Welcome back to the Rainbow Quilt Block of the Month designed by Janome Maker Carolina Oneto!This month you will make Block Six. The Diamond Block, is a block that is perfect for practicing your half square triangle skills!  Get ready to have fun! 

Remember that all the blocks will have a finished size of 12” and the unfinished size will be 12 1/2”. All seams are ¼”.  Please read through all of the instructions prior to starting this block. Carolina sews on the Janome 1600P-QC that makes piecing and quilting effortless with an extra-wide work area, side loading bobbin for easy access, and an automatic thread cutter! 

Fabrics:

White background

Three 5 3/4” squares

Two 4” square

Pink

One 5 3/4” square

One 4” square

Dark pink

One 5 3/4” square

One 4” square

Orange

One 5 3/4” square

INSTRUCTIONS for making HST four at a time:

• Make four half-square triangles.
• Place a white and colored fabric square (5 3/4”) right sides together.
• Sew a 1/4″ seam allowance all around the perimeter of the square.
• Make two diagonal cuts and press each piece open to one side.
• Trim away the dog ears using a square quilting ruler, you will obtain 4 HST 3,5”

Instructions for making HST two at a time

Do this process with the 2 white squares of 4” and the two squares of the same size in pink and dark pink. You will assemble 8 half-square triangles that you must square up to the size of 3.5".

PINK

DARK PINK

ORANGE

FINAL ASSEMBLY

• Arrange your blocks in correct layout
• Using a quarter-inch seam allowance, sew together in rows. Join all rows, using a ¼” inch seam allowance.
• Press your completed block and trim down to 12.5″ square (if necessary).

You can find the past blocks by visiting:

Block One     HERE

Block Two     HERE

Block Three  HERE

Block Four    HERE

Block Five     HERE

After you make your block, we’d love to see them!

Janome Sewing Classroom

Janome America Instagram – Be sure to tag @janomeamerica and use the hashtag #janomemakes and also tag @carolinaoneto!

Ah, the dreaded zipper! One of the most essential parts of creating bags, garments, cosplay, and home decor is also one of the most frightening for many sewing enthusiasts. We are here to say fear no more! Janome Maker Meredith Daniel from Olivia Jane Handcrafted is going to show you not only how easy it is to install a zipper by creating a zippered pocket in anything!!!  After you add zippered pouches to everything, you can use this skill builder to go forward adding zippers pillows, dresses, and so much more!

A zippered pocket is such a useful addition to any bag! Did you know they are also incredibly easy to insert? This tutorial will show you how to do just that, and you will be an expert in no time at all! 

You'll need just a couple of things:

• the fabric you want to put a zipper pocket into
• a zipper the length of you want your pocket opening (I'm using a 7" metal zipper)
• a cut of fabric for your pocket (you'll need less than a fat quarter!)
• a scrap of interfacing (I'm using SF 101)
• a marking tool, ruler, and cutting tools

To demonstrate this technique, I'm installing a zipper on the front of my Basic Drawstring Bag. It would also make a great addition to my Mosaic Heart Tote, but you can use this to add a pocket to whatever you need! I am using my Janome Skyline S9 with a walking foot for the whole of this tutorial. That's right! You don't even need a zipper foot. Let's get started!

Cut two pieces of interfacing 1.5"x 1" longer than your zipper. I cut a piece 1.5x8". Cut two matching pocket bags. They should be at least 1.5" longer than your zipper, and you will need at least 1" above wherever your zipper is at. I cut two pieces measuring 11x7.5".  Mark the placement of your zipper opening on the outer fabric. I find it useful to crease the fabric where I want the zipper to be, and then I have an accurate way to tell where to add interfacing.

Place one strip of interfacing on the wrong side of your outer fabric. Center it over where the zipper will be placed, and fuse according to the manufacturer's instructions. Repeat this on the wrong side of one pocket piece. The interfacing needs to be placed 1/2" under the top of the pocket piece. 

**Tip: to help protect your iron and your ironing board cover, use a pressing cloth! 

Find the center of your interfaced section on the pocket piece and draw a line that is 1/4" longer than the teeth of your zipper. I marked a line 7 1/4" for my 7" zipper. Now mark two matching lines 1/4" above and below that line. You will now have three lines. Mark little triangles that reach from the outer corners to about 1/4" in on the centerline. Align your pocket piece and outer fabric right sides together so that the interfaced sections are at the same area since you will be sewing through all layers in the next step. I used clover clips to keep my fabrics still and in line. Sew around the outside rectangle that you drew, overlapping by several stitches once you reach the beginning. All the inner lines are cut lines.

