Yesterday on QUILTsocial I discussed the anatomy of a Double Wedding Ring quilt and I showed you some different versions of this classic pattern.
Today I’ll show you the math behind a Double Wedding Ring quilt and the 5 different ways you can cut those differently shaped pieces.
I can’t wait to get all of the pieces cut to get sewing with the Dreamweaver XE from Brother.
Because of the shape of the blocks in this quilt, it’s sometimes hard to figure out the number of each piece required to make a certain quilt size. So, I got out my calculator and did the math for you! This chart shows the numbers for each piece required to make the Double Wedding Ring quilt in 7(!) different sizes.
The finished size of the quilt is based on a 12″ block, so if your block finishes at a different size, your quilt will be proportionally bigger or smaller.
As you can see in the chart, a double size Double Wedding Ring quilt with 12″ blocks will measure 78″ x 90″ and has 1497 individual pieces of fabric. A queen size quilt has 2032 pieces and a king size has 2255 pieces!! Am I ever glad I decided to make a bed runner!! My bed runner will end up with 12 blocks and will require 32 arcs.
So now that we know how many pieces we need, how do we cut them??
5 ways to cut Double Wedding Ring quilt pieces
1. Rulers
There are many companies that produce rotary cutting rulers for making a Double Wedding Ring quilt blocks. Some will have an optional single arc piece that can be substituted for the pieced arcs.
2. Templates
If you want to go old school, you could always do what our great-grandmas did and cut the pieces with templates. There are a few companies that still produce quilting templates for tracing and cutting by hand. Here are patterns you can trace using your favorite template material – these include the ¼” seam, so don’t add anything to them. Click the picture to download PDF.
3. Foundation piecing
Foundation piecing is a great technique for getting precise points and accurate blocks.
4. English paper piecing
Curves are especially suited to hand piecing, so if you love handwork, maybe English paper piecing would be your method of choice to make this heirloom quilt.
5. Die cutting
Ok, I may be biased, but I left the best for last! Die cutting is my favorite way to cut ALL pieces for quilts – especially for curved piecing. There are a few companies that offer Double Wedding Ring dies for their die cutters.
Now that we know how to cut our pieces and how many we need, all we need to do now is to get cutting!
I’ve cut all of the pieces I need with my die cutter, so I’m super excited that tomorrow I can start sewing with the Dreamweaver XE! Are you ready?
This is part 2 of 5 in this series.
Go back to part 1: The anatomy of a Double Wedding Ring quilt
Go to part 3: First steps to piecing the Double Wedding Ring quilt
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