Author: Carola's Quilt Shop

Carola is the owner of Carola's Quilt Shop in Ryder Lake near Chilliwack BC Canada. She has been in the sewing industry for over thirty-five years. The industry background has given here a stable foundation of knowledge in most "sewing machine and serger" related crafts, hobbies and arts. Sewing is Carola's creative outlet. Most exciting is finding new ways to express that passion. Her latest excitement is "low immersion dyeing". Before Covid 19 hit in 2020 you would have found Carola at sewing and quilting shows, lecturing, selling sewing supplies, fabrics and Aurifil thread. Today Carola has switched to Zoom presentations and inviting customers into her home based Quilt Shop, by appointment, respecting Covid 19 guidelines. The retreat centre is open and ready for viewings and bookings.

Alphabet Flower Fairy Quilt

Carola's Quilt Shop2 Comments

Finished size:
104cm x 142cm (41” x 56”)

Alphabet Fairy Quilt

You will need:

One Alphabet Fairy Panel

1 metre (1 yard) floral print for border, cornerstones & center block of a non-directional fabric.

If the border fabric is directional purchase an additional 1/2m (5/8 yard)

.60m (5/8 yard) sashing fabric

.40m (3/8 yard) binding fabric

How to cut out the 24 individual alphabet fairy blocks from the panel:

Use a rotary cutter ruler and mat. The black “outlines” of the blocks will be the straight guide for cutting. Cut out each block with a scant 1/4 seam allowance

(There is not enough fabric between blocks to allow for a wider seam allowance)

The individual fairy panels should measure 5 1/4″ x 7 1/2″

*DO NOT START CUTTING until you are confident that each block will have an adequate, although small, seam allowance.

Some of the blocks many seem crooked, askew. Ignore this because the blocks will square themselves up perfectly when the sashing is added later.

You will need 25 blocks for this quilt. The fairy panel will only provide for 24 blocks. Cut an extra block 5 1/4″ x 7 1/2″ from the border fabric or other floral fabric that coordinates well. (See center of our quilt)

From the floral fabric 16 – 1 7/8″ squares for the cornerstones between all the fairy panels.

From the sashing fabric cut 12 – 1 7/8″ wide strips

Layout the blocks alphabetically, five rows of five blocks. The extra floral block will be exactly in the center, in row four, block #3.

Set up your sewing machine with a shorter than usual stitch length 2mm.

You will sew a SCANT 1/4″ seam allowance. Test stitch a seam and measure. If your seam allowance is accurate the stitching will be on the outer black line of the block.

Vertical sashing between panels:

Cut sashing strips 7 1/2″ long. You will need 20 pieces.

Stitch a piece of sashing to the right side of every fairy block except the last block in each row (set aside E J N S Z)

Stitching together each row:

Row one: Stitch block #1 to block #2, continue joining until all five blocks are sewn together including “E”. There will be a sashing strip between each block.

Stitch the remaining four rows into strips in the same manner.

Horizontal sashing between sashed-block rows:

To make horizontal sashing strips to be stitched between row one, two, three and four:

From the sashing fabric strips, cut 25 – 1 7/8″ x 5 1/4″ rectangles, five for each row. Join these in a row with a 1 7/8″ square cornerstone between each sashing rectangle.

Join the five rows of fairy blocks with one of the four horizontal sashing strip units between each row. Use pins for accuracy.

The fairies are now one complete unit of 25 blocks.

Add a sashing strip to each SIDE of the complete fairy unit.

Add a sashing strip to the top and bottom of the complete fairy unit.

Adding the floral border:

Stitch a 5″ wide border strip to each SIDE of the quilt top.

Stitch a 7″ wide border strip to the top and bottom of the quilt top chose a wider border for the top and bottom to make a rectangle.

Sandwich the Fairy Quilt for quilting. We used a green marbled fabric for the back and a cotton blend batting.

The binding was made with a metallic gold on cream fabric, 5 – 2 1/2″ wide strips cut from selvage to selvage.

Our quilt was first quilted in the ditch using a longer 3mm stitch length with a walking foot attached. Next each fairy panel was free motion quilted using a small stipple stitch. We did not quilt the fairy, just around the fairy.

Finally the outer border was quilted with a larger free motion stitch.

This quilt does not need to be free motion quilted. Any style of quilting will look great!