙂
Amanda Collins
April 25, 2014 at 3:55 pmI love this block pattern and the colors that were used!! I just love this quilt!!!! 🙂
Carla G
April 25, 2014 at 4:38 pmLove this pattern & those are so my colors! 🙂
Actually Amy
April 25, 2014 at 8:32 pmLove this!
JANET
April 25, 2014 at 9:16 pmLove the quilt! The colors are fantastic!
Nectarine
April 26, 2014 at 2:40 amHello I want to join <br />Is there a flikr group ?
amy smart
April 26, 2014 at 9:58 pmThe tutorials are all on the Bernina site. This is week one: http://weallsew.com/2014/04/21/how-to-make-a-churn-dash-quilt-part-1/<br /><br />So far not a Flickr group, but that's a great idea! I'll start one this week!<br /><br />Amy
Margo Yang
April 27, 2014 at 10:44 amI definitely will join in making this quilt. I've been collecting blue and white for this pattern and now I think I'm ready. Thanks, Amy.
Jerri H
April 28, 2014 at 9:45 pmI've just painted my dining room in a color that matches the sea glass hued colors that are in your lovely quilt so it caught my eye immediately. I'm not into foo-foo patterns; elegantly-simple is my love so this pattern is great. It won't ever be out of style. Thanks for the inspiration.