Zephyr QAL Week 2: Cut Background Fabric

It's finally time to start your Zephyr quilt! This week we are cutting our background fabric. When I make a scrappy quilt, I prefer to cut my scrappy pieces as I go along so I can balance it as necessary (and because I always seem to find a fat quarter hiding somewhere that is perfect for the project that I am working on). However, I know some of you have all your fabric picked out already, so I am going to offer a few tips for cutting the pinwheels as well.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When I started cutting my quilt, I noticed a small error in the cutting instructions for the twin-sized quilt. I have fixed the problem and a new version of the pattern is available. Please see the note at the bottom of this post for instructions on how to get an updated version.

Background Fabric

Zephyr includes instructions for making the quilt in five sizes, and the cutting information is all in one table. To start, hide the information that you don't need - you can stick a post-it note over the sizes you don't need or block it out with a Sharpie. My Zephyr is going to be twin-sized so I am using the center column of the cutting chart.

The chart tells you what needs to be cut and how to cut it. The top box in each row tells you how many pieces you will be cutting; for example, I need 90 A squares. The bottom box tells you how to most efficiently cut those squares.

So first I cut my strips:

And then I cut my squares:

Then repeat for pieces B and C! B and C are very similar in size, so make sure you label them when you are finished cutting.

Scrap Set Fabric

The chart for the scrap sets works the same way; I am focusing on the center column because I am making a twin-sized quilt.

Each scrap is used for a single pinwheel; my twin-sized quilt has 36 pinwheels so I will need 36 scraps. From each scrap, I will cut 2 D squares and 4 E squares. The "Total Pieces" line tells you how many total colorful pieces you need to make the entire quilt and is more confusing than helpful. When I fixed the error with the cutting instructions I went ahead and deleted this line from the pattern. If your pattern still has this line, please see the note at the end of this post so you can get an updated version of the pattern!

The pattern gives you suggestions for how to cut your fabric pieces based on if you are using a long and skinny piece of fabric or if you are using a more square piece of fabric. The diagrams assume that you are using directional fabric in your quilt, like most of the blocks in my Christmas Zephyr.

If you are NOT using a directional fabric, feel free to draw those diagonals in the same direction and cut your Es from a single stack because it doesn't matter in the final quilt.

But if you ARE using a directional fabric, you'll want to cut the fabric as the diagram shows so that everything ends up in the same direction in your finished top - you'll have one rail pointed each north, south, east, and west so you need to cut your fabric to accommodate that.

If you do precut your colorful scraps make sure you keep your D and E pieces from each fabric together so you aren't hunting for matches next week when we start sewing our rails together!

Conclusion

I hope that clears up any confusion you may have about the cutting instructions in the pattern - if you have any questions at all please reach out to me and I will help you. I want this to be fun, not stressful! Remember to label all your cut pieces and next week we will begin to sew everything together!

Prize

Congratulations to last week's winner, Vickie, who posted her lovely batik fabric pull on her Instagram account @vpdonnelly! This week I want to see your cut background fabric! Post a photo on Instagram with the hashtag #zephyrqal and tag me @bluepipdesigns to share! Next Sunday I'll randomly select one post to win a prize of your choice: a PDF copy of any pattern from my pattern shop (including Zephyr!) or a selection of layer cake squares from the Whimsical Romance collection.

Updated Pattern

If you have already purchased the pattern, you can email or DM me (via Etsy or Instagram) with your email and Etsy order number and I will send you a link to the updated pattern. If you still need to purchase the Zephyr pattern, it has been updated in my shop and new purchases will automatically receive the updated version! You have one more day to save 15% with the code ANYSIZE.

Mailing List

Want to join the BluePip Designs mailing list for exclusive coupons, new pattern info, and quilt-along updates right in your inbox? You can do that here!