Paint Box Quilt Along: Week 1

We’re so happy to have you here for our Paint Box Quilt Along! This fun little art quilt introduces a couple of new techniques: foundation paper piecing and bias binding. By now, you should have picked all of your fabrics and have them ready to cut. Before we get started with the cutting, we always label our fabrics according to the pattern. In this case, the fabrics are called by color name, rather than numbers or letters. A couple of the colors of Speckled fabric that we are using don’t quite match the color name, but this is more for ease of referencing the pattern than anything else.

Check out the process of labeling the colors in this video:

We used 1/2″ x 3/4″ removable all-purpose labels from Avery and stuck them right on the fabric squares. Sometimes, we will use clips and little paper scraps to label the fabrics for the paints. We didn’t label any of the other fabrics for the quilt since there are only a few other pieces.

Once you have your rainbow order all figured out, cut the squares. Since we’re using 10″ precuts, and there aren’t that many squares of each color to cut, there isn’t really a fast way to do it. We just cut small strips and cut those into squares.

We transferred the color labels over to the squares, but you can keep it on the remaining fabric if you’d rather. We also stacked the squares in the order they will go in the quilt to keep everything organized.

Follow the instructions in the book to continue cutting out the pieces for the paintbrush and background. We used extra colors of Speckled for the brush and ferrule (the little metal piece that attaches the brush to the handle), and Zip (another basics line from Ruby Star Society) for the paintbrush handle. For the background, we are trying out Moda’s new “Super White” Bella solid.

Lastly, you will be cutting binding strips on the bias. Since this quilt has rounded corners to mimic a set of paints, the bias cut is important. If you aren’t cutting rounded corners, you could use regular binding.

Before you get started cutting the bias strips, make sure your yardage is completely square. You will be measuring from the cut sides, so this step is crucial.

Unfold your fabric and align the 45 degree line on your ruler with the cut edge of the fabric. Cut along the right side of the ruler, moving the ruler along the edge as needed. Once you’ve cut the corner off, turn the fabric around and cut 2 1/2″ strips off the 45 degree edge. Here’s a quick video showing how to do this:

This is what the ruler will look like once you are cutting the strips:

Notice that you’re measuring the 2 1/2″ with the ruler, not along the bottom edge. Cut enough strips to get the length listed in the book (page 75). This will vary based on the exact size of your yardage. If you have a little bit more for the binding, you won’t need to cut as many strips. Just measure down one side of the strip and subtract 1/2″ for the seams to get an idea of how many strips you need to cut.

After you have the fabric cut, you’re all done for this week! You can share your progress in a couple of different ways:

On Instagram, use the #paintboxqal and #theclothparcel hashtags. You can also tag us @theclothparcel. (Note that if you have a private Instagram account, we won’t be able to see any of your posts.)
In our private Facebook group, you can share photos in a post or in the comments of any of our posts. You can also ask for help or advice there!
On this post, you can leave a comment telling us about how things are going for you.