The FREE Jane Austen Quilt Pattern

The beautiful Jane Austen quilt! A remarkable patchwork quilt that is thought to be made by Jane Austen herself, alongside her sister Cassandra and their mother. It was created in the traditional technique of English Paper Piecing, whereby fabrics are tacked or basted to a paper template and then whipstitched together. 
Myself and Robin have drawn up a meticulous reworked version of the original patchwork coverlet FREE for you to recreate this spectacular quilt as well. 

It features a medallion style diamond centre panel with a broderie perse appliqued design of birds and a basket of flowers. Broderie perse is the technique of selecting and cutting motifs from chintz and other such fabrics and needle-turn appliquéing them to different background fabrics to create a new design. We have omitted a specific appliqué design for the medallion centre, so you can create your own. The main section of the quilt top is then made up of diamonds pieced between a cream and navy dot sashing, finished with a deep border of smaller sized paper pieced diamonds. 

We have been asked to make paper pieces for the Jane Austen quilt for many years, and for one reason or another it always ended up on the back-burner. Though when I heard news of a Jane Austen At Home fabric collection to launch I knew it we had to make time! To one of our loyal Festival of Quilts shoppers each year (whose name escapes me now!) that always asked, can we do the Jane Austen papers - this is for you! ;-) 

We are offering a free downloadable 5-A4 page PDF pattern through Sew & Quilt. We also have printed copies if you don't have access to a printer, and prefer a hard copy rather than online viewing. Wow, it was quite the brain exercise to create and draw up the pattern, so much so that I'm not sure we would have done it had I known that from the start, lol! Download your Jane Austen Quilt Pattern here.

Quilt Size: 71” x 89”

What do I need to make the quilt?

You will need the Jane Austen English Paper Piece Kit to complete the quilt top. 

We have created two options for you;

- Starter size kit, which is just one regular size pack of each (+1 extra of one, in order to cut down, details included in the pack and on the product listing) of our standard sized bag options we sell at Sew & Quilt, put together as one item for you to purchase. 

- Complete kit, which includes all the paper pieces required to make the quilt top (though it doesn't include all of the small diamonds for the border, as we thought you could reuse some of those, given the large amount). 

We have all the information inside the pattern on total numbers of pieces, and the EPP kit product page gives details on pack sizes (if you wanted to work out how far the starter kit will get you). 

We also have matching acrylic templates, these include a 3/8" seam allowance. 

What fabric do I need to make the quilt?

We have provided yardages requirements in the quilt pattern, based on cutting rectangles, as noted this will be the most wasteful in terms of fabric usage. However this is the only way we are able to give you an accurate yardage requirement. 

You will need 22 fat quarters for the main quilt top. 

5-1/2 yards ~ 5.25m approx. (large diamonds). For our version, we have used 18 FQ's from the Jane Austen At Home Collection + an additional 4 which are duplicated.

I hadn't even thought to mention in the quilt pattern which ones they were (silly me!), but it's important you should know this information which is not included in the pattern:

The four duplicated FQ's for our design are; Elinor 04, Harriet 09, Margaret 11 and Penelope 15. 

4-1/2 yards ~ 4.25m, approx. (Cream with Navy Dot, for sashing fabric)

9 yards ~ 8.25m approx. (borders, I would advise using up your fabric stash as the pieces are very small so you don't necessarily need the same collection, just stick with on-theme prints. 

3/4 yard ~ 0.75m (binding fabric)

The photo above shows you can cut (24) 3" 5-point diamonds to a (UK sized) fat quarter. Our pattern says you can cut (12) to a FQ, because as mentioned above we have based this on rectangles. Instead cutting this way (using the Jane Austen acrylic template set) you can be more frugal with your fabric. 

The Jane Austen fabrics are sold out? 

If our Jane Austen FQ bundle and the 4 additional FQ's mentioned above are out of stock, don't worry. I would instead suggest you use our numbered key of 0-17 and gather other fabrics and label each print 0-17. That way you can still follow along with our numbered diagram. Remember you will need two FQs of numbers 04, 09, 11, 15, when using our cutting instructions from the quilt pattern. 

Find all our Jane Austen Quilt products online at Sew & Quilt. 

I really hope you have fun making this quilt, it is a beautiful design that has stood the test of time and will no doubt become a family heirloom - which is what we are all about at Sew & Quilt; 'Creating your future heirloom today!'.

