Tutorial: Sea Creatures - Part 3

The above illustration is to help you in cutting and basting bias strips to represent seaweed for the sea creatures quilt - choose a fat quarter of muddy green, brown and/or dark plum print. Draw lines at 45 degree angles about three quarters of an inch apart on the wrong side of the fabric. Cut away the short triangle and set it aside.
Next turn over a quarter inch seam allowance and baste it. Then cut away the three quarter inch strip inch along the marked line. Do this until you have as many strips as you will need to make seaweed, and when you have enough, turn over all the strips another quarter inch and pin. Set aside.

Before you go any farther in cutting out fish, starfish, jelly fish turtles, etc, it's time to get a border around the inner part you have pieced. If you are using a print that is directional, as I did, you will first cut a top and bottom strip across the fabric. Each strip should be about 10 inches wide. Fold it over, wrong sides together and right sides outward, and then either drawing freehand or making a paper template, trace shallow a shallow curved line along the inner edges and then pin and cut along the drawn line. Set aside. Measure your side edges of the central piece and give yourself a little extra that you will trim off later. Cut two strips each about ten inches wide, then wrong sides together and right sides outwards, trace another curving scalloped line on the inner edges and pin together and then cut along line. Arrange the four pieces on your work table and carefully turn under scalloped edges and then baste down all four pieces along their scalloped edges.

First pin and then baste the side pieces, You will have first drawn a line on the outside of the pieces about 8 inches from the edges. Then turn over to the wrong side, baste checking that the scallops fit the central pieced section without gapping. Next arrange the top and bottom pieces to fit nicely and to make the edges all fit at 90 degree angles. (Again you can draw a line on the wrong side about 8 inches in from the edge). Baste and check by spreading out on the table and measuring to be sure the quilt top is square and all sides are equal. When you are satisfied, baste and set aside.

Next select prints you will use for fish, turtles, starfish and jellyfish.

I chose two shades of green for the turtle, a beige and a coral for two different starfish, a dark blue, a lighter green and a red and a mustard for fish and the same mustard for a jellyfish. These prints will be compatible with the "Nantucket" style print I am using for border.You can blow up and save to your computer the template drawings - then print them off and cut them out.

The dotted lines on the jellyfish tentacles show where they will be slid under the body of the jellyfish.

Next and last part of the tutorial will address arranging the appliques and sewing them down.