chevron – Jo McVey Photography

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern}

I love chevron. Many a curtain or pillow in my house is, or at one time has been made out of chevron fabric. And I’m sure many of you remember the Chevron Baby Blanket I crocheted for my son. So it’s only natural that my second quilt would be a chevron quilt. (I guess I never blogged about my first quilt. I’ll do that in the next few days.) This quilt was relatively easy to make, thanks to the pattern calling for fabric strips instead of triangles. And since I quilted it by just stitching 1/4 inch from each seam, I had it finished in about 2 weeks. It probably would have taken less time, but you know……I’m a mom. I don’t have much free time these days. 🙂

I picked up two fat quarter bundles (5 fat quarters in each pack) with coordinating aqua and silver fabric from Hobby Lobby, as well as some plain white fabric for the background. I still needed 3 more coordinating fabrics to make the quilt the size I wanted, and luckily I had some fabric in my stash that matched perfectly.

**Here is the free pdf pattern I used.**

Once I had all my fabric cut and the blocks sewn together, I arranged the rows in an ombre´ pattern (light to dark).

Then I sewed my blocks into rows. For this pattern, your rows are diagonal instead of horizontal or vertical.

Then I sewed my rows together.

I was so happy when my quilt top was completely sewn together!

Then it was time to make my quilt sandwich and baste the three layers together. That’s a lot of safety pins!

As I mentioned before, I quilted the quilt (ha!) by stitching 1/4″ from each of the seams to accentuate the chevron pattern….and because it was easier and less time consuming than free motion quilting.

Lastly, my favorite part of quilt making — hand sewing the binding. This is the part where I can just sit and relax watching TV with my hubby, while mindlessly sewing.

I love the way it turned out, and I’ve gotten so many compliments on it. And it’s HUGE! So my hubby and I can easily snuggle under it together.

I chose a cute aqua and white polka dot fabric for the backing.

As I was taking photos, our cat, Lacey, decided the quilt would make a nice soft place to lay. Silly kitty!

Here’s the full view of the quilt. I really struggled with where to put that dark aqua stripe. And even now, I’m not sure it’s in the right spot, but there’s nothing I can do about it now!

Another regular photo bomber is my son, Grayson. See his arm? Right as I was taking this picture, he jumped over and said, “CHEESE!!!”

So, of course, I took his picture. Little cutie pie. He loves these jammies, btw. He calls them his “baby jammies” because they’re the onesie kind that babies wear. He’s standing in front of my new love. I picked up this beautiful, handmade, rustic table on my local Varage Sale page yesterday. I think Joanna Gaines would approve. My new motto for home decor is, “If I couldn’t see it on an episode of Fixer Upper, then it doesn’t belong in my house.”

Well, I hope you enjoy this free pattern, and please let me know if you have any questions!

Chevron Baby Blanket (Free Pattern)

I just finished making this beautiful gray, blue, and white chevron blanket for our future little bundle of joy, and I love it so much that I thought I’d give you all the pattern so that you can make one as well!

The size of this blanket is very easy to adjust, so whether you want a baby blanket or a full size adult afghan, the possibilities are endless!

I used three different colors, but you can use just one solid color if you want, or several different colors!

So without further ado, here is the pattern for this chevron blanket.

Use a 5mm hook with worsted weight (medium) yarn.

Abbreviations:

Ch – chain
dc – double crochet
dc3tog – double crochet 3 together
st – stitch

**NOTE: At the end of each row you will dc 3 times in the turning chain (last chain on the first row) instead of doing the 3 dcs twice.**

Chain a multiple of 14 stitches + 2 stitches (I did 142 stitches to make it baby sized).

Row 1: (I started with blue) 2 dcs in 3rd ch from hook, *dc in each of the next 3 stitches, dc3tog 2 times, dc in each of the next 3 stitches, (3 dcs in next st) 2 times*; repeat from * to * across, ending with 3 dcs in last ch.

Row 2: Turn. Ch 2. 2 dcs in first dc, *dc in each of the next 3 stitches, dc3tog 2 times, dc in each of the next 3 stitches, (3 dcs in next st) 2 times*; repeat from * to * across, ending with 3 dcs in turning ch.

Repeat row 2 until blanket is to desired length.

I added a white border around my blanket using the same pattern from row 2 along the top and bottom, and a row of dcs along each side (in the end of the rows).

To get the color pattern, I crocheted 3 rows of blue, one row of white, 3 rows of gray, one row of white, and so on.

Update: Some people were having problems with the pattern, so here’s a picture of the pattern. This should answer a lot of questions.

I realized that I never posted pictures of the blanket in it’s natural habitat once we moved to our new house and Oliver was born. So, here you go!

Hope you enjoy this free pattern! Please let me know if you have any questions!

And here are some cute pictures of my little guy to get you through your day. Can’t believe he’s already 18 months old!

Throw Pillow Tutorial

After almost a year of staring at the not-so-attractive throw pillows that came with our couches, I finally decided to make new covers for them that were more my style. Luckily the original covers came with zippers so they were easy to remove.

Here is what our couch looked like with the original pillows. They’re definitely not the worst pillows I’ve ever seen, but I thought some gray chevron fabric would give the nice modern and chic touch I was looking for.

Here’s what you’ll need to create your new throw pillows:

2 yards of fabric
sewing machine
rotary cutter or scissors
cutting mat
straight edge fabric ruler to run your rotary cutter along
pins
18″ Pillow Insert

Start by cutting a 19″x19″ square from your fabric. We are going to be sewing with a 1/2 inch seam allowance, so you’ll need your fabric one inch bigger than the size of your pillow. My pillows are 18″, but if you are using a smaller or bigger pillow, just adjust the measurements accordingly. If your cutting mat isn’t big enough like mine, you may have to fold your fabric in half to get a straight cut.

Next, cut a 19″x24″ piece of fabric. This will be for the back of the pillow. You’ll need it longer than the front piece so that we can create an overlapping pocket opening for the pillow to slide into.

Turn that longer piece of fabric horizontal, measure 8 inches from the right (or about a third of the length of the fabric), and cut all the way through so that you now have two separate pieces for the back. In total, you will have three pieces of fabric for your pillow.

Press a 1 inch seam on each of the back pieces where they used to meet.

I also pinned the seams I just pressed as an extra precaution, but this isn’t necessary if you are careful when sewing.

Next, sew your seams on the two back pieces of fabric about 1/8 inch from the rough edge.

Lay your front fabric piece right side up. Then lay the smaller of the two back fabric pieces on top of the front piece, right sides together. The seam you just sewed should be in the middle, not on the outer edge. Now lay the larger of the two back pieces down, with right sides together. The two back pieces should overlap, and the seams will create the pocket for the pillow.

Pin and sew around the entire pillowcase using a 1/2 inch seam.

Cut your corners at a 45° angle to reduce bulk. Be careful not to cut where you have sewn.

Flip your pillowcase right side out and push out the corners with something pointy, like scissors or a knitting needle.

Now all that’s left to do is insert your pillow!

Ahhh!!! I like this so much better than the original pillows! My house is on it’s way to becoming modern and chic! I might just have to make new throw pillows for all the bedrooms as well!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Let me know if you have any questions, and I will be happy to help.