I'm back with a Mismatched Stars and Stripes Quilt to tell you about. I made this one in the spring using a lovely bundle which I thought looked springy. With the stars and wonky stripes of this pattern spring is the perfect time to make a new version to be ready for Independence Day.
One thing I love about the Mismatched Stars and Stripes Pattern is just how fast it all comes together. I took me just a short couple days of working on this project to have the whole quilt top finished.
Get your copy of Mismatched Stars and Stripes here.
About the Pattern
Mismatched Stars and Stripes was inspired by one of my favorite holidays in the United States, Independence Day. I have so many fond memories from my childhood of this special holiday. It's also the day my husband and I met so there's that. It is such a fun day of community with neighbors and friends celebrating our country.
When I designed this pattern I didn't want someone to look at the quilt and right away think "American Flag." The different width of stripes in this pattern really help give the quilt a bit of a different look from the usual patriotic quilts you might see. It also helps give that modern feel I am going for.
Here are a couple things I really love about this pattern:
- The pattern is Fat Quarter friendly.
- Strip piecing is used to make sewing fast!
- The pattern is Jelly Roll (2 1/2 in. precut strips) friendly.
- The Stitch and Flip method is used to make the flying geese blocks, so no trimming.
I love any Fat Quarter friendly quilt pattern! I have a hard time matching fabrics and love any quilt pattern I can use a curated fat quarter bundle with. Fat Quarter quilt patterns make choosing fabrics so easy.
If you are new to quilting and don't know what strip piecing is, it's when long pieces of fabric are sewn together and then cut into smaller units, instead of lots of tiny pieces of fabric sewn together individually. Strip piecing cuts down on time. The stripes in this quilt are sewn using strip piecing, which mean they come together quite quickly.
If you don't know what a Jelly Roll is, it's 2 1/2 in. precut strips rolled together. Mismatched Stars and Stripes can be made by replacing what is listed as background fabric with a Jelly Roll. I have made it before using a white Jelly Roll. This saves time on cutting. Or... you can make the quilt inside out, meaning the background fabric is made from a patterned Jelly Roll and the fat quarters are replaced by yardage which becomes background fabric.
I like to buy Jelly Rolls here.
To see my "inside out" version click here. Below you can see the difference between the quilts below. The quilt on the left has a Jelly Roll used for what is listed as the background fabric. The quilt on the right is made the traditional way.
Mismatched Stars and Stripes includes three sizes:
- Baby (32 in. x 40 in.)
- Throw (48 in. x 64 in.)
- Twin (72 in. x 96 in.)
I really should add queen size to the pattern because this pattern would look pretty on such a large bed and I feel like people would really like to make larger sizes. Let me know if you want a larger size. :)
About this Quilt
Like I said, I had this bundle lying around for a while. It came with a different pattern which was also very cute. However, I thought the fabrics would make such a perfect spring time Mismatched Stars and Stripes Quilt that I decided to use them for this project.All the accent fabrics (fat quarters) in this bundle are made by Ruby Star Society for Moda Fabrics. I really love their modern fabrics and the colors they use. This is a curated bundle which includes fabrics from different designers.
I'm not great at choosing background colors. I tend to go safe with white fabric. So that's what I did. I have been really loved the bleached Bella Solids White fabric lately. I bought a whole bolt and it's so nice to easily start a new project by having a large bolt handy.
My favorite part of making this quilt was seeing all the stars come together. I love how they all look. And like I said earlier, all the stripes come together quickly. The stars are really the hardest part of the pattern.
Pressing for this quilt is generally pretty easy because the seams don't line up. For this reason the seams can be pressed to one side which is my favorite kind of pressing.
You can see my partially finished quilt top below.
I'm just going to say, I love the tiger fabric. It's my favorite. The end. :)
Here is the finished quilt top. I asked my husband to hold it up for me and it happens the day I took this it snowed, even though it was the beginning of May. I mean... really?
This throw size is a good size to quilt yourself. I love to send my quilts out for someone else to quilt. However, with a smaller quilt like this it just makes sense for me to quilt it. And it's good for me to not get too lazy about doing the whole quilting process.
I quilted it using the wiggly line stitch (obviously the correct name of the stitch). I started by quilting every 1 1/2 inches across the quilt using a guide and the seams of the quilt to keep my rows straight. Then, I went back and sewed in between each of those rows to make the stitching 3/4 of an inch apart. I think it's the perfect distance.
In the picture below you can see the difference between the 1 1/2 inch quilted lines and the 3/4 inch lines.
I make sure when I am quilting to stay sewing one direction the whole way throughout the quilt. This reduces puckering and the weird pulling that sometimes happens when the direction is switched part way through the quilting process.
I went to my local quilt shop and chose the beautiful backing and binding fabric. This is from Ruby Star Society's Sunbeam Collection by Rashida Coleman-Hale. The fabric is called Rebel Rebel in Terra Cotta.
The women on this fabric are so beautiful. My daughters and I spent time just looking at it and all the different women on the back.
Don't forget to grab your copy of Mismatched Stars and Stripes. It's a fun, easy and fast quilt pattern.