Quilt Patterns
Double Struck Star Quilt, Part 1
Happy Worldwide Quilting Day!
In honor of all you amazingly talented and creative quilters out there, we’ve asked the FABULOUS Jennifer Ball to write another three-part blog series about her recent Double Struck Star quilting coup, and she has obliged!
Modern Appeal
Hi everyone!
Are you ready to start a modern quilt project? Gather up your supplies, and let’s get started on the Double Struck Star quilt by Krista Moser of The Quilted Life. This pattern uses a really terrific layout to show off bright and colorful modern fabrics against low-volume neutrals in the background.
For this quilt, you need the 60° Ruler designed by Krista Moser in addition to your basic quilting supplies.
Fabric Selections
This quilt uses three different colors to create the large, partial star. You can choose any three colors, depending on the look that you want. You could choose complementary colors for a bold star or maybe you want to choose monochromatic colors for a subtle star. For each color, you need six fat quarters so be sure to pick fabrics with a range in value from light to dark for the best effect.
For my quilt, I used the same overall color scheme as the pattern cover features: greens, turquoises, and oranges. I used a mix of modern, small-scale prints and solids. Large-scale prints will likely be too distracting and may not work as well in the finished quilt.
For the background, I used a selection of six different neutrals, ranging from light to dark. I used the darkest gray for both background triangles and for the star shadow border. You can definitely use a different fabric for the shadow border. You can also use more fabrics in the background for a scrappier look.
Let’s look at my fabric choices:
Neutral Fabrics
Grey Wilmington basic
Carolyn Friedlander Basic
RK Whisper Prints QC in White
Cotton + Steel Netorious Quilting Cotton in Kerchief
Star Fabrics
Aboriginal Koko’s String Quilting Cotton in Green
Hoffman Indah Solid Quilting Cotton in Kelly
Elizabeth Hartman Terrarium Starlight Quilting Cotton in Olive
Lotta Jansdotter Lemmikki QC in Lime
Andover Color Theory QC in Mustard
Giucy Giuce Polaris Quilting Cotton in Jade
Art Gallery Texstiil Quilting Cotton in Emberglow
Alison Glass Persimmon Circle Fabric – Sun Prints 2016
Windham “Good Hair Day” Bobby Pins Quilting Cotton in Sea
Cotton + Steel Sprinkle Quilting Cotton in Kimberly Blue
The medium-scale turquoise print Figo Special Delivery Quilting Cotton in Teal (shown at the bottom of my colorful fabrics) is probably too distracting. I used that fabric and it works fine in the finished quilt, but I wish that I had selected a smaller-scale print for that piece. Feel free to audition different fabrics if a particular fabric just doesn’t feel right to you.
Arrange Your Colorful Strips
In the pattern, step 1 directs you to cut the right end of each strip off at a 60° angle. I skipped this step because it is not necessary, and I found it too hard to line up each of the colorful strips while piecing them together with the 60° angle cuts.
I pieced together my first set of three colorful fabrics, and then I cut out the triangles. Here’s a look at my orange strips after I mixed them into groups of three strips. I made four strip sets of each color family for variety.
Trimming the Triangles
After sewing your strips together, press the seams in one direction, and then cut the 6.5-inch triangles using the 60° Diamond ruler. Once you have pieced, pressed, and cut out all of your colorful triangles, you may need to trim them up a bit. You want each triangle to be 6.5-inches before we start to piece the triangles together to form rows.
I placed my triangle on my cutting mat, and then I lined up a 6.5-inch wide ruler with the bottom of the triangle. I then trimmed the triangle along the top. Follow the same process to make the background triangles.
In my next post, I’ll show you some tips for piecing the triangles together!
Happy quilting!
Jennifer, @nwquiltedcat
