It all started nearly 20 years ago with a window screen constructed from polyester sheers and rug canvas… I designed and created this screen as one of my City and Guilds assignments. At the moment this window screen covers the south facing window in my studio to keep the hot summer sun out. Fast forward to June 2019:

The concept of the Mock Cathedral Window Quilt made by machine appealed to me very much.

I raided my hand-dyed fabric stash…

…and determined the size I wanted to work in. With the help of my trusty Omnigrid compass, I drew circles that would accommodate 6″ centre squares.

I used PFD cotton to create the inner lining for my circles.

I placed each white circle onto a square of hand dyed fabric…

…and stitched each with a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Excess fabric was carefully trimmed away.

Next, I cut a slit into the white fabric to create an opening for turning the circles.

The circles were first pressed to ensure the circle was even, then I drew a 6″ outline for the inner square and…

…proceeded to press the four partial circles to the inside of the square. I bet you can understand the whole concept already!

Now it was time to join the circles. I placed two circles with right sides together and stitched along one of the marked lines.

Unfolding the circles and pressing will ensure the fabric rows begin to appear.

Adding batting for warmth was a personal choice. Traditional Cathedral Window Quilts don’t usually have batting. They are often considered to be Summer or warm weather quilts.

A square of contrasting fabric tops the batting. I secured it with a pin to avoid shifting. 

Here is a look at the quilt in progress on the design wall. 

I chose a decorative stitch on my sewing machine to secure the partial circles and add quilting at the same time.

Variegated thread is always fun to use!

Here is the completed Rainbow Quilt…

…and a last close up look of the front…

…before we look at the back, complete with label.

I think Eliana likes it. She unwrapped it and immediately spread it out on the ground to flop onto it!

The quilt was presented after she “graduated” from Pre-school.

09 Jul This entry was published on July 9, 2019 at 9:12 pm. It’s filed under Creativity Update, Design, Journaling, Sharing Resources, sharing touching the soul, Something to Smile About, Special Project, staying in touch, Tutorial and tagged blogging, Design, family, Inspiration, just for fun, Learning, Mock Cathedral Window step-by-step instructions, patchwork quilt instruction, quilting instructions, rainbow colour scheme, using hand-dyed fabrics. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.