Tutorial: Kimberly’s Garden 9 Patch Lap Quilt

Hand-dyed buttons are a perfect finishing touch to quilted projects. They add a extra texture and dimension and can help to emphasize your main focal color. Adding handmade clay buttons add a fun touch of whimsy.

For this fun lap-sized 9 patch quilt we combined both hand-dyed and handmade buttons with Home Sweet Home by Stacy Iest Hsu for  Moda. The combination is pure sweetness!

Kimberly’s Garden Lap Quilt Instructions:

If you would like to make this lap quilt, we’re calling it Kimberly’s Garden, you will need to cut the following pieces from the Home Sweet Home fabric collection:

How to make a coral color block:

Think of your 9 patch blocks in rows (top, middle, bottom).

Start with the fabrics for the top row.

Using ¼” seams throughout the instructions, sew the strips for the top row together along the long edges with the two green fabrics to the outside and the coral strip in the middle. Press the seams toward the outsides. You end up with an 18” long strip that looks like this:

Repeat this step for the middle and bottom rows of the coral color block. Repeat the steps for the yellow, blue and pink color blocks. When you’ve made pieced strips for all 3 rows of each of 4 color blocks (12 pieced strips total), you’re ready to move to the next step.

Now cut the pieced strips into rows. Cut across the length of each pieced strip to create 1.5” rows. As you cut, you want to continuously square-up the end of your pieced strip. You need 9 rows from each pieced strip (but it doesn’t hurt to cut a few extra).

Once you cut 9 rows from each pieced strip, it’s time to assemble the blocks. Sew the top row to the middle row and press the seams toward the top row. Now add the bottom row to the other edge of the middle row and press the seams toward the bottom row. Your block should now measure 3 1/4” x 3 1/4”.

Repeat with the remaining pieced rows until you’ve made 9 blocks of each color.

Now assemble your rows of blocks in whatever order you like. Feel free to rotate the blocks as well. Your finished quilt will be 6 blocks by 6 blocks.

Add the border strips to the left and right sides, press open and trim the border strips even with the edge of the quilt. Then add the top and bottom borders and square up the finished quilt.

Quilt and bind using your favorite technique.

Finish your quilt by embellishing it with our special Kimberly’s Garden button pack, #10365 (available through Fat Quarter Shop).

Learn more about placing and stacking buttons in the video below featuring Rachel with Kimberly from Fat Quarter Shop.