Cirrus Plaid Tutorial and Cirrus Solids Review

I kick it old school on Flickr. For me, it's still the best way to take in a lot of crafty goodness while cutting through all the noise. It was on Flickr about a month ago that I first noticed the Cirrus Solids pop up on the Cloud9 Fabrics photostream. Immediately I was drawn to the vibrant color palette - playful teals, mustardy-citrons, bold fuchsia. My heart got a bit fluttery at the thought of yarn-dyed woven fabrics in the rich eye-catching colors that I love. 

I wasn't surprised though, because Cloud9 has always produced awesome colors and I've been a long time fan. I still have some of their early prints in my goto stash - My Happy Nursery and Nursery Basics. With a quick glance, I also see Mixteca, Across the Pond and Koi in projects around the house. What all those collections have in common are their winning color palettes where the designers were willing to step away from blasé primary colors. 

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I was kicking around Flickr again when I noticed Cloud9 added a Cirrus Solids Block of the Month contest. Coincidentally, I had just a set personal challenge for myself to enter more design contests. So I pulled open Inkscape, grabbed the swatches from the Cloud9 Cirrus Solids page and set to work. 

Not long into the process, I noticed how the colors in the Cirrus Solids collection worked together and how they were well-suited for transparency designs. With that in mind, I found myself gravitating towards woven-look variations of traditional quilt blocks. Somewhere along the way, I stumbled onto a block that I've called Cirrus Plaid - a woven-look block for woven fabric. I decided to break up the weave a bit adjusting the corners slightly adding a faint hint of unexpected to the design.

I started playing with different colorways, looking for the two best ones to submit to the contest. Before I knew it, I had two dozen options. The more I played, the more I knew that I wanted to sew up these blocks up straight away and I knew I wanted to share the pattern with you. I took a gamble and reached out to Cloud9. Thankfully they were on board.

When the Cirrus Solids arrived, they were better than I expected. The fabric weight is ideal for quilting. You can read the weave in the cloth which I like. It creates a visual texture without adding noisiness or unnecessary sheen. The variations in the warp and weft threads are subtle, but still readable in the cloth. Texturally, the rare slub hints at the roots of the cloth reminding you that it's organic cotton.

I was keen and started sewing straight away. I smiled with glee as the first few blocks came together. Even in a late night photos, you can see that the colors in Cirrus Solids collection are bang-up spot-on perfect for transparency.

You know you want to make some too!  With that, let's get onto the tutorial!

CIRRUS PLAID TUTORIAL
The Cirrus Plaid block is a color variation of a classic quilt block that you've probably seen under a number of different names. The inner squares are 2 1/4" finished resulting in a 9 1/2" finished block. To maximize the visual impact, the fabric grain is set on point along the block diagonals. (Apologies to those who cringe at the thought. I'd cringe with you, but when you see the Cirrus Solids in person you'll realize it was visually right choice.)

There are a number of ways to construct this classic block. This tutorial uses the basic cut all the squares and triangles approach, making it suitable for beginners. Advanced quilters might prefer a strip sewing and rotary cutter approach to reduce both sewing and cutting time. I'm working on a blog post next month on the topic of optimizing how we work. I'll use this block as an example, so check in next month if you're keen to see a way to speed things up a bit.


CUTTING
Referring to the cutting guide (below) and the color guide (above), cut the fabric pieces for your first block. The Cirrus Solids in the color guide are listed in numerical order for each block. As you cut the pieces, use a scrap of paper to label each pile with their corresponding number. 

LAYOUT
Referring to the layout diagram (below), arrange the 13 squares and 12 triangles in the Cirrus Plaid layout. If you've lost track of the layout numbers, you can look back to the color guide for the position of each piece.

Tip: I keep a 20" square of batting on my sewing desk which I use for laying out blocks. It keeps the pieces from sliding about and falling out of position as I work.

ASSEMBLY
The block is assembled in diagonal rows. 

Join the pieces in each row together using a 1/4" seam. When adding the side triangles to the rows, align the short edges of the triangle with its adjacent square. The tip of the triangle will extend beyond the opposite edge of the square. When adding the corner triangles to the middle row, align the tip of the triangle with the center of the row. To help find the center of the row, fold the row in half and lightly finger press the center. 

Press the seams between the edge triangles and their adjacent squares towards the squares, then alternate the seam direction for the remaining seams in each row. This will make joining the rows easier in the next step. Trim the tips of the triangles that extend beyond the row edge.

Join the rows together using a 1/4" seam. Because the seams in the last step were pressed in alternate directions, the seams in adjacent rows should align and abut neatly. 

After joining all of the rows and corner triangles, press the seams carefully. Neaten your block by trimming it to 10" square. Only a marginal amount of neatening should be required. If you need to trim a substantial amount, verify that you've cut and sewn the original pieces correctly before trimming. 

Your first Cirrus Plaid block is complete. I've included 12 variations in the color guide using Cirrus Solids, but there are many more possibilities. I encourage you to have fun, play and share the combinations you come up with.



CIRRUS SOLIDS FOR YOU
Cloud9 Fabrics Cirrus Solids are 100% certified organic and will be available later this month, October 2014. Pop over to Cloud9 Fabrics to learn more about them. I am appreciative that they've given me an opportunity to work with their fabrics and to share this tutorial with you. And if you'd like to get your hands on Cirrus Solids, you can win a fat quarter bundle in Cloud 9's Block of the Month Challenge. Entries are open through September 2015.



Be sure to tag badskirt on your photos or leave me a note if you try out the Cirrus Plaid block. --happy crafting, Amy