Join in and sew with us! You can start anytime.

Why should you join our QAL?

Let’s back up a little. For all the people that are new to quilting, let’s talk about what a Quilt Along actually is. 

A Quilt Along is when a group of sewers of all ages and from around the world come together online and make the same quilt, in this case the PLUSES one, over a set periode. It is a great opportunity to develop your own skills and learn from other quilters. In addition, we can inspire and motivate each other, for example by exchanging information about our choice of material, our progress and difficulties and helping each other if we get stuck somewhere.

This online Quilt Along is a perfect way to quilt together with a group of like-minded people and have some fun. With gaining a beautiful quilt as a result!

This is what our participants said about our previous QAL:

My first quilt along is finished. Thank you Brigitte for a super design!

Heidi Frost

Thanks to Zen Chic for this wonderful quilt along…I learned so much. I will definitely make this quilt again!

Marjorie Devlin

Thank you Brigitte for sharing your tips so generously and your instructions are clear and easy to understand

Mia Horton

What are we going to sew?

The Pluses Quilt Pattern was originally designed for the Frisky collection.

It's a striking and modern pattern with an bold design that looks on the one hand really simple with the easy to sew Plus blocks. The tricky part of this pattern is to get these blocks on the the background as if they are floating. Other the the traditional way, where we place blocks onto a regular grid we have to learn here new skills and insights and this is what you will gain from our quilt along: a basic understanding how to arrange any blocks on a background as if they would float.

In terms of skill level, it is suitable for seasoned beginners who already have a basic understanding of how to piece a quilt together and sew with a 1/4’’ seam. During the QAL we will learn how to sew simple blocks and and how we combine them with background pieces and systematically assemble them into larger and larger coherent units. Brigitte will break everything down into easy to follow steps and explain with video tutorials.

So that everyone who would like to participate in this quilt can find the right size that also fits your budget of money and time, we offer a bedsize, a lapsize and a baby quilt.

Alternative fabric choices

Although we are celebrating the new collection FRISKY in our bed-size quilt, feature our collection CELESTICAL in our lap-size quilt and have EVEN MORE PAPER together with SPOTTED in our baby-quilt samples, there are of course a myriad of some alternative fabric choices. For the Plus Signs any lively and colorful collection would be great, especially for the large Plus signs large scale prints are a hit. Layer Cakes are ideal for the Plus signs in the bed-size quilt, since they give you a lot of variety on a small budget . The third quilt from the left is a bed-size featuring the Reverie collection by Melody Miller from Ruby Star Society. For the lap-size and baby-size you can just go with a couple of Fat Eights, the second quilt on the left for example is a baby-quilt featuring the collection Sketchbook by Alexia Abegg from Ruby Star Society. You can also use just solids fabrics which reads like a solid as SPOTTED, Grunge or Thatched for the Plus signs. This striking quilt can live by its graphic look alone and doesn’t need necessarily the additional interest of prints. As for the background: To achieve this striking look, the background must be CALM! It can be a small scale low volume as in our baby-quilt sample, it can be a SPOTTED, Grunge or Bella Solid. But please stay away from a medium or large scale print for the background. They would just create a totally different and probably cluttered look.

Alternative quilt sizes

The original size of the pattern is 82” x 82”. However there are two alternative sizes: the Lap size which is 67” x 70” and the Baby Size measuring 48” x 48”. So something for everybody. 

The cutting and sewing instructions for the lap size and baby size quilt are exclusive bonus materials that you will receive after subscribing to our QAL mailing list. They are not included in the regular quilt pattern.

What does the schedule look like?

The Quilt Along will run for 6 weeks and you can start whenever you like.

In the first week you’ll have enough time to prepare. You will select and arrange the fabrics for your quilt layout and collect all the remaining materials together.

In week two, all fabrics are cut so that in weeks three and four and all blocks of the quilt can be assembled and sewn.

In week five we start assembling units where you bring your Plus blocks into the background.

In the sixth and last week of our QAL you will put the quilt top together. We'll give you some binding and quilting tips that will help you finish the quilt on your own.

What materials do we need?

Would you like to see your quilt layout on paper before you start sewing? Subscribe to our QAL mailing list and we'll send you layout planner with a blank coloring sheet so you can plan your quilt design in advance.

How do we communicate?

The best way to join in the fun is to sign up for the QAL newsletter. In there you’ll find your assignments for the weeks plus exclusive bonus content, like video tutorials. We have a Facebook group (we will send you a link in our first email and the password to enter) where we can chat, post questions, and share our progress. We also support each other on Instagram, using the hashtag #plusesqal. So if you ever hit a rough spot, we are right there to help you out and of course, cheer you on!

Weekly Prizes!

To add to the fun, we have weekly prizes to win when you post your progress on Instagram and Facebook. As always we will have generous sponsors offering fabrics and more. And we have some great prizes even before we start the Quilt Along.

So come join in the fun and let’s quilt together!