Introducing Lucent {Tutorial and Pattern}

I had an absolute blast working on my MQG fabric challenge quilt, and I received a lot of inquiries about a tutorial related to the design. I spent quite a bit of time putting together what I thought would be a free tutorial for the quilt, only to realize that I had just made a full blown quilt pattern which would translate into the world’s longest blog post. Seriously, it did not seem kind (to you, to me) to publish it!

Also, the more I worked on and thought about the quilt, the more I realized that this quilt is is not really a Swoon block, nor a Star of Magi block, but the quilt design stands on the shoulders of these two awesome block designs. Camille said she saw the traditional (Star of Magi) block, made it big, and broke it into more parts to eliminate the Y seams when she came up with her “Swoon” block. I saw Camille’s Swoon quilt, made the block even bigger, and added back a select number of Y seams to allow for continuous cuts of fabric.

So, I would like to introduce you to Lucent. Lucent is a brand new quilt design that was inspired by the Swoon and Star of Magi blocks. In this quilt, the scale of the block is increased to take up the vast majority of the quilt and single cuts of fabric are utilized to show off large scale prints. Today, I have a limited tutorial here on the blog. I am offering the much more detailed Lucent pattern (which includes instructions for creating an additional 48ʺ square quilt from “scraps” of the piecing process) for sale in my  Craftsy, Etsy, and Payhip stores for $6 through Sunday, July 26th, which is a savings of 33% off of its regular price.

Planning

The Lucent quilt finishes at 80 ½” wide by 80 ½” long. I was inspired to create this design to show off large scale prints, and to accomplish that goal the print blocks are created from a single cut of fabric. Note that because of the goal of making the prints from a single piece of fabric, this pattern necessitates sewing Y-Seams.

General Pattern Notes

1. Sew all seams with a ¼ʺ seam allowance.
2. I prefer to press all my seams open to reduce bulk.
3. The pattern refers to fabric units by fabric number, block letter name, and size. You may choose to group like blocks together and label them with their corresponding size or letter if that helps your organization. Alternately, there are associated images for each step and you may print the pattern and mark with your own fabric selection to help keep the assembly going together correctly.

Fabric Requirements

This pattern is designed around the use of 6 prints, as seen in the cover image and illustrated below. If you would like to reduce the fabric selections, simply add the yardage requirements together to make sure you have enough yardage for the project. Note that the purple cornerstones are commonly replaced by background fabric.

I assume that the usable fabric width is 40-inches for these instructions unless otherwise noted.

WOF = Width of Fabric

• Fabric 1 (red) = 5/8 yard
• Fabric 2 (orange) = 5/8 yard
• Fabric 3 (yellow) = 1 1/8 yards
• Fabric 4 (green) = 1 1/8 yards
• Fabric 5 (blue) = 1 1/8 yards
• Fabric 6 (purple) = 3/8 yards
• Background Fabric (white) = 3 ½ yards
• Binding Fabric = 2/3 yard [(8) 2 ½” x WOF strips]
• Backing Fabric = 5 yards of 42-inch wide fabric or 2 ½ yards of wide backing

Cutting Instructions

Fabric 1 (red)

• Cut (1) 18 ½” by WOF strip
  • Subcut (1) 18 ½” x 18 ½” square [A]

Fabric 2 (orange)

• Cut (2) 9 ½” by WOF strips
  • Subcut (8) 9 ½” x 9 ½” squares [B]

Fabric 3 (yellow)

• Cut (2) 18 ½” by WOF strips
  • Subcut (4) 18 ½” x 18 ½” squares [C]

Fabric 4 (green)

• Cut (2) 18 ½” by WOF strips
  • Subcut (4) 18 ½” x 18 ½” squares [D]

Fabric 5 (blue)

*Note that the cutting instructions for Fabric 5 assume a directional print

• Cut (1) 18 ½” by WOF strips
  • Subcut (4) 9 ½” x 18 ½” rectangles [E]
• Cut (2) 9 ½” by WOF strips
  • Subcut (4) 18 ½” x 9 ½” rectangles [F]

Fabric 6 (purple)

• Cut (1) 9 ½” by WOF strips
  • Subcut (4) 9 ½” x 9 ½” squares [G]

Background Fabric (white)

• Cut (9) 9 ½” by WOF strips
  • Subcut (28) 9 ½” x 9 ½” squares [H]
  • Subcut (4) 18 ½” x 9 ½” rectangles [I]
• Cut (8) 4 ½” by WOF strips

Piecing Instructions

Piecing Step 1 – Piece (4) Flying Geese

Pieces Needed:

• (8) Fabric 2 9 ½” x 9 ½” squares [B]
• (4) Background Fabric 18 ½” x 9 ½” rectangles [I]

Using the Sew and Flip method, create (4) 18 ½” x 9 ½” flying geese blocks.

