I had no idea of the over-whelming response to my Bookcase Quilt! So far 74 people have downloaded this pattern Yippie!!! Hey if I can do it being a pretty new quilter (well new, pretty? eh...) I know this fits into the Beginner/EASY Tuts
So here we go. I bought 2-20 piece Striped Jelly Rolls from Liz at JellyRollFabric.net and knew what they wanted to become (yeah my fabric talks to me and mostly I listen!)... A "Bookcase Quilt".
My quilt was long so I needed to sew 2 black strips together to make them long enough for the sashing. I sewed these strips straight together, not on the 45 angle. I did it this way because all the "angles" in the blocks and Sashing were Vertical - If you sew your sashing on the 45, those seams would look "odd" with the Verticalness (a word?) but how the Books and Shelves are vertical.
Jelly Rolls have so many great uses and here's another unique way. This would make a Great Gift as a Wall hanging or I see it as a Curtain hiding junk behind a College students closet hahaha! But it will make an over-sized Twin, add borders to make this a Queen Sized Quilt, and it is even EASY to turn this into a King size quilt.
Supplies
1 - 20 piece (or 1-40 Piece) Striped Jelly Roll (Sub-cut 2 1/2" x 5")
1 Charm Pack (Cut into half so 2 1/2 x 5") I ONLY used a Charm because I had a spare laying around! You want to use 2-20 piece Jelly Rolls with Stripes!
1 Solid Jelly roll became the Shelves and Sashes - I had a Black one on hand, but a wood grain Brown would be cool. Take out 18 of these to be used for Sashing and Sub-cut the rest 2 1/2" x 5". These will be used in the quilt as bottoms for the "shelves"
You want to Begin and End each column with a Black 2 1/2" x 5" block. Also Pay Attention to which way the stripe is going when you cut and sew. "Books" tend to be on shelves vertical!
You want to Begin and End each column with a Black 2 1/2" x 5" block. Also Pay Attention to which way the stripe is going when you cut and sew. "Books" tend to be on shelves vertical!
Design how many Blocks you want in each column before sewing a "shelf" in Black.
After cutting all the Striped Pieces and prints from a charm pack, Toss them into a paper bag and Mix UP! Set the Black sub-cuts to the side and remember to use 1 each with your 2-piece units.
Chain piece blocks 2 at a time until you are done. Make sure you use those blacks sub-cut blocks as 1 part of a 2 Block unit.
Now the fun - Lay out your 2 block units and design your Columns. Begin each column using a Top block of black, then I counted down 4 (2 sets) of Blocks, then put in another Black 2 unit block. This is where YOUR math skills come in handy -- How long and wide do you want this to be? Make sure to begin and end each column with a Black shelf.
To be consistent, it helps to count when sewing each Column and add your Shelf blocks at the same place. This way your black "shelves" will sit on the right place across all Columns.
Then Lay each Column sewn together on your Design Wall or Table. This is where I noticed 1 column had almost too "matchy" of some blocks next to the other. I moved the columns to my liking. Then lay the Black (or Brown) Sashing on top of each column. See how that looks?
Taking a picture helps me see things I may not notice when looking at this laying flat or up on a Design Wall -- I noticed 1 of the Black Shelves was a block too low -- That was an easy fix now! Make sure all your Black "Shelves" line up across each column then you are ready to begin putting this together.
My quilt was long so I needed to sew 2 black strips together to make them long enough for the sashing. I sewed these strips straight together, not on the 45 angle. I did it this way because all the "angles" in the blocks and Sashing were Vertical - If you sew your sashing on the 45, those seams would look "odd" with the Verticalness (a word?) but how the Books and Shelves are vertical.
After the Sashing is sewn together, Start with Column 1 and sew a sash on the Right Side - Add this Sash to the left side of Column 2 and pin to make sure your Black Shelves line up across both columns. Sew another sash on the right side of Column 2, then Add Column 3 - again checking those black shelves. Do this all the way across. The last Column add the ending sash on the right side. Now sew a sash on the left hand side of the First Column. I hope this helps makes it Flat and not wavy.
Because every Column Begins and Ends with a Black shelf as well as having outer black sashing, this is done. It doesn't need to have Borders -- But that is up to you! This is the flimsy sewn laying on a Queen sized Bed. If I added Borders it would make a nice Queen size. Add larger borders to get the proportions to look right against the 2 1/2" strips of Sashing. If you add a couple of Wide borders this can easy go out to King Size! How cool is that? Right now I am leaning toward No Borders, but when it hits my work table again I could change my mind :-)
If you save the Selvage edges from fabric, you could add a tiny piece and give some of the "books" a title. Well YOU could :-) If you embroider you could possibly put a tiny title on some of the Books - That would look cool.
Enjoy and Please let me know if you have any questions!
:-Dee
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