Please share your versions of the Sew & Quilt Jane Austen quilt pattern, using the hashtag #JaneAustenEPPQuilt so we can share progress and updates online!

Churn Dash Quilt Block Pattern

Hello readers! The Churn Dash quilt block is such a simple but effective block. Always a classic. I have two construction methods to share with you today, regular machine-pieced or using English Paper Pieces, to keep all both camps happy ;-)

My inspiration came from some antique Churn Dash blocks I'd found on Etsy, they have a subtle pink gingham background with handsome 1800s reproduction prints. I'm just gathering ideas at the moment to give my sewing room a little spruce up so I thought some antique quilt blocks framed on the wall would be ideal decor. Then I realised ... wait I'm a quilter, I should probably make these myself?! And they sold, so I really had no choice.

The new Full Circle quilting fabric we have in stock at Sew & Quilt was just the ticket, couple that with the Pink Carolina Gingham I was in business! 

These blocks finish at 6-3/4" square (6-1/4" when into your quilt) so they would work well in a mini quilt, or adding as a border to a medallion quilt perhaps, or a whole quilt of these!

For the machine-pieced method, please follow the below steps;

Cutting

For each Churn Dash block you will need to cut the following;

From background fabric (Pink)

(2) 4" squares

(5) 1-3/4" squares

From coloured fabric (Green)

(2) 4" squares

(4) 1-3/4" squares

Block Assembly

1. Place a 4" pink and green square right sides together. 

2. Draw a line from corner to corner along the diagonal.

3. Sew a 1/4" straight line from either side of the marked line. 

4. Rotary cut along the marked line. 

5. Press seams open. You will now have 4 HST units. 

6. Trim to 3" square.

7. Sew a 1-3/4" pink and green square together. Make 4 units total.

8. Press seams open. 

9. Your units are ready to sew together!

10. Follow the placement below for sewing each of the three rows. 

11. Sew the three rows together to complete the block. Press seams open. 

For the English Paper Pieced method, please follow the below steps;



English Paper Pieces
2-1/2" Half Square Triangle paper pieces | matching acrylic template
1-1/4" Square paper pieces | matching acrylic template

Cutting

For each Churn Dash block you will need to cut the following (approximate sizing, which allows for acrylic cutting templates with 3/8" seam allowance);

From background fabric (Pink)

(2) 4" squares. Subcut diagonally to make (4) triangles.

(5) 2" squares

From coloured fabric (Dark Pink)

(2) 4" squares

(4) 2" squares

As a guide, from a UK sized fat quarter you can make approximately 7 blocks per fat quarter for the main coloured fabric (shown here as dark pink). With a US size fat quarter you can make 6 if you're accurate.

Block Assembly

1. Once you have cut your fabrics, baste your fabrics to the paper templates. I like to use the Sewline Glue Pen, but use your preferred method either glue or tacking. I have a detailed EPP basting tutorial if you needed more information.

2. Following the diagram below, assemble your block by sewing each row together using a whipstitch. I have a detailed tutorial on sewing EPP shapes together for further help on this topic.

3. Sew the three rows together to complete the block, easy peasy!

Fabrics used: Full Circle by Marcus Brothers and Pink Carolina Gingham by Robert Kaufman. Get all the quilting supplies on our site.

Thanks for sewing along with me! It's good to be back over here. Tag me on instagram @messyjesse1 or @sewandquilt so I can see your Churn Dash blocks.

Petite Christmas Stars Mini Quilt - Free Pattern!

HELLOOOOOO! Hello blog friends! It's been a loong time hasn't it? Much too long I think. 

I think many of you will know my business has taken centre stage the last couple of years so it hasn't left me with much spare time for blogging, but more on that another time ;-) today I wanted to share with you this little mini quilt I made recently. I had a creative itch for stars, red, pink and some sort of christmas theme and this was my result! 

