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Charming Circles Ruler & 5‘’ Squares Ruler Tutorial

Jun 24, 2022

Charming Circles Ruler & 5‘’ Squares Ruler Tutorial

Hello, I am happy to share another recipe, this time for a Denim Circles quilt.   I love the look of a blue jean quilt.

Another nice feature about this quilt is that it’s a "quilt as you go" project, meaning once the circles are sewn together the quilt will be finished completely and ready to snuggle up in or take to your favorite picnic spot!

 

Create fun and easy shabby chic projects using your repurposed denim and fabric scraps. Great for blankets, pillows and tote bags. Works great with 5 inch charm squares or any 5 inch square block of fabric.

 

Step 1:  Cutting 7” diameter circles.

June Tailor Charming Circles Ruler.  it is a 7” diameter circle template used with standard rotary cutter.

 

Step 2 – Marking sewing lines and sewing rows together:

On wrong side of each circle, draw two lines 1" inch from edges.  These will be your sewing lines.  Be sure the lines are parallel to each other so the circles will line up correctly when joining.The Charming Circles Ruler has a 5‘’ square in the middle that can be marked on the Ruler cutout

Denim Circle draw lines

Align two circles (a dark and a light), right sides together, so the lines match up and pin.

Denim Circle 41

Pair up all circles making 84 sets of dark and light.

Denim Circle join

 

Chain piecing, sew all 84 pairs along one line with a backstitch at the beginning and end of each circle.  You can also use an auto-lock stitch if your sewing machine has one.

Denim Circle backstitch

Sew the pairs into rows of 12 circles ensuring light and dark circles are alternating.  Make 14 rows of 12 circles each. 

Iron the flaps open.

Mark a sewing line 1 inch down from the top of circles.Denim Circle 50

 

Denim Circle 51 top

Pin 2 rows (right sides together) alternating light and dark with seams nesting so the points will match up nicely on the back.

Denim Circle 56

 

Nest the seams together and sew across the top of the rows following the sewing lines. Avoid small holes at the intersections by making certain fabric is sewn below the intersecting points of the circles.

Denim Circle 60 fabric

Nesting the seams will give a nice point on the back of the quilt.

Denim Circle 130

 

Denim Circle 72 ironed

Denim Circle backrow

If you want to make a pure denim fabric quilt, you can skip the steps of adding blocks below and continue making 

Another decoration – Adding charms and optional batting squares:

After cutting the 7'' circle and marking the 5'' square dotted line in the middle of the cloth, the next step is to cut the 5'' square piece of fabric added to the circle.

Denim Circle 144


Pin flaps back over the charms.Denim Circle 149

Sew the flaps down in a figure 8 using 3/8" seam , pivoting with the needle down  and backstitch at the start and finish.  Sew all the vertical rows first.

Denim Circle 142 vertical2

Next, sew the long horizontal row in a figure 8.

Denim Circle 142 take1  Denim Circle 142 combined

Sew the flaps down on all 7 sets of double rows.

Denim Circle 153

Back view of stitching.  This is the quilting design that will be on the back of your quilt.

Denim Circle 152

Step 4 – Sewing rows together:

Mark a sewing line across the top of row, 1 inch down.  Use this sewing line as a reference to sew sets of rows together.

Denim Circle 123

Place 2 sets of double rows right sides together with alternating dark and light circles. Pin nesting seams together so that the back will have nice points.

Sew across top using the sewing line as a guide, press flaps open and then sew the flaps down in figure 8 as in Step 3 above.

Denim Circle 140 Denim Circle 100

Continue sewing the sets of rows together  and sewing the flaps down until all rows are sewn together being careful to alternate the dark and lights for a checkerboard effect.

 

Step 5 – Sewing quilt edges: 

Iron over the remaining flaps and sew them down, creating a flat border.  Use a 3/8 seam here also.

Denim Circle 168

 

Denim Circle corner

Step 6 – Creating ragged edges : 

It's starting to look like a finished quilt!   Just need to rag the edges on the front.

Denim Circle 178

The edges of the flaps need to be clipped. 

 

Denim Circle 181

 

Snip the edges every 1/4 to 1/2 inch being careful not to snip past the sewing line.

Denim Circle 184

Use a stiff brush to fluff the snipped edges.  Once the quilt is washed and dried the edges will fray more evenly.

fluff

The back is already finished, complete with a checkerboard pattern and quilting.

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