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Native American Bed Quilt

This gorgeous wall quilt features the designs from the Redwork Indian Sets I and II for a large (5" x 7") hoop and the Indian Redwork Set.
The finished size of the quilt is about 70" x 82" .

You can purchase this quilt from our Etsy store!

Click to enlarge

We used about 2 1/2 yards of brown fabric, 1 yard of sand-colored fabric, 2 1/2 yards of patterned fabric, and lots of scraps of blue fabrics.
For embroidery we used polyester craft felt instead of stabilizer, and embroidery threads.
You will also need batting and fabric for the backing and binding.

The Block:

The quilt contains 12 embroidered blocks. The finished size of each block is 12" x 12". For each block, out of sand-colored fabric, cut a square measuring 8 1/2" x 8 1/2".
Out of brown fabric, cut 4 squares measuring 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" and 8 squares measuring
2 7/8" x 2 7/8".
Out of blue scraps, cut 8 squares measuring 2 7/8" x 2 7/8".

Place blue and brown 2 7/8" squares together face to face. You'll get 8 pairs. With a pencil, draw a diagonal on the lighter square. Stitch 1/4" from the pencil line on both sides.

Cut along the line. Open the new squares. Press the seam towards the brown. Trim the ears. Repeat for all the pairs. You should get 16 two-color squares, measuring 2 1/2" x 2 1/2".

Stitch the squares into four strips - 4 squares per strip.

Stitch 2 of the strips to the upper and lower sides of the sand-colored square.

Sew the 2 1/2" brown squares to the ends of the remaining strips.

Sew the strips to the left and right sides of the square.

Sew 12 blocks like this.

Embroidery of the Blocks:

You can either embroider each block individually, or first sew them together and then embroider. Stabilize the central part of the block with polyester craft felt and embroider the redwork designs from the Redwork Indian Sets.

Cut away the excess felt around the embroidery.

Cutting and Assembly of the Top:

For the sashing, out of patterned fabric, cut 17 strips measuring 3" x 12 1/2" and out of brown fabric, cut 6 squares measuring 3" x 3".

Sew the blocks and sashing strips into rows, with 3 blocks with 2 sashing strips between per row. You will get 4 rows.

Sew the remaining sashing strips and the brown squares into 3 sashing rows: 3 strips with 2 squares in between per row.

Sew the sashing rows between the block rows.

Adding the Borders:

The First Border

For the first border, out of patterned fabric cut 2 strips measuring 3" x 41 1/2" and 2 strips measuring 3" x 56".
Out of brown fabric, cut 4 squares measuring 3" x 3".

Sew the brown squares to the ends of the 3" x 41 1/2" strips.

Sew the 3" x 56" strips to the left and right edges of the top.

Sew the strips with brown squares to the upper and lower edges of the top.

The Second Border

For the second border, out of brown fabric, cut 4 squares measuring 2 1/2" x 2 1/2". Out of blue scraps cut strips 2 1/2" wide and the length the fabric permits.

Sew the blue strips into 2 strips measuring 2 1/2" x 46 1/2" and 2 strips measuring
2 1/2" x 61".

Sew the brown squares to the ends of the 2 1/2" x 46 1/2" strips.

Sew the 2 1/2" x 61" strips to the left and right edges of the top.

Sew the strips with the brown ends to the upper and lower edges of the top.

The Third Border

For the third border, out of the patterned fabric, cut 2 strips measuring 4 1/2" x 50 1/2"
2 strips measuring 4 1/2" x 65" and out of brown fabric cut 4 squares measuring 4 1/2" x 4 1/2".

Sew the brown squares to the ends of the 4 1/2" x 47 1/2" strips.

Sew the 4 1/2" x 63 1/2" strips to the left and right edges of the top.

Sew the strips with the brown squares to the upper and lower edges of the top.

The Fourth Border

To make the fourth border, cut strips 8" wide out of the brown fabric as long as the width of the fabric permits. Sew the strips together, then cut into 4 strips measuring 8" x 73 1/2". Sew 2 of the strips to the left and right edges, then the other 2 to the top and bottom edges.

Quilting and Finishing:

Now place the backing/lining on a flat surface (table) face down. Cover with batting. Spread your working piece over it.

Pin all three layers together with 1" pins. We quilted around the embroidery and all over the mat in a free-motion style. Remove the pins while quilting.

Press the work with heavy steam and square the work -- all corners should be 90 degrees and opposite sides should be of the same length.