Using very sharp scissors, cut through all layers along the centerline until you reach the triangle points, then very carefully clip along those diagonal lines to the corners. Do not clip your stitches. Turn your pocket pieces toward the inside through the hole you just cut, and press well.

Align your zipper within the rectangular opening, and begin stitching somewhere in the middle. You will want to use a 1/8" seam allowance since you are sewing close to the folded edge of the fabric. When you get close to the zipper pull, put your needle down, raise your presser foot, and carefully open the zipper so that you can stitch unencumbered by the bulk of the pull. You can then close it again when you need to.

Place your remaining pocket piece right sides together with the sewn pocket piece, and pin the corners. You will now sew all the way around the pocket pieces with a 1/4" seam allowance. Move the main fabric out of the way as you sew. 

You have now completed your hidden zipper pocket!

Give yourself a pat on the back for learning a new technique!  You can now include this skill in your sewing toolbox! 

Welcome back to the Rainbow Quilt Block of the Month designed by Janome Maker Carolina Oneto! You are over halfway done with your beautiful quit! Give yourself a pat on the back and get ready to start your next block!

This month you will learn how to make block seven, the Rolling Stone quilt block.

From Carolina:

I sew all the blocks on my Janome 1600P-QC, which I really love, one of the great things about this machine is that the bobbin winder is independent of other mechanisms and the speed control is variable depending on the user’s need. These are only a couple of the features that make sewing and quilting fuss-free.

Please read through all instructions prior to piecing. Remember that all the blocks will have a finished size of 12” so that means the unfinished size will be 12 1/2”. All seam allowances are 1/4"

Fabrics:

White background

• Five 4 1/2” squares
• One strip 2 1/2” x 18”

Light Blue:

·Sixteen 2 1/2” squares

Blue:

One strip 2 1/2” x 18”

INSTRUCTION FOR SQUARE IN A SQUARE UNITS

Mark the wrong side of the LIGHT BLUE 2 1/2″ squares in half once diagonally. Lay marked square right sides together with a white 4 1/2″ square and sew on the marked line. Repeat on the diagonally opposite corner. Repeat on the other corners. Make 4. Unit measures 4 1/2″ unfinished.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE RECTANGLE UNITS

• Sew the two long strips of fabric, right sides together. Next, cut your sewn strip of fabrics into four equal parts. 4.5”. Press to the dark side.

FINAL ASSEMBLY:

• Arrange your blocks in the correct layout
• Using a quarter-inch seam allowance, sew together in rows. Join all rows, using a quarter-inch seam allowance.
• Press your completed block and trim down to 12.5″ square (if necessary).

And that’s all!

I hope you enjoy this new block! And don’t forget to share it!

Block One     HERE

Block Two     HERE

Block Three  HERE

Block Four    HERE

Block Five     HERE

Block Six      HERE   

After you make your block, we’d love to see them!

Janome Sewing Classroom

Janome America Instagram – Be sure to tag @janomeamerica and use the hashtag #janomemakes and also tag @carolinaoneto!

For learning how to sew or for a quick sew, coasters are a wonderful choice! They are not a massive commitment of time or materials and will give you practice and a finished project quicker! 

Janome Maker Natalie Barnes from Beyond the Reef Patterns created a great video to show you how easy it is to make scrappy Quilt As You Go Coasters on the Janome HD9 Professional. This project is for beginners to experts and everyone in between! It uses scraps and is also improv so there are no mistakes!  

Supply List:

• Four 5" squares of Insulbrite 
• Four 6" squares of  background fabric
• Ruler 
• Variety of scraps

Please watch the full video prior to starting project. All seam allowances are 1/4" unless otherwise indicated. Finished project is four  4 1/2" squares.

After finishing this project, we invite you to share in the Janome Sewing Classroom  Facebook Page, Instagram tagging @janomeamerica and using the #janomemakes tag, or on Pinterest tagging @janomeamerica and the hashtag #janome so that we can repin you!