Hive 3 November Tutorial: Viking Modern

Hello Hive Three!

This is Megan Doreen. I am a quilter who lives on the "thumb" of Washington State with my husband, a giant floofy dog, a small sleek cat, and the Wee Baby Jane. This is my first year doing Stash Bee and I have loved making blocks for all of you! I am looking forward to seeing what you send to me as well.

My husband and I are in the process of building a house in the woods of the Kitsap Peninsula here in Washington, and I am hoping to use the blocks you send to make a quilt to go in our new living room. I have designed my own block that combines our love of mid-century modern furniture with our Scandinavian heritage and family heirlooms. My mom has jokingly called our style "Viking Modern", so that is what I named the block!

I am asking you to please make one Viking Modern block for me. The blocks will be 10.5" (10" finished). They take three fabrics: a low volume background, a medium/dark brown for the boat, and a print for the sail.

Fabric Pull: 

The low volume background can be cream, white, or even light grey. The print design can be a color as long as the majority of the print is one of the neutrals.

The boat is any medium to dark brown tone-on-tone or solid. I have used some fabrics that mimic wood in a couple blocks, but really any brown will do. If you are choosing between a couple, maybe err on the warmer side of brown.

The sail fabric is definitely the main focus of the block. I would like it to be any print or blender in a mid-century modern color palette. (If you would like to be adventurous I have two alternative sail options at the end of the tutorial!) I would prefer nothing that is obviously juvenile/novelty, and no florals in the realistic or "Liberty of London" vein. Some examples of fabric designers who would work great are Alison Glass, Denise Schmidt, Giucy Giuce, Tula Pink, and Kaffe Fassett. Batiks are absolutely welcome. Here is an inspiration color swatch and some examples of fabrics I pulled from my stash:

 

 

For the tutorial, I am using the following fabrics:

 
Cutting Instructions:

Because of the angles of the sail, I spray starched all of my fabric before cutting and piecing. Feel free to do this if it makes life easier for you!


Low Volume “Sky”:

• 2- 2 ½” squares 
• 2- 2 ½” x 8 ½” rectangles 
• 2- 3 ¼” x 3 ⅛” rectangles

Medium/Dark Brown:

• 10 ½” x 2 ½”” rectangle for ship 
• 1” x 3 ⅛” rectangle for mast  

Sail (using template):

• approximately 8 ½” x 6 ½” piece  of fabric. 
• Template is found here. If your template prints out at the correct size, the cutting line on the left will be 6 ½”from the one on the right.

Piecing:

1. Draw a diagonal line across the wrong side of each 2 ½” low volume square.

2. Lay on each end of 10 ½” x 2 ½” ship rectangle, sew on line.

3.Trim ¼” from sewn line, and press seam open.

4. Sew “mast” piece between two 3 ¼” x 3 ⅛” low volume rectangles. Press seams open

5. Measure up ½” from bottom left and make a mark. Measure down ½” from top right and make a mark.

6. Connect the marks with a line. Cut on the line.

              

7. Sew mast/backgound units to the top and bottom of the sail piece, offsetting by approximately ⅛”. Press seams open.

8. Trim the sail/sky section to be 6 ½” x 8 ½”. If it is a little off, that is ok. The weird angle and the fussy cut/not always on grain sail pieces make that normal. Just take that into account when attaching your side low volume rectangles. Your sail is the correct width, so I match up with that when sewing on the side low volume rectangles.

9. Attach your 8 ½” x 2 ½” low volume rectangles to either side of the sail/mast unit. Press seams open.

13. Sew the boat to the sail/mast/sky. Press seam open. Block should be 10 ½” square

 

 

 Additional Examples of Ships in the Fleet:

Alternate Sail Options:

The above tutorial can be easily achieved in the Stash Bee established time frame. If you choose to do one of these other options, it may extend your time.  

1. You can foundation piece on top of the template. Or you can improv piece fabrics together to make a unit that measures at least 6 ½” x 8 ½”, and then use the template to trim it to the correct shape. That is what I did when I made this block:
   
2. You can also use an orphan block that is at least 8 ½” and in the right colors, and trim it down using the template. That is what I did when I made this block:

      

Thank you so much!  I hope you have as much fun making this block as I did. I can't wait for these longships to set sail!

If you have any questions, please let me know!