Heart and Hearth Crafts

I’ve stitched my Little Miss a patchwork quilt for Brownie Camp. She asked for a Brownie quilt to take to her first camp and I had just the perfect colours of fabric in my stash. I couldn’t find a patchwork pattern online so I designed my own. There’s plenty of space for Girl Guiding badges to be sewn around the edges so that they can be displayed with pride. My Little Miss loves her new quilt.

If you’d like to make your own Little Miss her own Brownie (or Girl Guide) quilt here’ are step by step instruction’s a step by step tutorial for you.

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Sewing Supplies You Will Need

To make your own Brownie Camp Quilt you will need basic sewing and patchworking supplies. You’re going to need cutting tools to cut out your fabric, marking tools to mark your quilting lines, sewing thread, needles and of course fabric.

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Brownie Camp Quilt Patchwork Pattern

This patchwork pattern may look quite complicated but it’s made up entirely of strips of fabric and a few triangles. The quilt top only took me a couple of evenings to patchwork together. I’m sharing full step by step instructions on exactly how you can make your own Brownie Camp Quilt.

I use strip piecing patchwork techniques which make it much quicker and easier to sew patchwork. I also use a lot of techniques that save on fabric and make the most of scraps and repurposed fabric. I’m all about cutting the cost of sewing.

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Select Your Sewing Fabric

I’ve made my Brownie Camp Quilt out of an old fitted sheet that I was given when I bought my children a new bunk bed. It was a perfect Brownie bright yellow.

The brown fabric is an old duvet cover that I inherited and have always hated. One side is a nice enough cotton fabric but the top of the duvet cover was a horrible polyester fabric that felt plasticky and cheap.

The duvet cover has been hiding in my fabric stash for years and when I saw the yellow fabric I knew exactly what to do with it. They are absolutely perfect Brownie colours.

I get most of my fabric from Minerva Crafts. They have a great selection and very reasonable prices. This polycotton fabric would be perfect for making your own Brownie Quilt.

Or if you wanted to make this patchwork pattern for a Girl Guide, this red and royal blue fabric would be perfect.

You can use just about any fabric for this quilt. Light to medium weight woven fabrics such as quilting cotton are ideal. But you could sew this quilt from stretch fabrics, you’d need to back it with interfacing to stop it stretching first.

Thicker fabrics are more difficult to work with but it is possible. Ideally both of your fabrics should be the same or at least of a very similar weight and composition. If they vary too much your quilt will wear out faster as the heavier fabric will pull on the lighter one and your seams will be under more strain.

For beginners I highly recommend you stick to woven cotton or polycotton fabrics if you’re on a budget. Old sheets like I used are perfect for making into patchwork quilts.

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Prepare Your Fabric

Before you even think about sewing you should wash your fabric. This way if it’s going to shrink in the wash it will do so before you start sewing with it. Now I’ll be honest, I don’t follow my own advice. I have yet to be caught out with this but at some point I’m sure I will learn this lesson the hard way. So do as I say and not as I do and wash your fabric. But I’ll totally not judge you if you don’t bother.

Once your fabric is clean and dry you need to give it a good old press. Your fabric needs to be flat and free of creases so that you can cut accurately sized pieces to sew into your patchwork quilt. Accuracy is everything in patchwork. Because I was using an old fitted sheet I also needed to cut away the elasticated sides and remove the seams from the duvet cover.

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Cut Your Fabric

You can use any combination of colours you wish to make this quilt but for the purposes of this tutorial I will refer to the two colours as yellow and brown.

The strips can be composed of shorter strips than the lengths I’ve given but more fabric will be needed to accommodate breaks in the length.

Use a rotary cutter and ruler to cut the following strips of fabric:

Yellow Fabric

• 6 x 2.5″ x 14.5″ Strips
• 6 x 2.5″ x 10.5″ Strips
• 6 x 2.5″ x 6.5″ Strips
• 30 x 2.5 inch Squares
• 48 x 3 inch Right Angled Triangles

You will also need 4.5 inch wide strips of yellow fabric for the sashing, that’s the fabric that goes around the edges of the quilt block to make a border. You’ll need at least 25 feet of 4.5 inch strips.

