Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Mini Color Wheel Quilt

As soon as I joined Doll Quilt Swap 4, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. A mini version of Purl's color wheel quilt. The most difficult part of this quilt was the initial planning, especially the math. I first figured out the dimensions of the color wheel. I decided to make the wheel about 20 inches in diameter, with a 4 inch diameter white center. This would give me about 2 inches of white around the whole wheel. I then figured out how many pieces I wanted in the wheel. The original used 52 pieces-- 14 in each section. I knew that many would be too difficult; they would just be too skinny. I decided on 32 total, 8 in each quadrant. I then figured out the size of each piece by dividing the 360 degrees of the circle by 32. This made each piece 11.25 degrees. I next used powerpoint to draw templates. I made a quarter circle template for the wheel and a circle for the white center. I also made a wedge template that was 11.25 degrees and 10 inches long with 2 inches chopped off of the middle. I added a quarter inch seam allowance and used the templates to cut out the 32 colored pieces. I then cut 4 13 inch by 13 inch squares out of white kona cotton, and used the templates to remove the color wheel sections. I sewed the colored pieces together into a quarter of a color wheel, then sewed the white pieces onto the outside. Last, I sewed the white center in. This was the most difficult part of the piecing. It required a lot of pins to keep the edges aligned and I ended up using some stabilizer to keep the points together in the center. I decided to use a solid teal linen blend for the back, and quilted in the ditch around the color wheel. I stipple quilted the center of the wheel, as well as the white background. I used a white linen for the binding, and added the label.

4 comments:

jacquie said...

This is so wonderful. I would love one hanging in my studio. Guess that means i need to make one. Great job!

Two Dogs and a Quilt said...

I saw your quilt on flickr and it's so beautiful. I've been wondering what a mini version of the quilt would look like. Thanks for your decription of how you figured the dimensions.

Lisa K. said...

Thanks for letting us in on the details! I love it!

karen said...

Hi - i am using this as inspiration for the dqs8 that I am making ... wish I had seen your measurements and calculations earlier...your quilt is beautiful. I think I am going to make a circle quilt with mine.