Make This: Patchwork by Fusible Grid Tutorial

Have you ever tried Pellon’s Fusible Quilter’s Grid? We think it’s one of quilting’s best-kept secrets and thought we would show you how easy it is to use.  It comes premarked with 1″ squares, so you can design your project right on top of it.  The pillow we are showing was done with 2″ squares, but you can use any dimension in 1″ increments.
Here’s what you will need to get started:

• Pellon Fusible Quilter’s Grid
• Fabric scraps
• Basic sewing and cutting supplies

The marking is on the back side, but you can see through to the other side, which is where you will be doing your fabric arrangement.
Cut your squares or rectangles just slightly smaller than the inch marking.  You don’t want too much bulk in the seams.Arrange the fabric to your liking. The great thing about this is that you can move things around until it looks perfect.
Make sure all of your backing is covered with fabric before you move onto the pressing step.If your design is too big to carry, you can roll it up to move to the ironing board.  Everything should stay pretty well in place.Carefully unroll and fix anything that has shifted around.  Begin pressing each square in place with the iron, and work your way through all of them.
Once the pieces are all secured to the fusible, you are ready to move onto the sewing.Begin going one direction, and sew a 1/4″ seam everywhere two pieces of fabric meet.  The grid lines on the back will show you exactly where to fold and sew.
This is what it will look like with one direction of seams finished.Starting on the back side, gently press the seams in one direction.  Be careful not to stretch anything before you sew the other seams.
Now press it from the front to make sure everything is nice and flat.Now, fold seams the other direction and sew with a 1/4″ seam.Once all the seams are sewn, press again from the back first, then the front.Your piece of patchwork is complete!  Use it for a purse panel, pillow, or quilt top.  The fusible grid adds a layer of interfacing that is nice for added stiffness.  We used our patchwork for a colorful piped pillow with a fold-over back. This fusible grid makes using small squares so much faster and more manageable than individual piecing. We finished this lovely patchwork pillow start-to-finish in just a couple of hours and were able to use up a lot of our favorite little scraps.

-Diane & Audrey