Keyboard Kaleidoscope Block of the Month Support Tutorial

Join Tammy as she shows you the secret behind making the the kaleidoscope blocks in our Keyboard Kaleidoscope Block of the Month program! Tammy will guide you through managing large fabric cuts, identifying fabric repeats, precise pinning, and cutting your kaleidoscope blocks.

In this tutorial, you'll learn:

• How to divide a 3 yard cut lengthwise so it's easy to handle.
• How to find and measure the repeat in your fabric.
• How to cut (4) identical repeats and stack them perfectly.
• The pinning method that keeps all four layers registered.
• How to audition your block with Long Magic Mirrors by Marti Michell - 4.5" x 11.5" before you cut.

Check the links for everything you need.

INTRODUCTION

Grab a pen for notes and a cup of your favorite beverage, and let's get started!

Work from the Shabby Fabrics cutting guide for this project. Refer to the pattern as needed, but the cutting guide is the one to follow. We've done it in full color so you never have to wonder which fabric is which. It's all laid out clearly for you.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• Clover Flower Head Pins. These are invaluable for this project. The flat heads let your ruler lie perfectly flat over them, which is what gives you clean, accurate cuts. 
• Creative Grids 2.5" x 24.5" Ruler #CGR224. A long ruler is a favorite for measuring repeats across large cuts.
• Creative Grids 9.5" Square Ruler #CGR9 for marking your squares.
• Long Magic Mirrors by Marti Michell - 4.5" x 11.5" for auditioning your blocks.
• Rotary cutter with a fresh blade.
• Frixion Clicker Pen for marking your cutting lines.
• Clover Patchwork Pins (Extra Fine) for piecing the blocks.
• Clover Wonder Clips handy for keeping each set of four together, and for holding your binding later.
• Guidelines Seam Guides .5" x 2" - 6 Count. If an accurate .25" seam gives you trouble, setting a guide on your machine can make a real difference.
• Schmetz Topstitch Needles - Size 80/12 with extra sharp points for consistent and accurate stitches.
• Aurifil Color Builder 3 Piece Set - Carrara - Black/White. The black, white, and gray set covers the basics, and this set is a wonderful option. White was used to assemble this quilt.
• Clover Seam Ripper (just in case).
• Creative Grids Self-Healing Rotating Cutting Mat 14" x 14" and the biggest workspace you can manage.

PART 1: DIVIDING YOUR 3 YARD CUT

1. Open your 3 yard cut and line it up so all your folds match at the top.
2. Using sharp scissors, or a rotary cutter and ruler, cut the fold off the top edge.

That leaves you (2) pieces, each three yards long and roughly 21.5" to 22" wide. Two pieces at 108" long are far more manageable than a single piece at three yards by the full width of fabric.

Why lengthwise? The repeat in your fabric runs down the length, not across the width. Cutting lengthwise keeps each piece's repeat intact, which is exactly what this technique depends on.

Work with one piece at a time. The two halves are not identical, so you'll run this entire process twice, once for each piece.

PART 2: FINDING YOUR REPEAT

A repeat is a specific portion of the design that occurs again and again. Track along your fabric until you find exactly the same flower, the same leaf, the same detail.

1. Pick one very specific point. The tip of a particular leaf works beautifully.
2. Lay your long ruler along the fabric and measure from that point to the identical point on the next repeat.

On the fabric shown here, that measurement came to 23.75", so for all intents and purposes this is a 24" repeat.

PART 3: CUTTING FOUR IDENTICAL REPEATS

You need (4) identical pieces from this half of your fabric.

1. Leave a little space at the beginning. Don't cut right at the very edge.
2. Come to your repeat point and lay your long ruler down, checking that everything lines up straight.
3. Position the ruler so you'll cut .25" to the left of your repeat point, and cut.
4. Fold the fabric on that cut, move it over, and match your repeat point to the next one. It should sit almost exactly on top.
5. Cut .25" past the same leaf again.
6. Keep going until you have (4) pieces.

You'll have roughly 12" to 14" left over at the end. You need about 96" of the 108", so there's around a foot of wiggle room built in. That's a comfortable margin.

When this half is done, go back and repeat the whole process with your second piece.

PART 4: STACKING & PINNING

This is the most exacting part of the process, and once it's done the rest is just fun!