Free pattern as follows;

Cutting
For the star blocks:
(6) 3-1/4" cream squares
(24) 1-1/2" cream squares
(12) 1-7/8" red squares 
(12) 1-7/8" pink squares 
(3) 2-1/2" red square
(3) 2-1/2" pink square

For the sashing, borders and cornerstones:
(4) 1-1/2" x 4-1/2" sashing strips 
(1) 1-1/2" x 14-1/2" sashing strips (please adjust this length if required)
(2) 3" x 9-1/2" border strips (please adjust this length if required)
(2) 3" x 14-1/2" border strips (please adjust this length if required)
(4) 3" square cornerstones 

Block Assembly
For each star block you will need the following: 
(1) 3-1/4" cream square
(4) 1-1/2" cream squares
(4) 1-7/8" coloured squares (either pink or red)
(1) 2-1/2" coloured square (either pink or red)

For each star block you will need 4 flying geese units. Please follow my diagrams below for assembly - this is the no waste method! 

1. You need (1) 3-1/4" cream square and (4) 1-7/8" coloured squares to make 4 flying geese units.
2. Sew 2 coloured squares to the white square. Draw a line diagonally through the centre. Sew 1/4" from the drawn line on each side. 
3. Cut on the centre drawn line. 
4. Press the coloured squares flat. Lay another 1-7/8" coloured square on top and draw a line through the middle and sew 1/4" either side as before. Repeat step with other unit. 
5. Cut through the centre on the drawn line. Repeat step with other unit. 
6. Press seams flat - you have made (4) flying geese units!




Once you have made your (4) flying geese units assemble your block as follows. 



Square up your star block to finish at 4-1/2" square. Make 6 star blocks total. 

Quilt Assembly
Assemble your quilt top following the diagrams below. 
1. Sew the short sashing strips to the star blocks alternating between sashing and block to make a unit of 3 star blocks. Make two units. Sew the longer sashing strip inbetween the two units. 
2. Measure your quilt top and adjust the border cutting measurements above if required. Sew the shorter border pieces to the top and bottom of the quilt top. Sew the cornerstones to the ends of the longer border pieces. Sew longer border units to sides of quilt top. 


Finishing
1. Press your quilt top. 
2. Cut a backing fabric and batting 2" larger all around, than your quilt top. 
3. Make a quilt sandwich with your backing facing down, your batting and quilt top facing upwards. Quilt layers together following your preferred method. I hand-quilted my quilt using Aurifil 28wt in Light Beige and used a Tulip Hiroshima, Quilting needle size 8. 
3. Cut (2) 2-1/2" x WOF strips for your binding. Join strips together to form one continuous strip. Sew to quilt top following our favourite method.


Size: mini quilt measures approximately 19" x 14"

Fabrics used: 
Various fabrics for star blocks and borders etc all available from Sew and Quilt. 
Sashing fabric, border fabric, binding fabric. 

Now don't say I don't treat ya' ;-) happy sewing friends, it's so lovely to have you back again. Until my next post, feel free to follow me on Instagram @messyjesse1 and tag me with your #petitechristmasstarsquilt progress and finished articles! I'd love to see them. Comment below if you enjoyed this post and fancy making one! I promise not to leave it so long next time! ~ Jessie

Winter Wishes Christmas Table Topper Tutorial

It's my stop on the Riley Blake Stitch 'n Kitchen Christmas Blog Tour today, so I'm sharing my Winter Wishes TableTopper pattern which you can make in no time for your festive table this year. Learn how to make my *delicious* recipe for authentic Cornish Fairings biscuits as well, also known as the best ginger biscuits ever! ;-)

The Recipe:
Title: Winter Wishes Tabletopper

"Making" Time: One evening
Notes:  Please read through all instructions carefully. Seams are 1/4" unless otherwise stated. RST means right sides together. Press seams open unless otherwise directed. 

Ingredients: 

White fabric 1FQ

Red fabric (4) Fat Eighths

Green fabric 10" x 10" square

Binding 1FQ

Backing 1FQ

Instructions: 

Cut the following;

* From each red 1/8, cut (1) 2-7/8" strip. Sub-cut into (5) 2-2/8" squares, you need (20) squares total. Cut (1) 4-1/2" square from each red fabric, you need (4) total. 

* From the green fabric sub cut your 10" square into (4) 2-1/2" squares. 

*From the white fabric cut (1) 2-1/2" strip, sub-cut into (8) 2-1/2" squares. Cut (4) 2-7/8" strips, sub-cut into (20) 2-7/8" squares. 

1. Draw a diagonal line through from one corner to the opposite corner of each of the 2-7/8" white squares. Place a white square with corresponding red square RST together, sew 1/4" from the each side from the drawn line. Cut along the drawn line. Open and press seams to the dark side. You now have two complete half square triangle (HST) units. 
Repeat steps for remaining squares to make 36 HST units. 


