Gecko Quilt

This A4 sized quilt is made entirely by hand. It features a gecko bead and fabric from the African Fabric Shop. I don't usually piece by hand, but I enjoyed making this quilt which took me about 4 hours. It uses the traditional English Paper Piecing method and can easily be adapted to make a smaller or larger quilt. Instructions with pictures are on the Gecko Quilt Pictures page.
  1. Take a piece of A4 paper and with a pencil draw 2 lines across at about 6cm from the top and 14cm from the bottom. Then draw in the 2 zig-zag lines. The left hand line starts 11cm from the top left, to 7cm from the left, to 10cm from the left, finally to 3.5cm from the bottom left. The right hand line starts 7cm from the top right, to 10cm from the right, to 6cm from the right, finally to 8cm from the bottom right.
  2. Now turn the paper over and number each of the nine pieces. Turn it back again and take another sheet of A4 paper and trace over the design.
  3. Taking the paper with the numbers on, carefully cut each piece out by hand.
  4. Take pieces 2, 5 and 8 and place them on the fabric you have chosen for the central stripe. I used a plain fabric so that the gecko button would show up.
  5. Pin the pieces onto the fabric with the numbered side up and cut them out with about 1cm extra all the way round.
  6. Fold the fabric over the paper, pressing with your fingers so that it stays. You can iron it over but it is a fiddly job and you need to take care not to burn your fingers.
  7. Tack the seam allowance down with a thread that contrasts with the fabric you have chosen. I use big stitches but make a small stitch at each corner to make sure they stay down.
  8. Now choose your fabrics for each side of the stripe. Place your stripe pieces onto the uncut piece of A4 in the correct position. Fold fabrics into rectangles and move them around till they look right. I then used a window cut from a cereal packet to make sure I was happy with it.
  9. One by one, take the correct pattern piece, I started with piece 1 which was for the giraffe fabric, and pin it onto the fabric. Cut it out with a 1cm seam allowance, press and tack as before. Be careful if you have a fabric with a pattern that needs to be in a certain direction, I nearly had upside down birds.
  10. With all the pieces prepared, stitch pieces 1,2 and 3 together to make the top strip. I used a contrasting machine sewing thread so that the stitches show up on the front of the quilt and look good. Pin pieces 1 and 2 together matching the edges, then carefully whipstitch the pieces together. Just take your time and use lots of tiny stitches which only stitch the fabric and don't go into the paper pattern. Pin piece 3 on and stitch in the same way.
  11. Stitch pieces 4, 5 and 6 together to make the central strip. Stitch pieces 7, 8 and 9 to make the bottom strip.
  12. By hand or with an iron press the strips flat.
  13. Pin the top strip to the middle strip and stitch along the seam with whipstitch again.
  14. Pin the bottom strip on and attach it with whip stitch.
  15. Now you do really need to iron the whole quilt top. Get an adult to help.
  16. Cut out a piece of batting exactly A4 size. Cut out a piece of backing fabric which is A4 size plus about 2cm all round. Place the batting onto the wrong side of the backing fabric and fold the 2cm seam allowance over it. Again you really need to iron the seam allowance to make it easier.
  17. Take you quilt top and carefully undo the tacking and take out each paper piece. Place your quilt top over the batting and backing and take a moment to admire how lovely it looks. Then pin it all around the edge.
  18. Using the same thread you used to sew the pieces together, use blanket stitch all around the edge. This holds the seam allowances in place.
  19. Now it is time for quilting. I decided to use 3 strands of embroidery cotton and just do running stitch along each side of the stripe. On the left I used blue thread in the stripe and yellow thread on the blue fabrics. On the right I used brown thread in the stripe and yellow thread on the brown fabrics.
  20. Finally attach the gecko button. I did't want stitches to show on the button so I came up through the whole in the gecko, threaded on a small bead and then went back down the hole in the gecko again. I did the same with the other hole.