How to Sew a Queen Trip Around the World Quilt
--Strip Method--
A trip around the world means that the matching blocks create a circle, starting in the middle and increasing the size of the circle towards the outside of the quilt. The quilt is assembled in quarters and then sewn together. The strip method just means that you sew strips together instead of squares. This can save you sooooooo much time, it is unbelievable! It also makes the sewing and the squares much more accurate.
You can make your quilt any size you want and you can make your "squares" any size you want. I chose to make my squares a little bigger so that the sewing time would go faster. As you pick and arrange your fabric prints and colors, the look will vary depending on what you put together. I made this quilt for my daughter, Amanda, when she was married and she picked five colors from JoAnn Fabrics. One mint green fabric is a print, but because it is so faint, from a distance it appears to be a solid color.
I like to use a map, or grid, so I make one up from Microsoft Word, using the "table" feature. You can also use graphic paper.
**insert grid here.
First cut all your fabric strips. I make sure the fabric is on grain and folded straight. I can cut up to eight layers of fabric with my rotary cutter. Using your cutting mat, rotary cutter, and ruler, accurately cut your strips and organize them by color. My finished squares will be 5" x 5", so my strips will be 5 1/2" wide. The finished quilt will be approximately 85" x 105".
Now, decide what order your color and prints will be and start sewing your strips together. I only have five colors, so I sew all five together, using 1/4" seam allowance. If your sewing machine has a special patchwork foot (or 1/4" foot), use that for accuracy. Make sure that the strips do not stretch out and become longer. Once all the strips are sewn together, press your seam allowances to one side. If you have a light color fabric next to a darker fabric, it is best to press to the darker fabric side so that it will not show through on the light color fabric.
Now you will sew the last strips together, forming a tube of fabric.
Insert a pressing tool inside the tube and press the final seam allowance to one side. Do this to each tube.
Now crosscut your strips the same width that you cut your unfinished strips. My cut will be __________________
Here is where the magic (and the giggling) begins. You now have squares that are sewn together and they look perfect. They are in circles and the stitches have been cut so be careful in handling them so that the stitches don't start to come unsewn.
You will start to unpick two squares apart, alternating where you unpick, depending on where you will be placing your strips. My first one is unpicked between the light mint print and the dark mint print. The next one will be between the dark mint print and the postal print. The third one will be between the postal print and the solid green fabric. You get the idea. These strips will be sewn together to start forming the quandrants of the quilt. Pin the strips together and sew them, being careful to keep your corners matched up.
This picture shows that I have assembled the four quadrants and have sewn them together. The quilt is still not the size I want it, so I take the remaining strips and start to lay them out where they need to be placed. Some may be in squares, rectangles, or just long strips. Do whatever works to your benefit.
Now the whole quilt top has been sewn, including the double border.
I was lucky enough to visit my sister, Janeen, who has an awesome long arm quilting machine. She helped me put the backing, batting, and top together on her machine.
I actually used a stylus and a pattern to follow along in the machine quilting. It was a lot of fun to do.
Once the quilting is finished, it is time to bind the quilt. If your quilt sides need to be evened up, do that first with your ruler, cutting mat, and rotary cutter.
I like to use the corner of the ruler to really square up my corners nicely.
I prefer the French fold binding method. If you want your finished binding to be 1/2", then cut your binding strips 3" wide. You may cut your binding strips on the bias for flexibility, but I find success with cutting my strips on the crosswise grain.
Measure the perimeter of your quilt to see how long it is. Then divide that number by the width of your binding fabric. Let's say your perimeter is 254" and your fabric is 43" wide. 254 ÷ 43 = 5.90. You need to round up the 5.9 to 6 strips to cut out, 3" wide.
Now it is time to piece your strips together. Place them right sides together, perpendicular to each other and sew a diagonal seam. This will prevent a bulky seam folded onto itself with six layers of binding.
Trim your seams to 1/4".
Press your seams open. Now you have one long strip.
Press your strip together lengthwise, with wrong sides together.
Now you are ready to pin the binding to the unfinished quilt. If you plan to hand stitch the final binding side to the quilt, machine stitch the binding to the face quilt side. If you plan to machine stitch the final binding side, machine stitch the binding to the back quilt side. That way your topstitching will show on the face side of the quilt. Do not start in the corner of the quilt, but start on one of the sides. Also, loosely lay your binding all around the quilt to make sure that you do not place your diagonal seams at the corners, where it will be very hard to fold your mitered corners.
*TIP: You need to check the "turn of cloth" before you begin sewing, to determine what your seam allowance will be. Pin where you think your seam should be, and then wrap the binding around to the other quilt side and see if the edge of the binding meets where the "seam" or pin is. If your batting is high loft, you may need a more narrow seam allowance. That is why it is important to test out the correct seam allowance for the thickness of your quilt.
My favorite presser foot to use is the walking foot. It will keep an even feed and you will not get puckers with your binding. Don't stitch the first 1" of the binding strip.
Put a pin 1/2" up from the bottom of the corner, to remind you to stop at the pin and backstitch. Then cut your threads and get ready to fold the binding strip for the mitered corner.
Lay your quilt on a flat surface and fold the binding strip up, forming a 45" tuck that meets in the upper right corner of the quilt.
Now fold the binding strip straight down, with the top fold even with the top of the quilt. Pin the corner.
Begin stitching, backstitch to the top, and then stitch forward to the bottom corner, once again stopping 1/2" before you get to the corner. Continue doing this for all four quilt sides.
Now you are ready to meet the beginning of the binding strip and finish. Overlap the strips 1" and cut off the excess.
Fold under the top strip 1/2", wrong sides together, and press.
Wrap pressed strip around beginning binding strip and pin together.
Finish stitching over the joint, and finish stitching the binding strip.
