"Fake" Cathedral Windows

 
My friend sent me this link for how to make fake cathedral window blocks. I was inspired and wanted to try the technique on a baby quilt.



Here are the modifications that I made:
- I ended up making 11 inch finished blocks. I used 6x6 inch blocks of background color (5.5 inch blocks after they were sewn) and I used 11.5x11.5 inch blocks of the patterned fabric.
- In the tutorial she uses patterned blocks that are the same size as the background blocks which creates windows that are about half the size of the finished block - I prefer the windows to be the full size of the block and for the points of the windows to meet so I made the patterned blocks bigger.
- I ended up leaving the rolled edge stitching until I was actually quilting the quilt (rather then doing it when it was just a block) because I like the way the quilting looks. I wouldn't recommend this is if your project is bigger then a baby quilt because it may be hard to turn a bigger quilt through your machine.
- I did also stitch in the ditch to make sure there was enough quilting.

Here are the modifications that I would make if I were using this technique again:
- I would make the entire block out of the background fabric and then do the windows as you do with a traditional cathedral window block (where you tuck a square of patterned fabric into the solid border). This would help decrease the "wasted" pattern fabric which bugged me a bit about this block. Also it would give you more of the "window" look rather then just a curved diamond look.
- Interestingly I guess you could use one color for background, one for the window frames, and another one for the window itself. That may be worth trying...something like this.



- I was a bit disappointed with how the blocks looked because the windows are on a grid (rather then set diagonally) so you don't get the "flowers" in between blocks. You could always turn your blocks to get that effect.





My favorite thing about this quilt is the backing / binding. I love the way the binding really pops. I'm afraid the pictures may not do this quilt justice.



I am honestly not sure that this method is that much faster then the other method because you have to quilt and bind the quilt...

I think my next experiment with cathedral windows may involve HUGE blocks.