Kaleidoscope Quilts - A Recap and "The Bat"

Kaleidoscope Quilts & More ... Part 3

Time to show the third Kaleidoscope quilt I know how to make - but first a brief recap of the earlier two.  Remember, all these quilts have the same number of cut pieces and are sewn the same way.   The ONLY difference is how much focus fabric and background fabric is used - and where those fabrics are positioned.  

I have given them made up names:  The Star, The Batik and The Bat - just to help distinguish one from another.  

Let's begin with the easiest, "THE STAR".
 HERE is the post with lots of pictures and diagrams on how to make this style and sew the units.  

It's a great one for beginners.  Fabric placement is the same for every block and the layout is great for scrap quilts.  This is a picture of the ONE block you need to make to create a STAR design.

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 Second is this more complex kaleidoscope quilt which I call "THE BATIK".  This design requires some thinking and layout.  But the final product is impressive. 

Best starting tip for all your quilts is to make sure the colors are evenly spread out in your blocks. No matter what quilt I work on - I always make piles!  Here are the corner triangles for a scrap kaleidoscope.   

And here are the larger Isosceles triangles.  Take one of each color and put it into a pile.  This gives you a whole spectrum of what you are using with no duplicates.   Do this until you run out of fabric.  If you have duplicates - put them in the first pile you will sew from, then the third and maybe the last pile you will work on.  Just spread out the colors or patterns. 

Back to the batik quilt ... start sewing one stack at a time. The post HERE has lots of step-by-step pictures of the sewing technique that applies to all Kaleidoscope quilts as well as step-by-step layout tips for this design.

When you have finished that first completed color stack, set them aside and clip them together.   Start sewing on your next separated color pile - and when finished, set those aside and clip them together. 

When the sewing of the main portions are done - its time to grab a stack and begin the layout ... left to right, until you run out.  Then grab another finished stack and put those on the design wall where you left off.  Now is NOT the time to start moving things around - wait until you have all your pieces laid out - then tweak it by rotating or switching.  

With this particular design it's better to add the corner triangles after the main units are sewn and laid out.  It will take more time popping up and down from design wall to sewing machine.  Take pictures on your phone and work only on one row at a time.  The benefit is color flexibility for the corner triangles and a great looking quilt.
Again - the post HERE goes into more detail with pictures. 

This is a picture of the TWO blocks needed to make this design which I call The Batik.


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And lastly - the third design which I call "THE BAT" (please advise if there is a proper name). It is really fun, uses up the most focus fabric and creates a different mood depending on your fabric choice. Here is Tim Holtz's Materialize which is all Gothic and very Halloween.  The post about this quilt is HERE. 

Let's de-construct this last design - here are the two blocks you need to make.  Notice that one of the blocks is ALL focus fabric in the larger Isosceles triangles (left image).  The right unit has only 4 focus fabrics. 

The background fabric didn't match but it is all black.  When all sewn together, the black background looks like 'bat wings' and is very dominant.  Pretty simple to remember for this design - all corners are the same as the background fabric.  No hopping up and down from design wall to sewing machine to fiddle with what color goes on the corner triangles!

Here are the same two blocks but in Retro-30's fabric.  When assembled, the large 'pointy' stars in this quilt are more noticeable and the 'bat wing' motif of the Tim Holtz quilt disappears.

And here is a full picture of this quilt - using softer colors and a lighter background makes such a difference!

This series on the three different designs I have made is a lot to absorb.  I am also aware that the blog posts do focus on various aspects of each quilt and not necessarily in order from simplest design to most complex.  All these quilts were made over a period of years.  They look complicated, but with a little confidence - very do-able.

While I have used the AccuQuilt dies for all these quilts, I have the Marti Michell template to try and look forward to that soon. Whether you use a cutter with a die or rotary cut  using a plastic ruler - the triangle geometry is the same. 

 Going to the 'sidebar' and clicking on Kaleidoscope will send you to all articles on them.  Please continue to send me emails, pictures and questions - I will do my best to help :)