Choosing Your Pin Points

Look for something very defining that you can hit exactly on every layer. The tip of a dark leaf, a sharp point, the little V where two leaves meet. Always pin into a distinct printed detail rather than an open area, since open space gives you nothing to register against.

The Pinning Method

1. Working on your cutting mat, hold a Clover Flower Head Pin perpendicular to the surface and hold it firmly.
2. Pick up your first piece of fabric and pop it onto the pin, right through your chosen point.
3. Lift the pin, take your second piece, and put the pin through exactly the same point in the design.
4. Pop that layer down and repeat for the third and fourth pieces.
5. Wiggle everything gently to smooth the layers out, then lay the pin down and pin it in place.

How Many Pins, and Where

Use quite a few. A good measure is roughly a hand's width apart, with no unpinned gap larger than your hand anywhere in the stack.

Start on an edge and work across. Pinning a piece that's 24" by 21" is very manageable this way, which is exactly why we cut the fabric down first.

Clover Flower Head Pins earn their place here. Their flat heads let your ruler sit completely flat over the top of them, and a flat ruler is what gives you clean, careful cuts. You can also slide them along the fabric to get them out of your cutting path.

This part goes faster than you'd expect once you get the hang of it. And once it's finished, the hard part is behind you.

PART 5: AUDITIONING & CUTTING YOUR BLOCKS

The Ruler Workaround

The largest square you need is 9.25" x 9.25", and rulers don't come in that size. Use a Creative Grids 9.5" Square Ruler to cut, then trim .25" off two sides afterward. That gets you there exactly.

Audition with Magic Mirrors

Since this is a 4-patch kaleidoscope, a pair of Long Magic Mirrors by Marti Michell - 4.5" x 11.5" lets you see exactly what any section of the fabric will look like once it's spun around.

1. Set your mirrors on the fabric and move them around until you find something you love. A large rose landing in the center makes a gorgeous block.
2. Once you've found it, set the mirrors aside and lay your ruler in that same position, using an Mirror Angle Holder set to 90 degrees to keep everything square.
3. Trace around the ruler with a Frixion Clicker Pen.

Lay out all your squares before you cut anything. Getting them positioned first means you're never cutting randomly into your fabric.

Cutting Around the Pins

Now take the ruler off entirely and look at your traced line. This is the other reason for tracing: you need your eyes on the pins rather than on finding your measurement.

1. Scan the line you're about to cut and locate every pin in the way.
2. Where you can, slide a pin along so it stays in the fabric but sits clear of your cutting line.
3. Where a pin sits directly across your path, take it out completely.
4. Lay your long ruler along the traced line and cut.
5. Turn the stack and work around all four sides the same way.

Once a pin comes out, leave the fabric exactly where it is. It's tempting to sweep or straighten things, but the layers are registered and you want them to stay that way. Set the pin aside and carry on cutting.

Keep your eyes on the blade and the pins throughout. Meeting a pin with a rotary cutter is worth taking the extra moment to avoid.

Trim to Final Size

Your cut stack measures 9.5" x 9.5". Now that the block is cut, you can unpin it. It doesn't matter if the layers shift, because you're about to separate them anyway.

Open the stack up and trim .25" off two adjacent sides of each piece. That brings you to a perfect 9.25" x 9.25".

Set the surrounding fabric aside. It's ideal for all the smaller blocks you'll be cutting.

PART 6: ARRANGING YOUR BLOCK

Here's the creative part, and it's where every quilt in this program turns out different.

1. Separate your (4) identical squares.
2. Set them together as a 4-patch, rotating each one as you go so the design spins around the center.
3. Try it more than one way. Bring the roses toward the center for one look, out toward the edges for another.

You have four different options with every single block. Keep rotating and see what appears. Some arrangements put a beautiful bloom right in the middle, others send the pattern out around the outside, and both are lovely.

Play with them to your heart's content. When you've settled on an arrangement you love, sew the 4-patch together with .25" seams and your large block is done.

Accuracy matters on these seams. These blocks go on to be framed or set into stars, so they need to finish at the right size for those elements to fit. If a .25" seam is a struggle, find the quarter inch on your machine and set a seam guide to it. Your blocks will come out beautifully.

Keep your sets together. As the small blocks pile up, a Clover Wonder Clip or a pin through the center of each group keeps every set of four identified and together.

Every quilter's blocks will finish differently, and that variety is one of the loveliest things about this quilt!