Welcome to Week 1 of the Modern Flight Quilt Along! Over the next 5 weeks, we’ll work our way through the Modern Flight pattern, wins some prizes (well, you all will), and hopefully, make some beautiful quilts just in time for summer baby shower gifting or picnicking in the shade.
If you’re looking for background information on the quilt along (schedule, etc, etc.), you can find that HERE on the Modern Flight QAL main landing page. If you’re already up on all that, then it’s time to dive into week one!
This week is all about prep. We’ll be picking our fabric and putting together our layout so that we’re ready to hit the ground running next week when we cut into our fabric. If you were here for the Color Jolt QAL last fall, then you know my motto on Week 1: Being thoughtful and thorough with this week’s tasks will make the rest of your weeks run smoothly.
For this week’s tasks you’ll need:
- Your Modern Flight pattern.
- A coloring page. Your pattern comes with two versions of the coloring page for each quilt size: one for if you’re using a single background color and one for if you’re using a different color for each column of your quilt. Print the one you need!
- Your fabric. We’re not cutting until next week so take your time picking fabrics you love (or get those orders in to your favorite online shop!). Keep reading for helpful tips in picking your fabrics.
- Access to a printer and paper to print your blocks and other templates.
I’ll be using a range of Kona cottons for the columns in my Modern Flight quilt and pairing them with crisp, white diamonds. This is more than a little outside my normal aesthetic, but I was inspired by a photo I saw a few months ago and this color palette has been rattling around in my brain ever since. Time to execute it!
This Week’s Tasks:
Pick Your Fabric
This week we’re picking our fabrics. The Modern Flight pattern has a lot of layout options, from crisp and modern to scrappy. If you look at the two versions of the quilt below, you can see what a difference color choices make. Check out the layout ideas in the pattern or pull out the coloring sheet and start working with your own ideas. Also, pop into the #modernflightquilt hashtag on Instagram to see the versions my testers made, especially if you want to see an example with different column colors.
Sometimes picking fabrics is the hardest part of a pattern so I wanted to support you with both (1) solid resources to make it easy and (2) significant motivation. To that end, I’ve written up my favorite quick and easy tools for choosing fabric. Check them out on the blog HERE.
Print Your Templates
For this pattern you’ll print two types of templates: cutting templates and block templates.
The cutting templates you will only need one copy of. You’ll choose the cutting templates that apply to you based on the size quilt you’re making (baby versus throw/queen) and the way you’re cutting out your diamond fabrics. There’s a diamond template for if you’re fussy cutting and one for cutting from fat quarters or yardage.
The A and B block templates are different. These are the basis of every diamond block in your quilt. You’ll print a block template for each diamond. So, for example, you’ll print 24 A blocks and 24 B blocks for a throw-sized quilt.
The key when printing your templates is to make sure that you’re printing at 100% scale. Many printers will automatically slightly reduce the size of your printed images to make sure they fit on the page. You want to override any setting that does this. To make sure you’re printing at 100%, print a single test template and use a ruler to check that the 1″ square on that page is truly 1″. If it’s not, adjust your print setting and try again until your square is 1″.
That’s it for this week! But, wait…let’s not forget to talk about prizes!
Week 1 Prize Sponsor: Oliso!
In terms of motivation… I decided to switch things up for this quilt along and put one of the biggest prizes FIRST instead of last. Because sometimes getting started is the hardest part. This week’s prize sponsor is Oliso! I use my Oliso mini iron in all of my paper piecing projects so you’ll see a lot of it as we get into the instructional videos in later weeks. It stays hot, is easy to transport, and has a nice, long cord. And, well, it’s just cute.
So How Do I Win? To qualify for this week, post a photo of your fabric and say hello! Tell us what you’re looking forward to about this quilt or about the next five weeks in general. Be sure to use the #modernflightqal hashtag and post no later than midnight CST on Tuesday, May 4th. You must have a public Instagram account for your post to count!
That’s it! Happy Quilting and I’ll see you back here next week with your fabulous fabric.
– Kate