Welcome to Week 2 of the Newport Sails Quilt Along! This week we start cutting and sewing!
By now you “should have” your fabric and pattern. But remember there is no deadline you have to meet. Go at your own pace – no one here is judging! All the newsletters will be on the blog and all the video tutorials will remain up forever on YouTube so you can refer to them whenever you need them, as many times as you need them.
Remember to post your progress on Instagram using the hashtag #NewportSailsQAL2021 so we can all see your beautiful quilt!
Week 2: Sails
This week we’re making templates, cutting, and piecing the 3 sails per block. Next week we’ll finish the boats.
Templates. Even if you have the Everyday Curve Templates, you still need to make the template for the B/L unit. Use printer paper, freezer paper, or your favorite way to make templates.
Small Sails. These are simple stitch and flip units. Keep in mind that you’ll need some right facing and some left facing depending on which size quilt you’re making.
Medium Sails. Keep in mind that the L medium sail template has blunt ends. This is to cut the B rectangle. For the L sail piece, cut straight along the long side. There’s no need to blunt those ends. This will be obvious how they work when you are actually cutting and piecing this unit.
Large, Focal Sails. These are the most fun part of the quilt – both to make and to look at! Cutting is very simple with the templates, you use the entire A template to make the sail part and line up the B template with the background as shown in the pattern. See the video below for how to pin and sew the curve
Weekly Video Tutorials
Click here to see this week’s video. If you subscribe to our YouTube channel while you’re there, you’ll get notifications every time we post a tutorial.
Weekly Live Q&A:
Join us Thursday for our second weekly Q&A session. If you joined us last week, we had a bit of a snafu with technology and Trisch wasn’t able to join in. This week we hope to rectify that and she’ll show you all the versions of Newport Sails we’ve made – along with lots of other info, tips, and hints!
If you don’t know, each week on Thursdays we host a live Q&A Session on Instagram (3 p.m. CST/9 p.m. UTC) if you need just a little more help or clarification on anything at all – or maybe you just want to spend some time with like-minded quilters. You can submit questions ahead of time here or post them during the live session.
It is important that you follow us on IG to get notifications about these events. If you haven’t done so yet, here’s the link: Everyday Stitches Instagram
Don’t worry if you can’t make the live session. We’ll post it to our Instagram page after so you can watch it whenever you have time. We hope to see you this Thursday for our first one!
Pattern Clarifications
As we mentioned last week, Newport Sails was our very first Everyday Curve pattern. Since then we have learned a lot about writing these patterns. Although there are no errors in the pattern you have, there are things that need to be clarified. Those are outlined here.
We’re addressing this today because we know there are some of you who will want to work ahead, which is ok. We just want you to have the info before you cut. We’ll mention these again each week as necessary.
The Template Diagrams p. 6-7. The printer we used at that time couldn’t line up the templates across two pages so we had to break them out awkwardly. If you’re making templates, be sure to trace them joined up at the hash marks.
Fabric Requirements. For the wall hanging, you need 1-1/2 yards for the Background/Sky, NOT 2-1/2 as stated.
Cutting Half Blocks p. 2. The cutting chart is a bit awkward for cutting half blocks. The top measurement is for cutting the top row half blocks and the bottom measurement is for cutting the the rest of the half blocks.
There are no half blocks on the top row for the wall hanging and 1 each for the lap and throw sizes. There are 2 other half blocks for the wall hanging, 3 for the lap, and 4 for the throw.
Cutting the Left-Facing and Right-Facing Blocks. The sailboats are both right facing and left facing, with more facing right.
To get the left-facing blocks, just place your fabric wrong side up and cut at the same time as the right-facing blocks, which are cut right side up.
Our QAL Progress
We are making the Newport Sails quilt along with you! Each week we’ll chronicle our progress and tell you things we’ve learned along the way.
Jenifer’s Quilt
I’m doing the wall hanging size, so cutting went really fast. It’s fun sorting through all the novelties and picking out the right ones. I look for a balance of color and value when deciding which ones to use. I don’t want the top to look lopsided with too many darks v. light or too much saturated colors v. white background. I’ll reveal my choices next week!
Trisch’s Quilt
Fair Warning: I’m not nearly as good about taking process photos as Jenifer is.
My sails are in all states. Some pieced, some trimmed, some waiting to get some attention! That’s what I’ll be working on this week. I hope you will find some time to work on yours too!
Winner! Winner!
Congratulations to @langmary! Mary won the Woodland fabric bundle (shown above) from Windham Fabrics last week!
How to Enter Week 2 Giveaway
This week we have another great giveaway! (Remember, this is for US residents. If you are outside the US, you’ll get a free pdf download from our pattern catalog – or you can pay shipping if you prefer the prize.)
To enter, post a picture of your cutting space on Instagram.
Show us how you work. Do you work messy with all your fabric and tools piled close by or are you a neat-nick and have everything organized and in its place? Tell us all about it! Don’t forget to use the hashtag #NewportSailsQAL2021 so we can all see!
The drawing will be Thursday, September 9. This is a quick turnaround so don’t put off posting!
We’ll draw a random winner during the Instagram Live session at 3 p.m. central. Winners will be notified by email or direct message.
Have a great week getting started and we’ll see you on the hashtag!
Darn! Wish I’d known the little red piece was something I should keep. I threw it away thinking it was just trash.
Yes! It’s very helpful. You can use any 1/4″ tape you have on hand or cut a 1/4″ guide from a piece of paper and tape it to the bed of your machine if you don’t have the original pink one.