Welcome! I'm pleased to introduce you to Layer Cake Links, Fat Quarter Shop's latest in the Shortcut Quilt Series.
Ever one to shake things up, I chose fabrics from yardage. Fat Quarter Shop patterns are so easy to follow and well-diagramed, it's very easy to use them to fit any fabric flavors. If you diverge from the quick solution of purchasing a layer cake, you can cut your yardage down to 10" strips, and crosscut those into a handmade layer cake. A 10" ruler is certainly helpful for that.
To expedite the preparations even further, Fat Quarter Shop has a beautiful quilt kit featuring Finnegan by Brenda Riddle
Anyhow, enough talk about their pretty fabrics. Let's talk my fabric selection because I like it an awful lot. My selection is as follows (left to right in the pic below):
Mint Floral from Little Red in the Woods by Jill Howarth for Riley Blake Designs
Conifer Path from Sunprint 2019 by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics
Aqua 1/4" Stripes from Stripes by Riley Blake Designs
Lime Acorns from Lucky Charms by Figo
Strawberry Sunspots from Sunkissed by Maureen Cracknell for Art Gallery Fabrics
Cinnamon Mushrooms from Berry Season by Elizabeth Hartman for Robert Kaufman
I chose Essex Yarn Dyed Lilac by Robert Kaufman for my background. I wanted to push myself beyond the typical neutral hues and went with an unexpected subtle purple. To segregate prints from background, it's really more about value than color. Also new to me, I jumped on board with the growing trend of incorporating wovens. Compared with the quilting cottons, I found the Essex to have a looser, coarser texture, with a more organically inconsistent feel. To help the melding of fabric types go more smoothly, I oversized the pieces slightly and trimmed down. I also checked after stitching one of each section to determine if my sizes were as expected, and adjusted my seam allowance to bring them closer to the anticipated measurements.
Anyhow, enough talk about their pretty fabrics. Let's talk my fabric selection because I like it an awful lot. My selection is as follows (left to right in the pic below):
Mint Floral from Little Red in the Woods by Jill Howarth for Riley Blake Designs
Conifer Path from Sunprint 2019 by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics
Aqua 1/4" Stripes from Stripes by Riley Blake Designs
Lime Acorns from Lucky Charms by Figo
Strawberry Sunspots from Sunkissed by Maureen Cracknell for Art Gallery Fabrics
Cinnamon Mushrooms from Berry Season by Elizabeth Hartman for Robert Kaufman
I chose Essex Yarn Dyed Lilac by Robert Kaufman for my background. I wanted to push myself beyond the typical neutral hues and went with an unexpected subtle purple. To segregate prints from background, it's really more about value than color. Also new to me, I jumped on board with the growing trend of incorporating wovens. Compared with the quilting cottons, I found the Essex to have a looser, coarser texture, with a more organically inconsistent feel. To help the melding of fabric types go more smoothly, I oversized the pieces slightly and trimmed down. I also checked after stitching one of each section to determine if my sizes were as expected, and adjusted my seam allowance to bring them closer to the anticipated measurements.
As I didn't take advantage of the convenience of a layer cake, I decided to use strip sets to expedite the first step of the block assembly. For each set, I cut two 2 1/4" strips from one fabric, and one 4 1/2" strip from the other. I sewed a 2 1/4" strip to either side of the wider strip, and crosscut at 4 1/2".
Then, I cut two more 2 1/4" strips from the same fabric as the previous 2 1/4" strips. These were cut into 8" rectangles with my new OLFA True Blue supplies. Aren't they beautiful?
After adding the strips to the remaining two sides, I used a rotating mat to square up the blocks and then cut them into quarters.
As I pieced the quarters back together in their new arrangement, I gave my new The Gypsy Quilter felted wool pressing mat I received in the June Sew Sampler box a try. I was impressed with how well the heat-absorbent surface tamed my seams and flatted my blocks.
The Layer Cake Links pattern came together quickly and was a fun way to use an assortment of fabric favorites.
The pattern is great scrappy, or would work with a more minimal palette consisting of as little as two fabrics.
Seeing how well the green and reds show in my quilt, I'm strongly considering a Christmas-themed second edition with green for the larger colored sections and red for the isolated squares. It'd mimic holly and berries so well!
I'm pleased with how my experiment with a woven in an unconventional background color turned out.
Check out the other participating bloggers on Instagram at #layercakelinksquilt and #shortcutquilt.
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