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| The Photo by © Brita Nelson |
Brita Nelson: This is my sixth Disappearing Quilt pattern. It is called Double Vision, with a shout-out to Donna DeAngelis for coming up with this great name.
I have a YouTube video for you demonstrating this pattern. At the end of the video, you will see how to earn a chance to win a free charm pack.
Each block uses four colors: one black square, one white square, one light color square, and one dark color square.
The quilt shown is 42" x 42" and is made of thirty-six 7" finished blocks, arranged 6 across by 6 down. This design is what I call "Charm Pack Friendly," meaning that the blocks don't need to be cut into exact thirds. In fact, this quilt is made using 5" x 5" charms. You can use any size squares you have, as long as you make the cuts on the hourglass somewhere near one third. The design will look fine.
To make this quilt, you will need:
- 36 white squares
- 36 black squares
- 36 light color squares
- 36 dark color squares
You can use purchased charms or cut your scraps into 5" charms, which is what I did. If you are using yardage for the white and black squares, you will need 3/4 yard of each. These measurements don't include binding or backing.
For the optional finishing shown at the end, you will need to make 14 more blocks.
Steps to Make the Quilt
1.Prepare HST Blocks:
- Pair one black square with one light-colored square.
- Pair one white square with one dark-colored square.
- With right sides together, mark a line down the center (from corner to corner) and sew 1/4" on either side of the line. Cut apart at the line you drew. Open the HST blocks and press the seam to the dark side.
- You will have two HSTs with black and light fabric and two HSTs with white and dark fabric. If your blocks are consistent, use them as is; if they are a little wonky, trim them to 4 1/2".
2.Create Hourglass Blocks:
- Mix up the HST blocks so that each hourglass has four different colored fabrics: two different blocks with black triangles and two different blocks with white triangles.
- Arrange the HSTs into an hourglass block, with the two dark triangles opposite each other and the two light triangles opposite each other. The black and white triangles should be on the outside of the block.
3.Cut and Rearrange Sub-Blocks:
- Make 4 cuts, 1 1/4" from the center seam, to create 9 sub-blocks.
- Rearrange the sub-blocks: exchange the upper left sub-block with the upper right sub-block and rotate them so that the small triangles are in the outer corners. Do the same for the lower left and lower right sub-blocks.
- Sew the 9 sub-blocks together to get the finished block. Notice that the black pieces go with the dark fabric and the white pieces go with the light fabric.
4.Create Motifs:
- When you have 4 of these blocks made, create a motif by arranging them so that the dark corners all go to the center. Notice that when they are sewn together, a black square with a light-colored diamond is created in the center. All four corners have black pieces in them, ensuring no worry about how the motifs are put together into the final quilt. The top center, right center, bottom center, and left center all have half of a white square. When these motifs are put together, they will form complete white squares with dark diamonds in the center.
Optional Finishing
A member of Block Party Quilters in Seattle suggested a way to make the quilt look a little more "finished."
- Take an extra finished block and use a seam ripper to divide the block in half. Alternatively, you could cut the block in half, losing the seam allowance but saving work.
- Arrange the half block so that the black and white corners complete the black and white squares. You will need to cut half of the blocks horizontally and half vertically to match up all the edges.
- Take them apart one at a time and place them on the quilt top. It will become obvious what is meant. This makes all the white and black squares look complete.
- To go all around the quilt, you will need 14 additional blocks. It looks nice but requires extra work.
