The earlier this summer I was working on Refine, my first free quilt pattern to launch my free pattern vault, and while I finished the quilt top a while back, house renovations, holidays, and COVID restrictions all got in the way of me getting it quilted up.

When I started this top, I was really looking for a quilt pattern that would allow me to intentionally practice my quilting basics while looking super cute at the end too. 

I couldn’t find anything quite like I was looking for, certainly nothing free.

Because who really wants to pay to practice anything…

So I put together my own sampler quilt, and called it Refine, that uses blocks that allow you to practice some basic techniques that build off each other as you work through the blocks.

Build your confidence on the easy stuff so you can crush the harder stuff later. 

Because in the end, all quilting is is sewing straight lines, just doing it consistently is the hard part.

So today I want to show you the finished quilt and show you where you can start yours too!

Why Bother Practicing?

I’ll be the first person to say I’m really good at having a “good enough is good enough” mentality when it comes to *most* things in life.

I’m not great at being type A, and was perfectly content with passing college with mostly B’s.

Are the two fabrics sewn together?

Great, next step…

From reading on the internet, I knew certain best practices existed, the 1/4” seam allowance thing for example. 

But I never took it seriously enough to try it. 

I just estimated what a 1/4” was and went with it. 

I usually am so excited about my pattern, or my fabrics, that I just bullet through a quilt. I rarely slowed down long enough to focus on intentionally aiming for a 1/4″ seam allowance.

When I made the conscious decision to quilt a pattern designed to practice the basics, I wanted to try out as many techniques and best practices I could manage.

Just to see what they were all about and whether they were worth my time.

And after the first block, I was like, woh.

It makes a HUGE difference. 

And then I sit there kicking myself because I was super naive and why on earth didn’t I try this sooner?

I didn’t have to use HALF the amount of effort later to match up points and edges.

Related:
5 Hacks to Get the Perfect 1/4″ Seam Allowance

So I’m a changed quilter thanks to this beauty right here. 

Fabrics I used in this Refine quilt 

I’m a sucker for solids, I don’t know why. 

I was aiming for a “Quilting Wemple” theme on this quilt because I had the leftover dark pink from my Almost Friday quilt.

And how much fun is a brand color quilt?

And because I just love working with Kona Cotton in my quilts, the quilt top is all Kona Cottons

• White
• Sangria
• Curry
• Candy Pink
• Binding – Out of Stock, 1/8th inch B&W stripe by Riley Blake Designs

Practicing the Skills

There were a handful of skills I wanted to practice, I’m sure there are many more out there to keep in mind but I wanted to focus on a few that I kept running into.

If you guys like this one, maybe I’ll work on putting together another one that focuses on some other techniques. 

My hope was that people new to the hobby would find this pattern, and have everything at their finger tips to learn the ropes, like I clearly needed as well. 

In case they were like me and everything they’ve learned about quilting thus far is 100% self taught. 

Regardless of your quilting tenure though, it is absolutely fantastic practice for anyone who is just looking for an excuse to brush up on basics as well. 

Here’s the list of fundamentals I was aiming to focus on:

• Nesting Seams
• Half Square Triangle Quick Piece
• Hourglass Quick Piece
• Flying Geese Quick Piece
• Matching Up Points
• 1/4” seam allowance

The goal was to start off as simple as possible with the techniques and then move to more complicated blocks that combines one, two, or even three different fundamentals. 

And by the end you have an adorable coordinated sampler throw quilt. 

Machine Quilting of Refine

The whole point of this quilt was the piecing. 

The top itself is pretty minimalist which is right up my alley, so since it was more simple, all I did was some larger straight line quilting all over in both directions.

I really like how it keeps the minimalist feeling to the quilt but still gives it a little something something extra. 

Make Your Own

It is winter now and we need things to keep us busy inside, so if you want to make one yourself, the pattern is also available FOR FREE in my quilt pattern vault! While most of the quilts in the vault are baby sized, this one is actually throw sized.

The pattern is lengthy because each block requires its own mini pattern, but it’s really very manageable.

And the nice part is that it’s a project you really don’t have to do all in one shot. 

Trying to cut and piece all of the blocks simultaneously will likely drive you crazy because each block has different cutting requirements. So this one is best to take one block at a time. 

Only got time for one block a night in the evening? No problems at all. 

It’s best to do it that way anyway in order to build the techniques one at a time as you go. 

So head on over to the vault to check it the Refine quilt pattern, I have a couple more free patterns up my sleeves for the next few months so be sure to follow me on pinterest below so you can get them all straight to your home feed!