Hey Quilting Enthusiasts! ✨ It’s Gina here, and guess what? Even if you’re swamped with your daily routine, quilting is still totally doable. Take inspiration from Dina Pappas, a super-mom of two kiddos, who found a brilliant way to quilt! With her method, you’ll use fewer fabrics, spend less time, and still assemble a stunning quilt.
So, what’s Dina’s magic formula? It’s all about the fabrics! She generally goes for three distinct fabrics:
1. A simple one that plays the background role ️.
2. A vibrant one, usually a dense floral print, bursting with medium to large blooms .
3. The game changer: what Dina refers to as the ‘edge fabric.’ This is the bridge between the plain backdrop and the colorful floral. In her iconic book, ‘Quick Watercolor Quilts’, she picks prints where the floral designs and background contrast beautifully .
The spotlight in her method shines on the edge fabric. Once that’s picked, every other choice just flows. The background fabric? It syncs with the edge fabric’s background. The flamboyant floral? It has identical hues and flower types found in the edge fabric.
Cutting fabric doesn’t eat up Dina’s time. No intricacies here; she snips them into straightforward 2″ squares. She’s outlined six unique edge patterns based on how the floral motifs and the plain background are distributed on each 2″ square. ✂️
When assembling, she meticulously chooses edge patterns, creating mesmerizing watercolor effects every single time. It was this very edge-pattern sorting that gave me my big ‘Eureka!’ moment in understanding the magic behind watercolor quilts .
Assembling is also a breeze. Dina uses fusible interfacing drawn with a 2″ grid. Once the squares are arranged, she fuses them onto the interfacing. Then, it’s just folding along the grid and stitching a 1/4″ seam. No endless chain stitching or time-consuming thread trimming.
Within her book, she dives deep, teaching you to pick the right patterns to craft curves in wreaths and hearts, making borders, and even using background squares for machine applique. If watercolor quilts seemed like a mammoth task before, Dina’s speedy method is your go-to!
| Details | Description |
|---|---|
| Fabric Count | 3 |
| Main Fabric Types | Background, Floral, Edge |
| Square Size | 2″ |
| Assembly Method | Fusible Interfacing |
| Seam Size | 1/4″ |
