Little Bits Quilt In Spectrum Cotton

With its band of dancing flecks of color, our Little Bits Quilt reads like a line of music on an empty page or like a flock of birds in a vast sky. We love the quiet space of this quilt, interrupted by just a flutter of joyful color!

Utterly achievable for even a beginner quilter, the fun of making the Little Bits Quilt is in the surprise of creating the randomly arranged colorful bits, plus the satisfaction of the parallel lines of quilting, like a really wide wale corduroy. Turns out, a little bit goes a long way!

The color inspiration comes from Spectrum Cotton, our collection of garment-dyed fabric in three dozen gorgeous colors. We’ve put together three palettes to choose from, each one available in our Little Bits Quilt Bundle, which also includes the thread and batting you’ll need!

Designed by Joelle Hoverson and originally published in her Last Minute Patchwork Gifts book.

Materials

Our Little Bits Quilt Bundle includes…

• Fabric A: 4¼ yards of Purl Soho’s Spectrum Cotton, for Quilt Top and Binding
• Fabric B: Six ⅛ yard pieces of Spectrum Cotton in six colors, for “Little Bits”
• Fabric C: 4¼ yards of Spectrum Cotton, for Backing
• 2 spools of Purl Soho’s Organic Cotton Sewing Thread, for Quilt Top + Quilting
• 1 spool of Organic Cotton Sewing Thread, for hand sewing the Binding
• Quilters Dream’s Cotton Batting, Twin size, Thinnest Loft: Request

You will also need….

• A hera marker
• A rotary cutter
• A non-slip quilting ruler
• A self-healing cutting mat
• A walking foot for your sewing machine

Our bundle comes in three palettes…

HABERDASHERY (shown above and the bundle we used for our sample)

• Fabric A: Spectrum Cotton in Orchid Gray
• Fabric B: Spectrum Cotton in Pacific Blue, Duck Egg Blue, Blue Topaz, Blue Hydrangea, Bottle Blue, and Blue Talc
• Fabric C: Spectrum Cotton in Lilac Blossom
• Two spools of Organic Cotton Sewing Thread in color 4832
• One spool of Organic Cotton Sewing Thread in color 4809
• Quilters Dream’s Cotton Batting, Twin size, Thinnest Loft: Request

TEA CAKE

• Fabric A: Spectrum Cotton in Putty Gray
• Fabric B: Spectrum Cotton in Peach Macaron, Vintage Pink, Raw Oats, Desert Dune, Yellow Ochre, and Pink Tulip
• Fabric C: Spectrum Cotton in Raincoat Yellow
• Two spools of Organic Cotton Sewing Thread in color 4831
• One spool of Organic Cotton Sewing Thread in color 4802
• Quilters Dream’s Cotton Batting, Twin size, Thinnest Loft: Request

MORNING

• Fabric A: Spectrum Cotton in Rock Wall
• Fabric B: Spectrum Cotton in Purple Thistle, Whiskey Brown, Terra Cotta, Cherry Tomato, Red Pear, and Orange Russet
• Fabric C: Spectrum Cotton in Pure Pool
• Two spools of Organic Cotton Sewing Thread in color 4833
• One spool of Organic Cotton Sewing Thread in color 4806
• Quilters Dream’s Cotton Batting, Twin size, Thinnest Loft: Request

Size

Finished Dimensions: Approximately 64 inches x 66 inches

Notes

Seam Allowance

Use ¼-inch seam allowances throughout.

Prepare Fabric

Prewash and iron all of the fabrics (but not the batting) before starting.

Pattern

Cut

NOTE: If you’re new to rotary cutting, please refer to our Rotary Cutting Tutorial before you start.

Fabric A

Fold fabric selvage to selvage, and cut three 6½-inch strips across fabric’s width. Trim selvages, then trim folds to make six strips, each measuring 6½ x 20 inches. Set strips aside for Little Bits Panels.