Brown Fabric

• 6 x 18.5″ x 2.5″ Strips
• 12 x 8.5″ x 4.5″ Strips
• 12 x 6.5″ x 4.5″ Strips
• 12 x 6.5″ x 2.5″ Strips
• 6 x 2.5 inch Squares
• 48 x 3 inch Right Angled Triangles

You will also need lengths of brown fabric 2.5 inches wide for the binding. You’ll need at least 13 feet of 2.5 inch wide strips.

You will also need some fabric for the backing of the quilt. It will need to measure at least 90 x 80 inches.

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How to Sew Half Square Triangles

This is the only tricky bit. Get this step right and the rest of the quilt comes together like magic.

You need 8 half square triangles for each quilt block. There are six quilt blocks in this quilt so that’s 48 half square triangle blocks.

Each block of two half square triangle should measure 2 inches square when it is sewn into your quilt top. Assuming you are using a quarter of an inch seam allowance your half square triangle blocks need to measure 2.5 inches square.

There are a few different ways to make half square tringles. I use different methods depending on the size of my fabric scraps.

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Chain Piecing

This method of joining patchwork pieces saves time as well as thread.

When you are joining lots of sets that are the same, stack them next to your sewing machine with the right sides together. Sew the first pair just as you normally would. At the end of the seam don’t backstitch, cut the thread or lift the presser foot. Just feed the next pair into your sewing machine.

Keep going in a long chain until all the sets are sewn. You can keep them together on the chain until you need them.

This can be really helpful for pressing as you have all the pieces together in one long chain that you can lay out on your ironing board. I keep a pair of scissors close by my ironing board to snip the threads and make a neat pile of blocks once I’ve pressed them.

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How to Sew the Patchwork Blocks

Now it’s time to really start assembling your Brown Camp Quilt top.

Use a quarter of an inch seam allowance.

Press the seams towards the darker fabric after each step.

Step 1 – Sew Block 1

Sew one of your half square triangles to one of your 2.5 inch yellow squares.

Sew a second half square triangle to the other end of the square.

Make 18 of these blocks.

Step 2 – Sew Block 2

Sew a 6.5″ x 2.5″ yellow block to the bottom of your block from step 1.

Makes 6 of these blocks.

Step 3 – Sew Block 3

Sew a brown 6.5″ x 4.5 inch piece of fabric to one end of your block from step 2.

Sew a second piece onto the other end.

You need to make 6 of these blocks.

Don’t forget to press the seams towards the darker fabric after each step.

Step 4 – Sew Block 4

Sew a brown piece of fabric 18.5″ x 2.5″ to the top of your block from step 3.

You need six of these blocks.

Step 5 – Sew Block 5

You should have 12 of block number 1 leftover.

Sew a 2.5″ yellow square to one end of one of your block 1’s. Sew a second block 1 to the other end of the square.

You need six of these blocks.

Step 6 – Sew Block 6

Add a 14.5″ x 2.5″ yellow strip to the top of block 5.

You need to sew 6 of these.

Step 7 – Sew Block 7

You should have 6 half square triangles that haven’t been used yet.

Sew them onto each end of six pieces of yellow fabric measuring 10.5″ x 2.5″.

You need 6 of these blocks.

Step 8 – Sew Block 8

Sew block 6 and block 7 together.

You’ll need 6 of these blocks.

Step 9 – Sew Block 9

Sew brown 6.5″ x 4.5″ fabric pieces to each end of block number 8.

You’ll need 6 of these blocks – yeah you knew that already.

Step 10 – Sew Block 10

Sew block 9 and block 4 together.

Your block is really starting to take shape now!

Step 11 – Sew Block 11

You should have 6 yellow and six brown 2.5″ squares left. Sew them together.

Step 12 – Sew Block 12

Add brown 8.5 x 4.5 inch pieces of fabric to either end of block number 11.

