We hope that you have enjoyed your week of quilting and that you are on the way to making your very own amazing Union Station quilt.
It is time to bring your blocks together using the Union Station finishing instructions. The download gives you the steps to follow to piece your quilt top. It is easy to put together and with this post, even if you encounter a problem you will be able to solve it and finish your amazing quilt.
Setting a quilt on point isn’t hard, even for a first-timer. What becomes a little tricky is the math you need to do to put a straight set border on an on-point quilt. But I’ve done all of that hard stuff for you!
What is the difference between on-point set or straight set?
Straight set is when the blocks of the quilt are sewn together in a straight row that goes horizontally or vertically across the quilt.
On-Point set is when the blocks are positioned with the corners of the blocks lined up vertically and horizontally on the quilt top with the rows assembled diagonally across the quilt top.
Taking a block and setting it on-point can change the look of a block very quickly. If you’ve never tried it, take a moment and look at your blocks on-point to see how different they look. It gives you a whole new perspective.
In this quilt the blocks are sewn into three rows with oversized setting triangles on the edges of the blocks. The setting triangles provide the correct vertical and horizontal orientation for the blocks and rows.
Once you have your rows constructed, you trim them straight and even, with perfect ¼”seam allowances (remember, the triangles were sewn on oversized). Once you have trimmed your rows and have a ¼” seam allowance beyond the points of your blocks, the rows of 12” blocks should measure about 17½” wide and 51½” long. The row of 6” blocks should measure about 9” wide by 51½” long. On-point blocks give you weird numbers so you can usually only be close to a nice, easy measurement. These measurements are within a tenth of the actual measurement so it is likely your rows will come to these measurements.
To make a pieced border fit an on-point quilt top you usually need to add spacing strips to the quilt. That is what we do in Union Station so that your quilt top will fit with the pieced border that you made last Wednesday. We have to use two different size strips so that the height and width are what we need. It is easy to hide the fact that you used spacing strips that are different width by matching them to the fabric around the edges of your quilt. In our quilt you see that we used the background. It makes the whole project look like it is floating.
As you know everyone sews a bit differently, so it’s possible that once you have sewn your three rows together the quilt top center might not measure 43”x 51½”. If this happens you will need to adjust the cut size of the spacing strips to compensate. If this happens, you will need to cut your spacing strips wider or narrower than the stated size in the finishing instructions. To make this easier for those of you in this situation, we’ve figured out the numbers for you and put them in a download, here.
Giveaway
And now for a pop quiz! No, seriously, I hope you've been paying attention to all the posts that have been published this past week. For your chance to win one of three Steam Engine fat quarter packs, head over to the entry form here!
Acknowledgements
We hope you have as much fun creating your very own version of Union Station as we did! Remember to share your progress and finished project with us on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest (please tag us with @studio180design and #WhistleStopBlogHop #UnionStationQuilt #SteamEngine so we can admire your work). We can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Thank you for joining Studio 180 Design’s Certified Instructors Karen Overton, Michelle Hiatt, Marie McKay, Gail Renna, Kathie Beltz, Jackie O’Brien, Tammy Silvers, Carolyn Ratola, Tina Dillard, Bonny Peters, and Island Batik on the Whistle Stop Tour Blog Hop. A special thanks to Sarah Furrer (another of our fabulous Certified Instructors) for all on her hard work behind the scenes, designing, planning, coordinating and making this happen. We couldn’t have done it without her!
As always, thanks for reading!
Deb
