Made with Oakshott - Adrianne

Hi I'm Adrianne from On the Windy Side.  Like many quilters I am a total fabric addict.  I love it when blogs introduce me to fabrics that I might not otherwise have known about.  Oakshott Shot Cottons are a perfect example of this - I hadn't heard of them until I started seeing their rich and vibrant fabrics popping up online.

When Lynne announced her Made with Oakshott feature, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to play with these lovely fabrics and challenge myself in the process.  Thanks so much Lynne, for picking my idea (originally based on this sweet double hexagon pillow tutorial from Lovely Little Handmades), and Michael Oakshott, for sending me the gorgeous Ruby Reds bundle.

Oakshott Ruby Reds Bundle - pretty pretty pretty

Typically for me, the finished quilt looks quite different to my original concept.  Once Lynne let me know the fabrics were heading my way, an idea popped into my head that I just couldn't get rid of.  How would the Oakshott fabrics work with the modern prints that make up the bulk of my stash?  I had to find out...

Materials

1. 1 x Oakshott Ruby Reds F8 Bundle, each fat eighth cut into strips 3 1/8 inches by 22 inches
2. 8 x strips of Crosshatch Sketch in Charcoal, cut 3 1/8 inches by the width of the fabric (WOF)
3. 12 x prints which coordinate with the Oakshott fabrics, cut into strips 3 1/8 inches by WOF
4. 3 x strips of Crosshatch Sketch in Charcoal, cut 3 1/8 inches by WOF
5. 3 x strips of Crosshatch Sketch in Charcoal, cut 3 1/2 inches by WOF
6. 4 yards of backing fabric
7. A piece of your preferred batting, at least 60 inches by 70 inches

Plus your usual quilting tools like rulers, cutting mat, rotary cutter, pins, sewing machine, etc.  All seams are a quarter inch.

Instructions

Cutting triangles

Cut the strips in 1. and 2. above into equilateral triangles (also called 60 degree triangles).  For directions on how to cut equilateral triangles, check out the tutorial on my blog here.  You should get 27 triangles from each piece of Oakshott fabric, and 19 triangles from each strip of charcoal fabric.  Then, cut 6 triangles from each co-ordinating print referred in to 3. above.  Reserve the rest of the print strips - we will be using them later to make binding.

Chain piecing units

Take the triangles you cut from a single colour of Oakshott fabric, the corresponding print triangles, and 10 of your charcoal triangles, and make up a layout of five hexagons, with a charcoal triangle between each one.  Make sure you vary the placement of the print fabric in each hexagon.  I deliberately pointed the grain of my fabric towards the centre of each hexagon.

The arrows show the direction of the fabric grain

Pin your triangles in pairs, taking care to put them together so that you can recreate your layout once they are sewn.  

Sew the pairs of triangles together using your preferred method (for speed, I chain pieced at this stage).  Recreate your layout with the pairs of triangles you have chain pieced.  I just finger pressed the seams open at this point, but you could press them properly if you prefer.  Pin pairs of two triangle units so that you end up with units of four triangles in a row.  Sew these units together (again, I chain pieced at this stage).  Press your units, being gentle with all the bias edges, and taking care to press all seams open.

Repeat for each different colour of Oakshott fabric.

Overall layout

Keeping each hexagon together, lay out a row of seven hexagons, like this:

Then, immediately below it, lay out a row of six hexagons, like this:

Repeat until you have nine rows of hexagons, like this:

I tried to spread the 12 different colours approximately evenly over the quilt.  You will use 59 of the 60 hexagons you've made, so don't worry if there is one left over.

Squaring up the ends of the rows
Add a charcoal triangle to the end of any row where there is not already a charcoal triangle.  Next, you need to square up the end of each row.  For the rows with seven hexagons, we will be using pieces that look like this:

To make these pieces, take one of the strips from 4. above, and cut the end off at a 60 degree angle.  Then, measure 1/2 an inch from the cut edge, and cut a 90 degree line so that you end up with a trapezoid shape.

You will need to cut 20 of these end pieces, making sure you have 10 with the 60 degree angle on the right hand side, and 10 with the 60 degree angle on the left hand side.  Using a folded piece of fabric is the easiest way to do this.

For the rows with six hexagons, we will be using pieces that look like this:

Use the rest of the fabric strips from 4., and the same basic cutting method described above, to cut 16 of these pieces, making sure you have 8 with the 60 degree angle on the right hand side, and 8 with the 60 degree angle on the left hand side.  These pieces will be slightly longer than required.  Don't worry, we will trim them up later.

Add the end pieces to your layout, and then stitch each row of half hexagons together and press.  Once all the rows are pieced, stitch all the rows together.  To minimise the potential for warp,  I sewed the rows in pairs (and pressed once at this stage), and then all the pairs together (and pressed again after this).  Once the centre of your quilt top is finished, trim the ends of the six hexagon rows so that they line up with the ends of the seven hexagon rows.

Border
Phew!  The tricky part is finished.  At this point, your quilt will be looking pretty much like this:

We are simply going to add a 3 1/2 inch strip to the top and the bottom using the fabric in 5. above.  Et voila, your quilt top is complete.

Baste using your preferred method, and quilt as desired.  I trimmed down the left over print strips to 2.25 inches and used them for binding - you could do the same or use something completely different.

Finally, some photos of the finished quilt!  No, this isn't my fence (thank goodness!).  I just wanted to play on the name of the quilt - Rubies in the Rough.  For the quilting, I really wanted to let the Oakshott fabrics pop, so I used a black thread to quilt a continuous wiggly line in the charcoal triangles.  The quilting really blends in well and helps make the charcoal sit as a background so the Oakshott hexies jump out more than ever.

For the back, I used more of the charcoal crosshatch sketch fabric, with a pop of colour added by a fat quarter of a fabric from Jay McCarroll's latest collection, Center City.

Close up, you can really see how setting the Oakshott triangles at different angles shows off the sheen and colours of the fabric.

I hope you enjoyed my Rubies in the Rough tutorial, and that it has inspired you to make your own Oakshott project!