Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Pyramid Pals! Three Chicopee Quilts (+ Tutorial!)

A trifecta of triangle quilts + tutorial! (Tutorial at the end of this post.)

Jaime, Emily and I adore Denyse Schmidt's fabrics-- and when we saw this Pyramid quilt made from her Chicopee line, we were all three smitten. We had to make it for ourselves!


We each cut 3/8 yard of all 26 prints, giving us 5 triangles from each print--enough to make a queen sized quilt top!

Jaime's Quilt
Jaime made a queen sized quilt, and tried her darnedest to be random with the patchwork. It turned out perfectly random and is beautiful!


Emily took a different approach for her queen sized pyramid quilt, and planned out a repeating pattern which created a soft rainbow effect in her patchwork. In order have the right number of certain colors she had to make some triangle trades with Jaime and I. I love the effect of the organized groups of colors!


I went a little smaller with my quilt, wanting a cozy couch quilt. It's 60" x 90", long enough to stretch out under for naps, or wide enough for a two person lap quilt.

Jaime's Rainbow Patchwork Back  |  Amber's Bright Floral Back  |  Emily's Patchworky Stripe Back

We each chose our own adventure for our quilt backs!

Jaime used her Chicopee scraps to make a stripey rainbow, which she then patchworked with some of her favorite tiny gothic Japanese florals.

I was inspired by antique crazy quilts I've seen from the early 1900s, many of which have big, wild florals backing them. I chose an acid yellow rose print from Bari J. and I love it!

Emily chose a yarn-dyed Essex linen cotton for most of her quilt back, but inserted a colorful strip of patchwork down the center.

Basic Pyramid Patchwork Tutorial

To make a queen sized quilt top you will need:
  • 3/8 yd each of 26 prints
  • Cutting mat
  • Rotary cutter
  • clear ruler with 60o marking
  • sewing machine and thread



  1. With a rotary cutter and ruler, cut all your fabric pieces to 12" strips, selvedge to selvedge.
  2. Take one strip and, using your ruler, cut the end of the strip off at 60o.
  3. Rotate your ruler to the other side and finish cutting one triangle by cutting again at 60o. Save your half triangles from the ends. Repeat cutting for remaining triangles and remaining strips.
  4. Place 2 triangles right sides together and seam along one edge at with 1/4" seam allowance.
  5. Press open.
  6. Place next triangle right sides together with last triangle, letting the point extend past the edge of the triangle below as much as the previous triangle point's seam allowance. Seam and press. Continue until you have 13 triangles sewn together. Seam one half-triangle to each end of your strip.
Repeat until you have 9 strips of triangles.

Lay your strips out to decide what order to piece them together in. Seam strips together.

Tada! You have a totally hot quilt top!

18 comments:

theboltandbobbin said...

Wow! They turned out beautiful. I always have trouble just randomly piecing things, but it always looks so good!

Sonya Philip said...

They are all GORGEOUS and to think I was there at the beginning if it all!

Rochelle New said...

!!!!! I LOVE the large patchwork! Quilts usually intimidate me because most patterns work around such small pieces. But this quilt looks right up my ally! I love the finished effect. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing the tutorial :)

Christine said...

Gorgeous of course! I might copy the top quilt for my next one!

Kate Hunter said...

Love 'em! Totally might have to make one for myself...

Kirsten said...

Gorgeous quilts - the triangle pattern is perfect for these prints!

Lorraine said...

All so gorgeous !!
I'm definitely going to try this , thanks for the tutorial .

Darcy said...

Is my math right that 3/8 of a yard is 13.5 inches? And when you say that you get 5 triangles do you mean 3 whole and 2 half, all counting as triangles? Thanks for the additional info! Love this line and all your quilts!

Kristin said...

I love that you all did the same thing but different. :) They are all super fun!

Anita said...

What great quilts! Love the random but also the soft rainbow...thanks for sharing :)

Clint said...

I would really like to make this but for a crib size or slightly bigger. I have smaller triangle patterns but I want large triangles to show case the large Amy Butler fabric I have. I'm wondering how many across and how many rows down I would need using this tutorial.
Thanks,
Mayka

Anonymous said...

Love this quilt! Can you please tell me the finished size?
I need to make this!

Rachel said...

Is it possible to know the actual triangle size...at least edge lengths? Thanks!

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amy birkan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amy said...

Can I order 3/8 yard of fabric? Or do I need to buy fabric at 1/2 a yard and cut it to 13.5 "? Thanks for your help! I love the quilt!!!!

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