TCJ Basics Bundle Quilt - Jawbreaker + Pattern Hack to Use FQs
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This Jawbreaker Quilt I made with my TCJ Basics Bundle may be my favorite Jawbreaker I've made. It is happy and colorful and I LOVE the strips and gingham used as part of the Inside Geese that are strip pieced.
I choose Jawbreaker because it is FQ friendly and it is easy to "hack" the Featured Inside Geese to use FQs instead of the yardage provided in the pattern (Feature Inside Geese). I will show you further down how to use FQs for the Inside Geese instead of yardage. Plus, I will show you how to use FQs for the Inside Geese without any strip piecing but just a solid Inside Geese. I love how versatile flying geese are and I am so happy with how this quilt turned out.
But first, I choose to make my Large Throw (64" x 80") in the Design Option 1: Meandering Geese style. It requires 14 FQs for the Outside Flying Geese and I choose to use my "bright" colors from the bundle for this part. Then, instead of using one single fabric for the yardage of the Feature Inside Geese, I decided to use 8 FQs to achieve a similar look. The FQs I used for the Inside Flying Geese strips were most of my "neutral colors" including the Neon Neppy, Grey and Black Linens and the stripes and gingham. So the total FQs I used for this quilt top were 22 out of my 24 from the bundle. Win! Plus I used the 1 3/4 yards required for the Background Inside Geese in Kona White.
I really enjoy making flying geese, especially, the no-waste method I use in this pattern. I am not a fan of cutting off tiny triangles for every geese so the no-waste method is my go to! And it's a fun easy quilt to just work on bits at a time. Each flying geese "set" you make creates 4 flying geese.
I mean that is just the happiest stack of flying geese. And I stacked it order of how the colors will progress throughout the top. I love when my vision comes to life exactly how I was hoping it would.
I kept the Meandering Geese Design option exactly as it is laid out in the pattern for the outside geese. You can see that each outside geese fabric (1 FQ) makes 12 geese (purple, then red, then peach, etc), and they are sewn into sets of 4 flying geese so technically it's 3 sets per 1 FQ. As for choosing what Inside Geese FQs to use throughout the top, I made sure to switch it up. I did not want any Feature Inside Geese fabrics to be next to each other vertically in a column (beyond the 4 in a set). I wanted there to be a bit of scrappy vibes but overall have a cohesive look and consistency.
The movement of color is subtle and smooth and insanely pleasing to my eye. I also love the pops of texture this bundle provides any quilt.
I usually lay all my blocks out on the ground and then sew column by column. If I am not sewing it all together at once, at least I can stack them back up by column so it's easy to jump back into when I am ready.
One of my favorite parts of the Jawbreaker pattern is the ability to nest all of your seams when sewing the top together. You do press seams open when making the flying geese but after they are all sewn, trimmed and ready, it is all about nesting! And not having to press seams until all of your columns are sewn together is a big time saver!
Once the columns are all sewn together, I press my seams opposite directions and I don't even pin. Some may judge me but I hate pins so much and having the nested seams helps me keep the columns easily together.
I was on a decently tight turn around time for making the quilt samples for the bundle. I am happy I did get some photos but not as many as I usually get. But, we did run to IKEA to take a photo of this full top on a blue wall!
Everything about this quilt makes me happy. I love the variety in neutral colors in the insides of the geese. I love the movement of the color throughout the quilt. I love the pops of texture and print with the stripes and gingham. I LOVE IT.
I sent all of my TCJ Basics Bundle quilts to Kaitlyn of Knot and Thread Designs. For this quilt, I knew I wanted simple straight lines. Straight lines add to the texture without taking away from the design.
And I was able to have Amy photograph all of my bundle quilts recently. And I am so in love with how she styled them and photographed them. You really get to see the texture and movement.
These first photos were taken in her sons room. I love the dark grey wall paper with the metallic speckles. So cool!
This Jawbreaker looks SO good on this bed. I think flying geese, especially vertical ones look awesome on a bed.
JAWBREAKER TUTORIAL - How to Use FQs Instead of Yardage for the Feature Inside Flying Geese
*This is a tutorial on how to use the Jawbreaker pattern to utilize FQs and will not include measurements. All of the cuts and measurements I refer to are included in the pattern. *
** All Outside Geese information stays the exact same as the pattern**
*** Fig D I refer to for the Large Inside Flying Geese can be found on page 4 of both the PDF and Printed Jawbreaker patterns. ***
The Jawbreaker quilt is based on flying geese and the fun modern spin on it is the strip pieced Inside Geese. The Inside Geese is made up of Fabric A - Feature Inside Geese and Fabric B - the Background Inside Geese. Fabric B - the background fabric (Kona White) will stay the same with material requirements needed as provided in the pattern.
To use FQs for the Feature Inside Geese - Fabric A, you will be cutting the strips the same width as the pattern provides but instead of by WOF (Width of Fabric), they will be cut to 18.5" long.
Each FQ will provide you (6) 18.5" long strips, you may not need all 6, it depends on what you are making. And you need (2) of these strips plus the (2) Background Inside Geese - Fabric B strips cut to 18.5" length to make (2) Large Inside Geese Squares. (Fig D)
Once you have sewn your strips together to make a strip set 18.5" long, you will cut the strip into (2) Large Inside Geese Squares (Fig D).
So each FQ will get you (3) 18.5" strips sets which when cut provides you (6) Large Inside Geese Squares.
You will sew everything else according to the pattern after you have the correct amount of Large Inside Geese Squares. The amount needed per size is provided at the very bottom of the INSIDE GEESE section of Sewing Instructions.
FQs Needed by Size for the Featured Inside Geese - Fabric A
BABY - 3 FQs
SM THROW - 5 FQs
LG THROW - 8 FQs
BED - 12 FQs
Here is an example of this in a Baby Size Meandering Geese:
The Outside Flying Geese are all the same color per column and there are 3 different colors used for the Featured Inside Geese - Bright Yellow, Light peach and Green. The Featured Inside Geese are just randomly placed throughout.
JAWBREAKER TUTORIAL - How to Use FQs for the Inside Geese with NO strip piecing - No background fabric required
** This tutorial will provide basic information but will not provide measurements specific to the pattern. **
Sometimes I just want to make a quick flying geese quilt and the fastest way to do that is to NOT strip piecing the Inside Geese. The outside geese will stay the same as the pattern requires. Here is an example in baby size:
My Outside Geese are all the same in the columns - peach, lime green, light aqua, pickle green and blue. BUT, you can see I have used different colors for the Inside Geese.
You can get (2) Large Inside Geese squares out of (1) FQ and you will have only used roughly over half of the FQ:
Here are the amount of FQs needed for a solid Inside Geese per size:
BABY - 8 FQs (1 FQ will only need 1 square)
SM THROW - 14 FQs
LG THROW - 20 FQS
BED - 30 FQs
OR if you want to just use up your larger scraps, you will need the following number of Large Inside Geese squares (Fig D in pattern):
BABY - 15 Large Inside Geese Squares
SM THROW - 28 Large Inside Geese Squares
LG THROW - 40 Large Inside Geese Squares
BED - 60 Large Inside Geese Squares
I hope you guys enjoy making a Jawbreaker and the options are endless when it comes to color combos and design options. I could make so many different varieties within my bundle and Jawbreaker alone.
The TCJ Basics Bundle will be shipping to stores late May 2020. If you haven't read up on this bundle or want links to stores carrying preorders- go here.
