Patchwork bookmark tutorial

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas shopping season.  I can’t believe Thanksgiving is already 2 weeks away. We’re starting to think about gifts, big and small, around here. I like to do little gift baskets for dance and music teachers as well as for the hilltopgrandparents.

On a slightly unrelated note, I’m making a quilt for one of the girls.

It’s a hexagon quilt.

Once the little squares on sewn on the big squares, I have to trim them. I ended up with a large pile of triangle scraps. What am I going to do with all of those pretty triangles? Back to the point of the post.

We played around with the scraps and came up with the patchy bookmark.

Maybe you’d like to make a couple.

Here are the instructions:

You’ll need:  4 scraps at least 2.75″ square, a 2″x7″ piece of backing fabric, a 2″ x & 7″ piece of fusible fleece, a 3″ long piece of ric rac and thread.

Cut 4  2.75″ squares. Cut each of them in 1/2 diagonally.

Cut a 2″x7″ piece of backing fabric, a 2″x7″ piece of fusible fleece and a 3″ long piece of ric rac.

Arrange your triangles in the order you want them. Place 2 triangle pieces together, right sides together and stitch along the long side, using a 1/4″ seam allowance. Repeat with the rest of the triangles.

You now have 4 squares again. Press them open.

Place 2 of your new squares together, right sides together, and stitch along one side using a 1/4″ seam allowance. Repeat until all 4 squares are attached and make 1 long piece.

Press open.

Adhere the fusible fleece to the wrong side of your fabric.

Now you’re going to quilt the fleece and the fabric together. I used a loopy free hand stitch, you can quilt in any way that you like.

Now you’re going to stitch it all together. Lay out the backing fabric, right side up. Fold the ric rac in 1/2 and place it on one end of the backing fabric like in the photo below. The loop is under my finger.

Now place the patched piece on the backing fabric right side down. Pin in place if you wish.

Stitch 1/4″ from the edge, leaving the bottom open for turning.

Clip the corners and trim off the extra ric rac.

Go ahead and turn the bookmark right side out. Press it. Fold the open end in about 1/4″ and press.

Topstitch about 1/8″ to 3/16″ from edge, all around, closing the opening as you go.

You’re Done!

Mix and match the triangles however you wish and create some masterpieces.

I’m still not finished piecing that quilt together, so I’m going to have so many more triangle scraps.  I can’t stand the thought of throwing them away. I’ll have to see what else I can come up with.

More crafty ideas at Beyond the Picket Fence, Skip to my Lou and Crazy Domestic.