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| Mystery Quilt Block 1 |
Welcome to the official start of our very exciting adventure of The Mystery Quilt, beautifully created by the wonderful Monique Dillard, of Open Gate Quilts! It's the one thing that you just won't find anywhere else: The unique thrill of a mystery quilt-along. The excitement of selecting a harmonious color scheme, painstakingly cutting into your favourite prints and then tackling the initial few seams without having an idea of the overall design is pure heaven in quilting. Let's get down and dirty and learn all about Block 1 in order to get your project started with confidence.
Make sure that you have a solid foundation to ensure you have a good start.
Block 1 is the introduction to this 8-block mystery game, and is focused on setting the rhythm and learning the basic units. Monique Dillard is known throughout for her beautiful traditional designs using clever and highly efficient piecing techniques.
The design is strongly focused on creating a good value contrast between the fabrics in this first part. Since the final arrangement is still kept secret, it is crucial to make the right placements of your light, medium and dark fabrics at this stage. The structural units that are pieced in this block, create amazing secondary patterns when pieced with upcoming blocks; the accuracy at this stage is of utmost importance.
Block 1 Success – Top Tips
Here are some key tips for the sewing machine to make sure your first block is nicely square and will nest correctly in the future:
- Test your seam allowance: Chain-piece your units but make a quick test piece to ensure that you are getting an exact and scant 1/4-inch seam.
- Starch for Stability: If you use a crisp fabric starch before cutting, you will create extra stability to your pieces and prevent any small triangles or bias edges from getting stretched out of shape.
- Keep Your Background Strips and Accents Organized: Label them with small labels or sticky notes so they're easy to find and separate.
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Mystery Quilt Block 1 is available for a free download from AllPeopleQuilt:
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Final Thoughts
Block 1 is the ideal introduction to the thoughtfully designed approach of Monique. It helps you develop confidence in your building skills, get your hands on the fabric that you want to use and gives you a great head start on the other seven steps.