2. Assemble your block as follows. Your block should measure 6-1/2" square.


3. Assemble your blocks in two rows. Join rows together. Press all seams open. 

4. Cut an 18" square from backing fabric and batting. Make a quilt 'sandwich' with your quilt top, batting and backing fabric. Baste. Quilt as desired. I chose to machine quilt at 1" intervals diagonally through the centre. 

4. Cut (2) 2-1/2" x WOF strips for binding. Piece together. Press in half length lengthwise (wrong-sides together) to create your binding. Sew to quilt top, miter corners and fold and hand-sew to the backside to finish. 



I hope you've all been enjoying the Riley Blake 'Stitch'n Kitchen' blog tour. Hop over to the main page for all the details with lots more sewing ideas to make and Christmas recipes to enjoy. Thanks for stopping by, Jessie

The Recipe:
Title: Cornish Fairings Biscuits

"Making" Time: 30mins

Ingredients: 
100g Butter
225g Plain Flour
2tsp Baking Powder
1tsp Ground Ginger
2tsp Mixed Spice
100g Caster Sugar
4 tsp Golden Syrup

Instructions: 
Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. 
Lightly grease 2 large baking sheets. Put the flour, ¼ tsp salt, baking powder, bicarb and spices in a food processor. Add the diced butter and mix until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Tip into a bowl and stir in the sugar. 

1. Gently warm the golden syrup in a pan, add to the mixture and stir to form a dough. Roll the dough into 16 medium-sized balls, and spread them on the greased baking sheets at least 2cm apart. Bake for 8-12 mins until golden. 
   Cool on the trays before transferring to a wire rack.
   
   
   Voila! Now enjoy that lovely Christmassy mixed spice taste! I eat them all year round too! (Thanks mum!) Hope you enjoy them too, Jessie

Great Granny Twist with Lori Holt - Blog Hop

The 'Granny-Square' quilt block is absolutely one of my all-time favourite blocks, and today I'm sharing a super fun project using Lori Holt's Great Granny Mini block, with a twist! Quite literally in fact … 


I'm putting them on point! By adding some setting triangles and corner setting triangles the finished blocks are ready to turn into a pillow! I'll be showing you how to set any size block on point with the quilty maths. 

This is part of the Great Granny Twist Blog Hop, where bloggers have been invited to put a spin on a project from Lori Holts book. You can read all the details on the rest of the blog tour with Fat Quarter Shop here and find out what the rest of the bloggers have come up with. Such a fun idea, thanks FQS! As well Kimberly, from FQS has put together this video tutorial of her twist on the Granny Square block using appliqué circles. 



I pulled some crazy bright fabrics from my stash for this special project! The blue floral print used in the triangles is a vintage fabric I've been hoarding for *just* the right moment and I think it makes for quite a striking finish! I had lots of fun choosing the fabrics for the blocks for an eclectic mix of modern and old - I even fussy-cut the centre block with some vintage stichery taken from an embroidered tablecloth. 

I hand-quilted using Aurifil 40WT thread using the Fat Quarter Shop Finishing Set. It worked a treat! I'm so pleased I took the time to hand-quilt. 





First, make up 5 Great Granny Mini blocks, according to Lori's instructions featured in the book. Once you have your finished 6-1/2" blocks we need the following calculations to determine what size to cut our pieces. Adjust the finished block size to make any quilt block on point. 

Corner Setting Triangles

6.5" (finished block size) / 1.414 + 0.875 = cut size of square 

Cut square diagonally to make 2 finished (Half Square) corner setting triangles.

Side Setting Triangles

6.5" (finished size of block) x 1.414 + 1.25 = cut size of square

Cut square diagonally twice, to make 4 finished (Quarter Square) side setting triangles. 

Assemble your pillow top as follows. (Navy squares are your finished Granny Square blocks.) Piece together in rows, then add the corner setting triangles to the each corner. 

                            

These measurements finish slightly oversized triangles so you have lots of wiggle room to square up your quilt top. I have a tutorial from a few years ago on how to finish your pillow with an envelope closure. 


Granny Square 'mini' block by Lori Holt, adapted with permission by Jessie Fincham.
You can purchase the book from Fat Quarter Shop here, and if you're in the UK you can purchase the book from me at Sew and Quilt. 

