Happy Thursday! I have a finished quilt to share today, a baby quilt made from my stash of hand dyed indigo fabrics. If you want to learn more about indigo dyeing and try it yourself, you can find more information in this post: DIY Indigo Fabric Dyeing Tutorial


This is a long-term work in progress that has finally been finished, hooray! I pieced this baby quilt top in 2018, and it's been sitting in storage ever since. I think at one point I had intentions to include it in a big indigo sampler quilt, or just make it into a larger throw. either way, that never happened. This is the June quilt from my friend Amanda-Jean Nyberg's book, No Scrap Left Behind*!


Last month I decided to finish it up as a baby quilt, since we use a lot of them these days, and I always like having a stash of quilts ready for gifting. I wanted to make it a little bit bigger, so I dug into my indigo fabric scraps. I had just reorganized them, so it was easy to find all the strips.


To continue the strip theme of this quilt, I made a scrappy strip border. It was a good way to use up lots of scraps! Lucky for me, I was able to scrounge up just enough of the little dot fabric I used for the squares to do cornerstones in the same fabric.


This quilt is so different from my other quilts made using my hand dyed indigo fabrics. I usually try to cut large pieces when using it for patchwork, to preserve the pattern in the fabric. The pieces in this quilt are so small, you really don't see much of the patterns. It's more about the colors. I also hardly ever work on point!


Earlier in the month I shared a little video tutorial of how I did the quilting on this quilt. It's my signature wavy lines! It's done with a walking foot and is my favorite way to quilt things at home. Here is the tutorial in case you missed it: How to Quilt Wavy Lines with a Walking Foot


I am actually running pretty low on indigo fabrics at the moment! I'm going to need to do a big dye session this summer to restock, which of course breaks my heart! I'm excited to try some new techniques and play when it warms up. Since I didn't have yardage to spare for a backing, I dipped into some of my over-dyed print stash for the back. I have a bunch of fat quarters of white-on-white prints that I indigo dyed years ago. A few of them have some sun damage, but I'm considering that just part of the hand-dyed look.


I kept with the scrappy theme and made a scrappy binding!


I used one of my custom woven labels to finish it off. I'm so glad that this quilt is finished and ready to be used!

Indigo June Baby Quilt
Fabric: Hand-dyed indigo fabrics by me!
Pattern: June quilt No Scrap Left Behind by Amanda-Jean Nyberg*

Happy Quilting!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

Summer Indigo Dyeing

I mentioned in my last post that I had done some indigo dyeing recently and I thought I'd share more of that dye session today. I wasn't originally intending to, but I've always documented all my dyeing here, so it didn't seem right to gloss over it without a proper post! Especially since I haven't done much dyeing the last few years!

The main reason I wanted to dye this summer was to dye some pieces of lawn fabric for a quilt. I used Cambridge Cotton Lawn* for these pieces. I've dyed lawn many times over the years, but have used very little of it. They are some of my favorite pieces I've made, the lawn takes the dye so well! I originally meant to use it for clothing, but that just never happened. So now my plan is to make an all lawn indigo quilt! I only needed to dye about 2 yards worth to have enough for the quilt.

If you're interested in trying out indigo dyeing check out my tutorial: DIY Indigo Dyeing


If you've ever dyed with indigo, you'll know it's more fun with friends! Last year I did some ice dyeing with our neighbor and her daughter so I thought they might be game to try indigo, and they were! We made a day of it and dyed all kinds of things: fabric, tea towels, t-shirts, and even a sweatshirt and jeans. A big thanks to my neighbor for most of the in-action photos in this post! :)

We used these indigo dyeing kits*. They make it so easy!



Introducing people to indigo dyeing in particular is so fun because it's a pretty magical experience. When you first pull the pieces from the dye vat, they're neon green! Slowly over about 20 mintues the dye oxidizes and turns deep blue.



Unwrapping the resisted pieces is like opening little presents. You don't know what you're going to get! Still so fun, even though I've been doing this for about 10 years!


It was a very successful dye day! The weather was perfect and we all came away with pieces we liked.


I tried dyeing a pair of really light wash jeans that I had picked up on clearance last month. I couldn't get them quite dark enough for my taste (even after a few dips), so I did end up overdyeing them with RIT dye. But it was a fun experiment!


Here are the pieces we made with shape resists! The one with the circles was made with plexi circles* by Rossie Hutchinson.. Rossie created a coupon code (Jeni20) to use through the end of September to save 20% off her itajme shapes in her shop*.

