Fresh Cut Diamonds
by Amy Ellis of AmysCreativeSide.com
Hello, my name is Amy, I am a wife, mother of four and author of Modern Basics: Easy Quilts to Fit Your Budget, Space and Style.
Read more about blogger…
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, right? In quilts, diamonds can be a great design feature and with AccuQuilt, cutting is a breeze! My AccuQuilt GO!® Fabric Cutter is the perfect addition to my sewing space since I’m always rushing to finish one project and start the next.
Diamond Stars:
Classic and beautiful stars created with diamonds
Pieced Star:
Perfectly cut diamonds make for easy sewing
There is a number of ways to put diamonds together into a stunning quilt top. You can design them sashed, as pieced hexagons, or stars. Depending on your color placement, great patterns will emerge. Using the GO! Diamonds-4" x 4" die (55040) from AccuQuilt, it makes adding diamonds to your next project even more fun. I speak from experience too—a few years back, I cut most of a Jelly Roll into tiny diamonds and pieced them back together. I do not care to recall how many hours I stood over my kitchen table cutting the pieces—too many. The results were beautiful but not something I plan on replicating until I found the GO!® Fabric Cutter and the GO!® Diamonds die.
Perhaps one of the better known diamond quilts in recent years is on the cover of Kaffe Fassett’Kaleidoscope of Quilts. This quilt is pieced in strips and is quite simple to assemble after cutting is complete. Make sure to stagger your diamonds with a 1/4" of overhang before sewing in order to make a straight line. Once you begin sewing, it is much like joining binding strips.
The diamonds naturally want to become hexagons. With this there are Y-seams, but with a little practice and perfectly cut pieces, they aren’t difficult at all. Start by matching up and sewing one set of diamonds, just be careful to not sew the last 1/4" at the center. Press your seam to one side and add your third diamond. I like to use a few pins with this step as you are dealing with a bias cut. With the bias, it will stretch if given the opportunity. Work open your previous seam and start with one pin at the center. Match the points and then add a couple more pins to stabilize while you work the other side. Adjust the fabric so that the entire side is visible and again starting at the center, match the points and pin. Add a couple more pins and prepare to sew. Then starting on one end, sew from tip to center. Be careful to not sew the last 1/4" again. Take your needle out and adjust the pieces so no extra fabric is caught behind. Starting at the center, sew a 1/4" away from the edge and out to the point. Open up the block and make sure everything lies flat. Iron seams around the block. With careful color placement, these blocks are called “tumbling cubes”, or “tumbling blocks”, which is a traditional block. These can be easily made using fresh modern fabric choices.
Just follow these simple steps
Step 1: Match up and sew one set of diamonds
Step 2: Open the seam, matching points at the center and pin
Step 3: Adjust the fabric, match points again, and pin
Step 4: Carefully sew, stopping to adjust at the center point
Step 5: Press seams around the block
Chevron Table Runner:
Pieced with 4" Diamonds
These pieced hexagons can be combined to create stars in larger hexagon blocks. I’m feeling inspired to make a scrappy version of this with left over scraps from various past projects. Each side measures 7" and a quilt top would come together quickly.
Now having cut and sewn diamonds together in a few different ways, I love the options available. I quickly created a table runner for our kitchen table in no time. This was sewn in strips and then I added a couple extra diamonds at the ends with y-seams to bring it to a point. This chevron-like pattern is a great way to show off your favorite prints. A table topper is a great project to practice a new piecing skill.
Do you have the GO!® Diamonds die yet? If not, here’s your opportunity. I hope you’ve been inspired to try something new!
Watch Video:
Introduction to the AccuQuilt GO!® Diamond die
Watch Video:
AccuQuilt GO! Diamond in the Rough Die Set
About Blogger:
Amy Ellis is a wife and mom first, but blogging and connecting within the online quilting community have been a passion the past four years! Amy hosts the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival twice a year where bloggers and quilters of all skill levels are encouraged to share their quilts and the story behind them which often times makes the quilts that much more beautiful. Amy is also an author of Modern Basics: Easy Quilts to Fit Your Budget, Space and Style which encourages the next generation of quilters to figure out how to use the sewing machine tucked away in the closet to make beautiful quilts. As co-founder of the Sewing Summit, Amy understands that the blogging community is great, but meeting everyone in person is so much more fun! Look for details for next year’s event in the coming months and plan to join us!