1930s Farmer's Wife QAL - #23 Charlotte / Rotary Cutting Tips

I'd completely forgotten how much I loved making these little Farmer's Wife blocks! It was such a pleasure rummaging through my scrap bins and stash auditioning different fabrics for each one. Thank you Kerry for inviting me this week on the 1930s Farmer's Wife Quilt Along, I don't think I would have got round to making one if I didn't have a special post to write. 

The big stack of blocks above are all from my original Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt, which I happen to make in 1930s reproduction fabric, so it's completely fitting for today's QAL blog post - so they made an appearance ;-) I started making these quite a few years ago but still haven't got to the finish line with it, I thoroughly enjoy making them (which can be extremely labour intensive), so I'm in no hurry! I'm all about the sloooow sewing…

I really love the new addition of the miniature diagram thats included on the pattern page of each block. How fun. I know this is used for foundation paper piecing directions, but I thought it might be a nice memento for a quilt journal with some watercolour paints perhaps as well? 

Says the girl that hasn't even finished all the blocks from the first quilt? I know, I know. 

1930's Kona Solid Fat Quarter Bundle, available at Sew and Quilt.

I digress, back to the #23 Charlotte block, which you can find on page 182 of the book. I rotary cut and machine piece, as I have done with all my FWQ blocks. There are rotary cutting templates provided, in addition to the foundation paper pieced ones. Just print them out on regular paper (they have a 1inch size guide on the page so you know you're printing out at the correct size, which of course I didn't on first time, oops. I succeeded on second attempt by selecting the US Letter page size in my printer - you might want to also use something like 'do not scale' etc). 

Most often I will dig through my stash as they are such tiny pieces you really don't need much. If I use yardage I'll rough cut a strip larger than the template and rough cut a larger shape than the template. I will often fold the strip to double over, depending on how many pieces are required for that fabric/shape. 

I usually stack about 2-4 pieces (depending on how sharp my rotary blade is) and trim off the excess, lining up with the edge of the template. Turn and cut, turn and cut, being careful not to shift too much. I use a mini rotary cutting mat that spins, not sure why it didn't make the picture? 


Once you're all prepped you're ready to go. Chain piecing makes life much easier here. Once I'm done with the chain I'll bring it straight over to my iron for pressing (without too much handling) and trim the threads while at the iron station to save time going back and forth. 

And here she is all finished! I went for a different colour combo than the book version. I used Corn Yellow Kona solid, which is a really bold yellow that packs a punch, alongside an old Mother's Melodies print I used to sell a few years back in the shop. The opposite side is my favourite green, Aloe Kona solid and a matching Pretty Posies print by Darlene Zimmerman. I have a popular Kona bundle I put together for Sew and Quilt, which is a complete FQ bundle of all 22 official 1930's Kona solids. They are perfect for this QAL!



Of course I couldn't leave without sharing some 1930's repro eye candy from Sew and Quilt with you! *plug, plug, plug*. On the left is the delightful Pretty Posies FQ bundle, it's subtle and sweet without bring over the top, plus it's 10% off ;-) On the right is a special Farmer's Wife FQ bundle I put together for the release of Kerry's QAL. What a great bunch hey?!

If you fancy joining in VeryKerryBerry's QAL, you can find all the details here. Kerry has lots of helpful tips and information on making the blocks using the foundation paper pieced method and other bloggers have been hosting to share their tips on the different methods of construction also. There is also a very useful errata page thats kept up to date so do take a look. (I reported no problems with my block).

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week! 

Quick Update

My new quilt pattern will be ready for release soon. I'm tweaking the pattern here and there and working on some last minute edits. The newly named Penny Tiles quilt has arrived back from the long arm quilter with a lovely Baptist Fan design, I'm really happy with the outcome so once I'm done with the binding I'll share the full reveal! Exciting!

I'll also be planning some quilt kits hopefully! A loooovely delivery of Liberty Tana Lawns arrived this week for Sew and Quilt, so I've been busy petting and admiring for the last few days...

As well I don't think I could write a blog post today without mentioning the terrible events that have happened in Paris last night. Devastating. This is a photo from my trip to Nantes this year, my first time visiting the country. I've never been to Paris, but its a place I've always wanted to visit and hope to someday.