Here are my four pieces of lawn, and after you can see them each alonside the resisted fabric:






Fabric was scrunched into big messy balls and then resisted with rubber bands.


Accordion folded into a square and secured with circle resists and clamps.


Long skinny tucks of different sizes tucks secured with several rubber bands each.


Accordion folded into a rectangle and secured loosely with twine.


I love to use white sheets as drop cloths when dyeing because then they become a bit of a magical dyed piece too! This sheet has seen some ice dyeing and some indigo!

Happy Making!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

Indigo Courthouse Steps Free Quilt Pattern

Happy Wednesday! Today I have a finished quilt to share, plus a tutorial for it!


If you’d rather have this tutorial in downloadable form that you can print out (plus other sizes!), check out my Indigo Steps Quilt Pattern. It features five different quilt sizes including: Baby (36"x36"), Small Throw (54"x72"), Square Throw (72"x72"), Large (72"x90"), Extra Large (90"x108")

Find the pattern in my online shop here: Indigo Steps Quilt Pattern.


This quilt has been a few years in the making! I've made a few really simple quilts from my hand-dyed indigo fabrics, but I was craving something with a bit more piecing for this quilt. Most of my hand-dyed fabric stash is fat quarters, so I knew I wanted to come up with a design that would take advantage of fat quarters. I ended up choosing 8 different indigo fat quarters for this quilt, and immediately cut them all up into 2.5" strips.


I've never made a courthouse steps quilt before, and I liked the idea of making essentially two color blocks and playing with the arrangement to almost create the look of half-square triangles. Lucky for me, the resulting quilt turned out just as I had envisioned it! I like how even though the fabrics have been cut up, you can still get a sense for the dye pattern within each block.


This entire quilt is made from white Kona Cotton*. The dyed prints were indigo dyed by me over the course of a few summers. For more information on indigo dyeing, check out my Indigo Dyeing Tutorial.


The backing is pieced together with some pieces of white fabric and hand dyed pieces. I repurposed a shower curtain I dyed and made a few years ago. It didn't fit with our new shower here, so I thought it would be more useful to revert it back to fabric!


For the quilting, I sent the quilt to Melissa Kelley of Sew Shabby Quilting. The quilt design is called Malachite. The quilt is bound up in more indgo fabric!

There are so many ways you could customize this design. I kept my quilt really simple, only using a single print and background fabric for each block. You could use as many or as few fabrics as you want for yours! The tutorial is written to be fat quarter friendly, but I think it would look really good done up in scraps. Or you could take advantage of a couple jelly rolls! I've included a table with all the piece totals if you'd rather cut from scraps or other yardage.

Indigo Courthouse Steps Quilt Tutorial by Jeni Baker

Sewing Level: Beginner Friendly
Finished Size: 72"x72"
Finished Block Size: 18" square

Materials:
- 8 print fat quarters
- 3 yards of background fabric
- 80"x80" quilt batting
- 4 1/2 yards of backing fabric
- 5/8 yard of binding fabric

Cutting:
From each print fat quarter:
Cut (7) 2.5"x21" strips


Using the graphic above for reference, subcut the strips into the following:
- (4) 14.5"x2.5" strips
- (4) 6.5"x2.5" strips
- (4) 10.5"x2.5" strips
- (4) 2.5" squares

From background fabric:
Cut (16) 2.5"xWOF strips:
- Subcut each strip into (2) 18.5"x2.5" strips

Cut (8) 2.5"xWOF strips:
- Subcut each strip into (4) 10.5"x2.5" strips

Cut (16) 2.5"xWOF strips:
- Subcut each strip into (2) 14.5"x2.5" strips and (2) 6.5"x2.5" strips

Cut (1) 2.5"xWOF strip:
- Subcut strip into (16) 2.5" squares

Piece Totals
If you'd rather cut from stash or scraps, here is how many of each piece you'll need to make this quilt!

	2.5"x2.5"	6.5"x2.5"	10.5"x2.5"	14.5"x2.5"	18.5"x2.5"
Print fabric	32	32	32	32	0
Background fabric	16	32	32	32	32

Indigo Courthouse Steps Quilt Instructions:

*Use a 1/4” seam allowance unless otherwise noted.*

Block Construction:
Each block is made from a single print fabric and background fabric. For a scrappy look, feel free to use a mix of prints in each block.


