I’m enjoying mixing-up the pattern of squares in the Beginners Course quilt. The original 8×8 layout of squares placed in a diagonal pattern looks great, giving movement across the little quilt and encouraging makers to choose fabrics to suit their personal taste.

As you can see I stuck to the diagonal setting when I made the quilt alongside my class last term.

This time around I’ve rearranged the pattern into a Bargello style wave. Using relatively large squares – these are 5″ – is a quick way to achieve the Bargello effect without using the strip piecing method used to order fabrics into columns of varying widths. Read about my exploration of the Bargello technique in these popular blog posts: Jelly Roll Bargello Quilt – first block step by step AND Jelly Roll Bargello Quilt – progress and a free pattern.

Although it was a bit of a time consuming puzzle I did enjoy using up most of the left over Fat Quarter fabrics to create the pieced backing for my quilt.

Those leftover pieces from the eight Fat Quarters got me wondering if it’s possible to make a larger Bargello pattern quilt from eight Fat Quarters 🤔 The limiting factor being the number of 5″ squares that can be cut from a Fat Quarter: generally 12 squares unless the cut of fabric is particularly generous. I got out my squared paper and colouring pencils and had a go. I could only make the design one row and one column larger, finishing with a 9×9 layout.

If you’d like a free download of the 8×8 and 9×9 Bargello layouts then use this link: Layouts and Cutting Requirements for Eight Fat Quarter Bargello Quilts.

Allison