Fresh Diamonds {Easy Quilt Tutorial}

Fresh Diamonds was my first quilt to make the front cover of a magazine. I was super proud (and still am). Remember THIS post?

I give away or sell most of my quilts – but Fresh Diamonds is still with me. I can’t bear to part with it.



Even though I can’t part with it, I thought it was time.

Time I shared the tutorial for this quilt. It is quite simple to make and great for beginners wanting to take that next step up from piecing squares.

Fresh Diamonds
Finished quilt measures approximately 50” x 54”
Double the fabric listed below, to make a large twin bed sized quilt.

Materials Required:

2 x charm packs OR 72 x 5”x5” charms (I used Bliss by Moda)
1.5 yard of a solid fabric (I used kona cotton in white)
3 yard co-ordinating fabric for the backing
½ yard co-ordinating fabric for binding
60” square of batting
Neutral thread for piecing
Ruler and lead pencil
Cutting mat, rotary cutter, ruler
Iron and ironing board
General sewing supplies

Cutting:

Solid fabric - cut 9 x 5” strips from the fabric width. Cross cut 5” squares from these strips to yield 72 x 5” squares.

Co-ordinating binding fabric – cut into 2.5” strips

Construction:

Place 1 coloured charm and 1 white charm together, right sides facing.
With your ruler and pencil, draw a straight line diagonally across the white fabric square.

Sew ¼” on either side of your pencil line.



Do this for all of the squares.

Once the squares are all sewn together, use your rotary cutter and ruler to cut on the pencil line





Cut all of the squares along the pencil line.

Open and press the squares to the coloured side.

Trim the HST blocks to 4.5”squares. This process is tedious, but for best results, it’s a must.





Now either use your design wall (or if you don’t have one) find a large space on the floor, bed, table etc and begin to arrange your HST blocks in a manner with which you are pleased.

12 squares across and 13 squares down.





Sew the squares together, row by row and press the seams to alternate sides.




When the quilt top is all sewn together, press it well.

Piece your backing if required and press well.

Lay the backing fabric right side down on a hard surface and use masking tape to secure it, ensuring the fabric is taut but not distorted. Layer the batting square over it, then the well pressed quilt top.

Baste the 3 layers together with safety pins.

Quilt as desired. I used a free motion meandering pattern all over the quilt.
Bind and it’s finished. I haven’t given steps on how to make and sew on the binding. There are many great tutorials online. Let me know if you’d like me to direct you to some.




If you make a Fresh Diamonds Quilt, I’d love to see it.

Send me a photo or add your quilt to the Samelia’s Mum Flickr Gallery.

I’ve written up this tutorial as best as I could, but if you spot something that needs fixing, please let me know. Thanks :)

Happy Sewing!!!