With the remainder of Fabric A still folded, cut two 64½-inch pieces across fabric’s width. Trim selvages to create two pieces, each measuring 40 x 64½ inches. Set one aside for top of Quilt Top.

Cut second piece into two pieces measuring 20 x 64½ inches. Set one aside for bottom of Quilt Top.

Cut remaining piece into five 1¾ x 64½-inch strips. Set these aside for Binding.

Fabric B

From each color of Fabric B, cut a 1¾ x 20-inch strip. Set strips aside.

Fabric C

Fold fabric selvage to selvage, and cut two 72-inch pieces across the fabric’s width. Trim selvages, and sew pieces together along their 72-inch edges. Cut down the width of the resulting piece to 74 inches, so you have a 72 x 74-inch piece. Set aside for Backing.

Make Little-Bits Panels

Lay a 6½ x 20-inch Fabric A piece on your cutting mat, right side up and vertically oriented. Using a straightedge ruler, cut a slightly diagonal line from top to bottom, starting and ending at least 1 inch in from corners. Use different angles to cut remaining Fabric A pieces and keep pairs of cut pieces together.

With right sides together, sew a Fabric B strip along one cut edge of a Fabric A piece, then sew the remaining half of the Fabric A piece to the other edge of the Fabric B strip, making a panel with a colored strip running through it at an angle.

Press seams toward darker fabric.

Repeat this process to join remaining Fabric A and Fabric B strips, creating a total of six panels.

Cut Little-Bits Strips

Now cut each panel into 1½-inch wide strips, cutting perpendicularly to 20-inch edge. You should get approximately 12 or 13 Little-Bits Strips from each panel.

Assemble Little-Bits Block

Arrange 64 Little-Bits Strips, vertical edges aligned, into one long row that seems harmonious to you. Note that you will have some leftover strips.

Chain-piece the strips into pairs, sewing along the 6½-inch edges, as follows: Piece Strip 1 to Strip 2, Strip 3 to Strip 4, Strip 5 to Strip 6, and so on, ending by piecing Strip 63 to Strip 64.

Next, chain-piece the pairs of strips as follows: Piece Strips 1-2 to Strips 3-4, Strips 5-6 to Strips 7-8, Strips 9-10 to Strips 11-12, and so on, ending by piecing Strips 61-62 to Strips 63-64.

Continue chain-piecing strips in this way until you’ve sewn together all 64 strips into a 6½ x 64½-inch Little-Bits Block.

Piece Quilt Top

NOTE: Because of all its seams, the Little-Bits Block is extremely elastic, so for this step use lots of pins to secure pieces and also use the walking foot of your machine to prevent the Block from stretching as you sew.

Sew 64½ x 40-inch Fabric A piece to top of Little-Bits Block.

Sew 64½ x 20-inch Fabric A piece to bottom of Little-Bits Block.

Press seams away from Little-Bits Block.

Baste

Make a quilt sandwich and pin-baste the Backing, batting and Quilt Top together. For instructions on how to do all this, please check out our Pin-Basting Tutorial!

Mark + Quilt

Use a hera marker to mark quilting lines, 1 inch apart, extending from seams of Little-Bits Block.

With the machine’s walking foot in place, machine-quilt along marked lines as follows: Sew along a line that runs through the center of the Quilt (or close to it), sewing from one edge of fabric to the other (you do not need to backstitch at beginning and end).

Rotate Quilt 180 degrees and sew along line running next to the one you just stitched. Continue to sew along remaining parallel lines in this manner until you’ve completed all lines on one side of center line, then sew all of the lines on other side of center line in the same way.

Now trim the batting and Backing along all four sides so that they align with the Quilt Top.

Piece + Attach Binding

Use Binding strips you cut from Fabric A to bind Quilt with double fold binding. For instructions on how to do this, please visit our Making Double Fold Binding and Sewing on Double Fold Binding tutorials. Make sure to use the thread that coordinates with Backing fabric for the hand sewing step, and you’re done!