Pattern: Riley Blake 5” Crazy Papers
Finished Size: 62” x 71”
Cuts Used: About ½ yard each of 17 different prints for the blocks, about ½ yard for border, and about ½ yard each for flange and binding
Skill Level: Intermediate thru Advanced (These blocks should be squared to 4” x 4”. This means there are A LOT of seams to match up. I recommend avoiding this quilt until you are confident with nesting your seams.)
Why I like this pattern: It is an easy way to get a scrappy look. if you choose to use charm packs, you don’t have to pre-starch them. Just remember that when it comes to starching, it is All or Nothing. To prevent uneven shrinking, if you don’t pre-starch your charm packs, don’t pre-starch any of the other fabrics. I highly recommend that if you are a beginner, stick with heavily starched yardage instead until you become experienced with working with fabric.
Design Tips: I think small busy prints work best for these blocks. I would avoid too many directional prints as it limits block placement.
Note: The Riley Blake Crazy Quilt Paper is made specifically for 5” squares so they are perfect for charm packs. Although I pre-starch most of my fabric, I don’t pre-starch my 5” squares when using the Crazy Paper. Instead, I assemble my blocks, set the seams, press the seams open, and then use spray-starch to give them some body. I find that this makes final assembly much easier. Just remember that when it comes to starch, it is All-or-Nothing. If you don’t pre-starch your fabrics or use spray starch on your blocks, you shouldn’t use any starch on the fabric used for your border or binding. If you use starch on any part of your topper, you should also use it on any border, the binding, and the flange (if you are using a flanged binding). As starching causes a bit of shrinkage, you want to avoid uneven shrinkage in the wash. However, I do not starch my cotton backings. So far (and perhaps strangely), I have not run into any problems when it comes to uneven shrinkage between the topper and a 100% cotton backing.