FIREWORK STARS - Free Tutorial - Made with all 2.5" Strips!

 31" x 39" 

Hi everyone!  To celebrate Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and the beginning of Summer, I would like to offer my blog readers this free quilt pattern to try.  This quilt top is made up of nothing but 2.5" strips!  This quilt can be made completely scrappy from your stash, or with a brand new shiny jelly roll!

I am part of a group of fabric swappers called "QuiltvilleSwap" and so the fabrics in this top are all fabrics that I swapped with other quilters from around the world.  Feel free to join us HERE

 This quilt sews up quickly and would be a great weekend project! Feel free to finish this quilt however you choose, but in a separate blog post, I will explain in detail the way I chose to do the quilting for these quilts. 

Instructions are for 3 small wall-hanging quilts.  Divide materials by 3 if you would like to just make ONE quilt.  I give instructions for 3 because it uses 1 whole jelly roll of fabrics without any leftovers.  If you make just one, you will have some leftover strips and pieces.  

You can substitute 1 Jelly Roll and divide the fabrics into LIGHTS/MEDIUMS/DARKS.  

Darks = blue, Mediums = Red, and Lights = Neutrals

Amounts required are approximate, may need more or less depending on fabric

WOF = width of fabric 

FABRIC REQUIRED:  (includes binding)

12 WOF Blue 2.5" Strips

12 WOF Red 2.5" Strips

16 WOF Neutral 2.5" Strips

3 yards fabric for backing  (1 yard for each quilt)

3 pieces of batting 35" x 43" 

MATERIALS:

Sewing Machine in good working order

Quilting Pins

Spray Starch

Steam Iron 

Scissors

Red, Cream, and Blue Threads (thread to match fabrics)

Thread for piecing

Rotary Cutter 

Self-Healing Mat

6" x 24" acrylic Ruler Fiskars 6x24 Inch Acrylic Ruler (187620-1001)

EZ Angle Ruler or Fons and Porter Flying Geese Ruler 

or

Optional:  Darning Foot, Walking Foot

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut all of your Full WOF strips in half. 

 We are going to be working with HALF WOF strips throughout this quilt.  

Lay out all of your strips and press with starch.  Make sure you PRESS and not IRON, so that the strips do not bow in the center. 

 1. Pair together a NEUTRAL strip with a Red or Blue strip and lay them RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER on your cutting mat.  Make a stack that is 4 layers-thick.  Red and Neutral strips, right sides together, and then Blue and Neutral strips, right sides together.
Cut Half-Square Triangle Pairs with your Triangle Ruler.  You will need 288 triangle PAIRS for the 3 quilts, or 96 each.   If you have 12 different red fabrics, and 12 different blue fabrics, you will need to make 4 cuts from each stack.  
(Click HERE for a tutorial on how to use the EZ Angle Ruler)

Each triangle stack should give you 1 RED/NEUTRAL pair and 1 BLUE/NEUTRAL pair.  Since they were sewn right-sides together, they are already ready to go through your sewing machine.   

 Sew all of your Triangle Pairs and Press them toward the dark side.
(do as I say not as I do please lol)

 Trim dog ears.  

After cutting triangles.  You will then need to cut 48 2.5" SQUARES from each color. 

 Arrange your sawtooth blocks according to the graph below.  

The combination of Red/Blue/Neutral triangle pairs will not give you an even amount for 1 quilt, so please arrange your star blocks according to the following photo:  

 Start by sewing together the columns of the blocks.

Follow the chart for seam pressing direction

 Once the columns are sewn, sew together the rows.   Press Red block seams to the left, and blue block seams to the right.

 Arrange your blocks the way you want them to appear in your quilt.  If desired, label each row 1, 2, and 3 to stay organized.

 Butt seams together and Pin.  Sew Rows , then columns to complete inner quilt top.

BORDERS:

For the borders we are going to take HALF of the blue strips and HALF of the red strips, whatever you have left, and use those for the borders.  The REMAINING half will be used for binding!

 Take HALF of your remaining BLUE strips, cut in half LENGTHwise.  to make 1.25" strips.

 Arrange your strips in an order that will be pleasing to you in the final quilt.

 Pin together the 1.25" strips at the short ends and sew together.   **LOWER your stitch length and/or lock your stitches for this part!     REPEAT THIS STEP FOR HALF THE RED STRIPS

Next, we will go ahead and make the binding.  Take the remaining blue strips and sew together on the diagonal as you would if you were making binding.   REPEAT FOR REMAINING RED STRIPS

Sew together your remaining neutral strips like you would binding.  The neutral strips will be your large scrappy inner border.

Now start assembling your quilt top as shown. 

Border 1

Measure your quilt top horizontally and cut top/bottom border (1.25") and sew.  

Measure your quilt top vertically and cut left/right 1.25" border and sew.  

Border 2

Measure your quilt top horizontally and cut top/bottom Neutral 2.25" border and sew. 

Measure your quilt top vertically and cut left/right 2.25" neutral border and sew.  

Border 3

Measure your quilt top horizontally and cut top/bottom 1.25" border and sew.

Measure your quilt top vertically and cut left/right 1.25" border and sew.  

This is what your 3 quilt tops should look like when finished.  

Layer, Baste, and Quilt your quilt as desired!  Remember we have already sewn our Binding strips so they are ready to be attached to your quilt.  

Please go HERE for quilting tutorial and finished details.   

Thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed this tutorial for "Firework Stars"

If you make this quilt I would LOVEEEE it if you would share it with me so I can share it with my facebook followers!

If you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment or email me at KatiesQuiltsandCrafts@gmail.com

This tutorial is for your own personal use please no mass production. 

Hi!  I work very hard and I have a family to support now, so if you buy from amazon or craftsy then please consider clicking through one of MY links so I get a portion of the profits! Thanks so much!