Step 13 – Sew Block 13

And finally sew your two blocks together.

Give it a final press and admire your work.

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Add Sashing

Sashing is the strips of fabric that separate each individual quilt block. It’s used to visually separate and define each patchwork block. If all of these Brownie quilt blocks were sewn together without sashing the design would get lost in the chaos. Sashing makes them all stand out so you can clearly see the design. It also makes the quilt big enough to fit a single bed even though it has only 6 patchwork blocks.

But there’s the real secret – sashing makes patchworking easy! Say one or two of your blocks aren’t quite exactly right, because you’re a human being and you rushed that last block so you could get dinner started on time. Sashing makes all those little size imperfections disappear.

And it also stops those mad humps of mountains of overlapping seams that can plague complicated patchwork quilt designs. The seams can be pressed towards the sashing where they won’t interfere with any other blocks.

When you prepared your fabric you cut lengths of yellow fabric 4.5 inches wide for the sashing. Take one of these lengths and place it right side up. If you have any shorter lengths it’s usually best to start with these as you’ll need longer lengths as your blocks get bigger.

Place one of your Brownie Quilt blocks right side down on top of your sashing. Make sure that the seam you are sewing is along the top of the quilt block. Line up the edges as perfectly as you can and pin your block in place. Let the end of your sashing overhang the quilt block a little, you can cut off the excess later.

Sew the quilt block to the sashing using a quarter of an inch seam allowance. When you get to the end of the quilt block add the next quilt block butting it up against the first. You want to aim for maybe a millimetre between the two blocks. Make sure that there is enough sashing in your length to add the whole of the next quilt block, don’t let it run out half way through a quilt block.

Add sashing to the top of four of your quilt blocks. Press the seams towards the sashing. Then cut the sashing in between each of the blocks.

Next sew your blocks together. You will have four blocks with sashing along the top and two blocks without sashing. Start with a block with sashing and sew it to the bottom of another block with sashing. Then add a block without sashing to the top of this pair. Make a second set of three blocks. Press those seams towards the sashing.

Sew another, longer length of sashing to one side of one of your sets of three blocks. Sew the other set onto the other side of the sashing.

Finally sew sashing along each side of your set of six blocks.

And your quilt top is complete!!

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Make a Quilt Sandwich

Make a quilt sandwich by layering the backing fabric right side down, then the wadding then the patchwork right side up on top. Pin the sandwich together using safety pins placed every few inches. 

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Quilting

Quilt all the layers together. You can use any quilting pattern you like. A great option for beginners is to sew a line of stitching a quarter of an inch on the inside of each patchwork block. 

Because these blocks are quite large I also marked and stitched a line of quilting a couple of inches to the inside.

Trim off the excess wadding and backing fabric to make your Quilt top the right size.

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Bind Your Quilt

Place the length of binding along an edge of the Patchwork Quilt on the right side. Hold it in place so that the raw edges of the binding and the raw edges of the quilt top are lined up.

Stitch along this edge. I use a quarter inch seam. 

When you reach a corner of the Patchwork Quilt stop sewing a quarter of an inch before the corner. Fold the binding back at a right angle so that it is lined up with the next side. Then fold it back on itself along the next side of the quilted base. Start stitching again a quarter of an inch from the corner along the next side. 

Fold the binding to the wrong side of the Patchwork Quilt. Sew it in place. You can stitch the back on the binding in place by machine but I find it easier to sew this by hand. 

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Take a Look at Some Easy Patchwork and Quilting Sewing Projects

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Sewing Linky Parties

[Craftastic Monday Link Party] [Share Your Style] [Create, Bake, Grow & Gather Party] [Handmade Monday] [Wednesday Link Party] [Spread The Kindness Link Up] [Creative Muster]

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I hope you have enjoyed reading about my adventures in sewing.

Follow me on your favourite social media channel for more sewing inspiration and tips.

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I do hope my sewing project has inspired you to have ago at sewing your own.

Pop this post in your Pinterest board so you can find it later.

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