Piecing Step 2 – Piece (4) “House” Blocks

Pieces Needed:

• (4) Fabric 3 18 ½” x 18 ½” squares [C]
• (8) Background Fabric 9 ½” x 9 ½” squares [H]

Using the Sew and Flip method again, create (4) 18 ½” x 18 ½” “house” blocks that look like the figure below.

Piecing Step 3 – Piece Corners

Pieces Needed:

• (4) Fabric 4 18 ½” x 18 ½” squares [D]
• (4) Fabric 5 9 ½” x 18 ½” rectangles [E]
• (4) Fabric 5 18 ½” x 9 ½” rectangles [F]
• (4) Fabric 6 9 ½” x 9 ½” squares [G]
• (20) Background Fabric 9 ½” x 9 ½” squares [H]

Step 1. Using the Sew and Flip method, sew (1) Background Fabric 9 ½” x 9 ½” square [H] to the lower left hand corner of (1) Fabric 4 18 ½” x 18 ½” square [D].

Step 2. Using the Sew and Flip method, sew (1) Background Fabric 9 ½” x 9 ½” square [H] to (1) Fabric 5 18 ½” x 9 ½” rectangle [F] as shown in the figure.

Step 3. Using the Sew and Flip method, sew the unit from Step 2 to the unit from Step 1 as shown in the figure.

Step 4. Using one of the unmarked Background Fabric 9 ½” x 9 ½” squares [H], sew the square into the gap of the block left in Step 7 using a Y Seam technique.

• I used the Y-Seams Tutorial from Fresh Lemons to get familiar with the technique.
• I suggest marking a dot on the wrong side of [H] at the pivot point, which is ¼” from 2 edges of the square where you will pause your sewing with your needle down, turn the top fabric to align with the second raw edge, and continue stitching. It is important not to sew beyond the pivot point when sewing the Y Seam, so take your time!

Step 5. Using the Sew and Flip method, sew (1) Background Fabric 9 ½” x 9 ½” square [H] to (1) Fabric 5 9 ½” x 18 ½” rectangle [E] as shown in the figure.

Step 6. Using the Sew and Flip method, sew the unit from Step 5 to the unit from Step 4 as shown in the figure.

Step 7. Sew together (1) Background Fabric 9 ½” x 9 ½” square [H] with (1) Fabric 6 9 ½” x 9 ½” square [G].

Step 8. Using the unit from Step 7, sew the rectangle into the gap of the block from Step 6 using a Y Seam technique. The finished unit should measure 27 ½” x 27 ½”.

Repeat steps 1 through 8 (3) more times to make a total of (4) corner blocks. If you are using directional prints, consider the position of each corner block and audition your fabric for each location.

Quilt Top Assembly

Assemble the top row…

Assemble the middle row…

Assemble the bottom row…

Sew the rows together…

And sew on the borders using the (8) Background Fabric 4 ½” by WOF strips. Sew together (2) Background Fabric 4 ½” by WOF strips for each side. Sew a combined strip to the left and right side, press seams, and trim ends square with the block. Sew a combined strip to the top and bottom, press seams, and trim square with the side borders.

Quilt Construction

1. Layer the quilt top, batting, and backing. Baste and quilt as desired.
2. Form the binding by chain sewing together the (8) pre-cut binding strips. Bind and enjoy your quilt!

Congratulations! You have completed a Lucent Quilt! I would love to see what you create. If you are on Instagram, tag me (@QuiltingJetgirl) and any images of your quilt using #LucentQuilt. Or send an email to jetgirl8(at)gmail(dot)com with a photograph or link to a blog post about your quilt!

Again, I am offering the much more detailed Lucent pattern (which includes instructions for creating an additional 48ʺ square quilt from “scraps” of the piecing process) for sale in my  Craftsy, Etsy, and Payhip stores for $6 through Sunday, July 26th, which is a savings of 33% off of its regular price. 🙂

Linking up to Tips and Tutorials Tuesdays @Late Night Quilter.