Arundel Tile Quilt Pattern

Hi there!

Today I'm sharing with you a little tutorial for an Arundel Tile Quilt pattern. It's apparently mostly used in hallways in Victorian homes (there aren't any around where I live unfortunately). Some examples of the tile pattern can be found on the Original Tile and Bathroom site.

So let's cut right to the chase!

Fabrics Needed

You start off with three different solids. I chose a rather classic combination: red, black and white. Firstly, that's because I quite like them. Secondly, well...I often use the cheapest fabric I can find to test out new ideas. And that happens to be Ikea's Ditte fabrics, which are only available in black, white, red and blue. So prepare yourself to see a lot of those colours around here! *lol*

Cutting and Sewing

Cut the white fabric into 6 1/2" squares.
Cut the black and red fabrics into 1 1/2" strips.

Make 4 patches with the black and red strips. I didn't take a picture of that, so here is a very, very short explanation: Sew a black to a red strip lengthwise, press to the black side, cut 1 1/2" pieces from the strip, take two of these, flip one around, lay them right sides together. The seams should nest nicely. Sew them all together, press open (this will make further construction easier). If you're new to this and have never made 4 patches, google it. Many tutorials will pop up.

For one block, you'll need one white square and four 4 patches:

Finger press the 4 patches diagonally.  You can also draw the line with a fabric pen or use your iron to do this. I like it quick and I prefer my fingers to be non-blistery, so I did it by hand. Whichever way is easiest for you, make sure you do them all along the same colour. I chose to fold them along the black squares.

Lay the four 4 patches along the corners of your square and sew them on along the fold line. Again, make sure that all of them point the same way - preferably before sewing them on!

Trim back the edges to 1/4"...

 

...and press the corners back:

 

And that's your finished block! Not too tricky, is it?

Tipps and Tricks

Just a few pointers to make your life easier when making this block:

• I wouldn't make the block smaller, it already gets quiet nibbly with this size 4 patch.
• If you press the middle seam of the 4 patch open, it is less thick when you're sewing them on. However, you have to actually sew straight over the fattest part of it, so hold tight.
• Also, sew a little bit to the right of the line (towards the corner), especially in the middle. That way you won't loose your points - hopefully! :P
• Trim the 4 patches before sewing them on and sew them on as accurately as possible. Otherwise your squares in a square won't line up properly and sewing the blocks together will be very frustrating!
• Be careful not to distort your fabric when pressing. You might also want to starch your white fabric heavily. This way it is less floppy and will hold the heavy corners and thick seams better.
• Make sure you use pins when sewing the blocks together (Yeah, I'm not really a fan of the added work either, but I really rather pin than frog!).

Layout Ideas

Here is a simple layout of four blocks:

You don't need them to be on point actually, as the middle naturally appears to be set on point.

I was faced with a triple threat when sewing these blocks together:

1. I was very excited about the idea and wanted to get it done quickly.
2. My iron chose this moment to be very stubborn and steamy (That's also the day it got the nickname "McSteamy"!).
3. I had a serious problem with the tension on my machine and the whole middle seam got crunched together. And I was too lazy to re-do everything...

Oh, well, it was just a test block anyway. So don't you dare look too closely! :P

 

 

So that's what four blocks look like. Now let's see how it looks on a bigger scale:

 

 

 

 

It looks even better with some fancy borders:

 

 

Very classy look, don't you think?

 

If somebody tries it, please let me know how it is going!

 

All the best,

Cat