Cog and Wheel Quilt-A-Long {Part 1}

Goodbye July, 

hello Cog and Wheel Quilt-a-long!

Oh how I've been looking forward to really diving in to this pattern. Here we go!

What you'll need today:

-Your Cog and Wheel pattern

-your assortment of fabrics

-quilters template plastic 

-marking pens/pencils

-permanent marker

I like to streamline my piecing process as much as possible so my instructions will follow along that mindset.  I will say, however, that this pattern, more so than the single girl, does lend itself well to cutting out your pieces as you go block by block if you decide to go that way. 

1.  Pre-wash your fabrics 

(if you want to, I don't.  I like it to shrink up a little once its quilted to give it more of that antiqued look but if you are a pre-washer/ironer/starcher, now is the time to do it)

2. Cut out your templates.

First of all do NOT cut your templates out of the pattern page.  Pick yourself up some quilters template plastic (its cheap as can be at your local craft store) and trace it with permanent marker.  Its WAY easier to work with than the paper and you save your pattern (which is particularly important if you intend to hand-quilt your quilt).

Make sure you label them once you cut them out.  Many of the pieces are quite similar and you don't want to confuse them.  It also helps so that when you trace on your fabrics, you know you are tracing on the correct side.

3. Trace your templates onto your fabrics.

I started with my background fabric since its the biggest fabric piece and most cumbersome to deal with.

I was able to fit one 5R piece in between two the outside pieces which isn't how Denyse did it in her original layout but I'm all about squeezing as many pieces out of my fabric so I can minimize leftover bits.

4. Cog and Center pieces

To cut out my cog pieces I took all the fabrics I was using and cut them into sets of four 4.5" squares so I could mix and match which fabrics I liked in which combinations.  

I did the same thing with the center pieces.  I chose 9 fabrics that I wanted to use for my center pieces and cut one 4.5" square of each.

Once you have your squares, take a pile and the corresponding template, trace it on the top piece and cut all four while stacked up.

MAKE SURE: you have the template facing the proper direction.  I traced on the back of my fabrics so I used the template backwards.

Then get to cutting!

Feel free to email me with any questions!  

silverlilysews@gmail.com

Next up on 8/8: Piecing and sewing those curvy curves~~~~~~~~