Prairie Point Tutorial

Okay here's my first tutorial. Hope it all makes sense.

Cutting:

For my prairie points on the zigzag quilt I just used the leftover 5" squares from making the 1/2 square triangles so they fitted around my quilt perfectly. If I had a quilt that measured say 48" x 60" I could either make 2", 3" or 6" squares depending on how big you want your prairie points. For 3" prairie points you would need to cut 72 squares or for 6" prairie points you would need to cut 36 squares.

Next fold each square in half to make a rectangle. Press fold. Then fold each corner from the folded side down to the centre to form a triangle as shown in above photo. Press again.

Your pressed triangle should look like this one (above).

Place triangles folded sides down on right side of quilt with raw edges even and points overlapping.

Sew in place making sure to keep the batting and backing clear of seam. I sewed this seam on the wrong side of the quilt top with the prairie points underneath to ensure the other layers were not in the way.

Next trim away the batting by approximately 1/4 to 1/2 " to reduce bulk for next step.

Fold backing seam allowance over and hand stitch in place. I like to use a ladder stitch
for this step.

Well I hope you can all understand these instructions! If you have any queries please feel free to email me and I will gladly try and help.

The Zigzag revealed!

I'm really pleased with how this quilt has turned out and Caitlin loves it too. It's a throw size and because its machine quilted and far from perfect I am not as precious about it as I am with her other hand quilted one. As I was finishing the quilting on it I decided that I was going to use up the leftover squares and do prairie points instead of the usual binding. I have always wanted to put prairie points on a quilt and I think this quilt really lends itself to them. They were quite easy to do except that on the long sides the quilting goes all the way to the edges so I had to undo 1/2 an inch of those lines and re-sew them once I'd completed hand sewn the backing around the edge. No drama really just took longer than I'd anticipated. Next time I won't quilt all the way to the edge if I'm putting on prairie points. I thought in a later post I could do a tutorial on 'prairie points' so you don't have to go searching through books and magazines like I did to find out how to do them.

With the quilting I just followed the zigzag pattern and did 5 lines along each 'zigzag' and then an extra zigzag between every 2nd pieced zigzag which created the intersecting lines . I had no problems with puckering on the back only a little on the front which I can put up with. I can thoroughly recommend the use of basting spray although I also pinned it just to be on the safe side.

I love the back as much as the front!! I used up some leftover 1/2 square triangles for a strip down the centre which I think goes really well with those prairie points. I also love the main backing fabric because it reminds me of a drawing set called 'Spirograph' that I had as a child and still have.