1. Sew a 2.5" print square to both sides of a 2.5" background square. Press seams away from center.

2. Sew a 6.5"x2.5" background strip to both the top and bottom of the center block. Press seams away from center.


3. Sew a 6.5"x2.5" print strip to both sides of the center block. Press seams away from center.

4. Sew a 10.5"x2.5" background strip to both the top and bottom of the center block. Press seams away from center.


5. Sew a 10.5"x2.5" print strip to both sides of the center block. Press seams away from center.

6. Sew a 14.5"x2.5" background strip to both the top and bottom of the center block. Press seams away from center.


7. Sew a 14.5"x2.5" print strip to both sides of the center block. Press seams away from center.

8. Sew an 18.5"x2.5" background strip to both the top and bottom of the center block. Press seams away from center.

Trim block to 18.5" square if necessary. Repeat steps 1-8 to create a total of 16 blocks.

Quilt Top Construction:

1. Arrange blocks into four rows of four blocks each. Sew blocks together in each row. Press seams in one direction, alternating direction every other row. Sew rows together, press seams open. Press top well from the right side.

Quilt Assembly and Finishing:
1. Making Backing: Cut backing yardage in half. Press. Trim off the selvedge and sew your pieces together lengthwise. Press seam open.

2. Basting: Using masking or painter’s tape, tape the backing to a clean, hard surface, right side down. Spread out your batting on top of the backing. Smooth out any wrinkles. Carefully spread out your quilt top on top of the batting, right side up. Pin your top, I like to use curved safety pins, spacing the pins a few inches apart. Make sure that your pins are going through all three layers.

3. Quilting: Quilt as desired, by machine or by hand. Trim away excess batting and backing fabric.

4. Binding: Cut yardage listed for binding into 2.5” strips. Trim off selvedges and sew your strips together to form one long strip, press seams open. Fold in half lengthwise, pressing with your iron as you fold. Attach binding using your preferred method. For a detailed tutorial on attaching your binding to both sides by machine: Machine Quilt Binding Tutorial.


I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial! I have lots of other tutorials for everything from quilts, pillows, bags, and holiday items to informational series and techniques. Find all my tutorials here: Tutorials. My online shop is filled with patterns for quilts and bags. Find my patterns here: Jeni Baker Patterns

Tag me @jenib320 and use my hashtag #jenibaker on instagram if you make something from this tutorial!


If you’d rather have this tutorial in downloadable form that you can print out (plus other sizes!), check out my Indigo Steps Quilt Pattern. It features five different quilt sizes including: Baby (36"x36"), Small Throw (54"x72"), Square Throw (72"x72"), Large (72"x90"), Extra Large (90"x108")

Find the pattern in my online shop here: Indigo Steps Quilt Pattern.

Happy Quilting!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

October Monthly Report

Happy November! It's time for October's monthly report. See past reports here.


This month I finally cut out my next double gauze quilt! The blocks are done, I've layed it all out and the pieces are just waiting to be sewn up into a top. I love how it's coming together, just need to dedicate some time to getting the top finished.


Finally decided to use up this amazing plaid fabric by Denyse Schmidt. I picked up a fat quarter of it ages ago. It's from one of her older lines, New Bedford*. When it's not amoungst other fabrics from that collection it feels very Halloween to me! A drawstring bag with a bottom accent (variation in the expansion pattern) felt like a good way to use it.

Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern
Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern
Cotton Twill Tape


I worked on a few gifts for a friend this month, including this little Liberty pincushion. I will share the pouch I made for her later this month! This is one of the pincushions that can be found in my pattern: Snack Size Pincushion Pattern


To keep myself accountable for my stash goals, I track my yardage for fabric and yarn each month. Read more about how I track here. Here is how I did in October:

October Fabric
Used up: 3 yards
Brought in: 5.75 yards
Net: 2.75 yards
Year to date: -15.25 yards

October Yarn
Used up: 0 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: 0 yards
Year to date: 0 yards

I actually bought fabric TWICE this month! Feels like a lot for me, even if it wasn't all that much yardage. I had to pick up some prints from Sarah Watson's new line Grasslands*. Her designs are some of my favorites, so a must purchase for me.


Did a little ice dyeing this month. I picked up a few white cotton bandanas and I finally got around to dyeing one up. I seem to always be dyeing tea towels. They're so handy to have around the house.


Two George photos this month, because why not! George loves to snuggle these days and he falls alseep on my lap and will stay for half an hour or so. Such a sweetheart.


Speaking of sleeping, when he gets really relaxed he'll flop over in the middle of the floor. He's so adorable :)

Have a Great Month!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.