VW Bus Quilt Pattern

Mary E. Walker
octobereight.blogspot.com
sewinggeek.etsy.com

Instructions - Page 1
Finished quilt size: 32" wide by 40" long (after washing)
You can use any coordinating fabrics for this quilt. My preference was to
highlight one print by coordinating with dots and stripes. Another great thing
about this pattern is that each row could be arranged differently than the pattern
describes, as long as you use the same pieces from the row so theyll be the
same as the finished width. Have fun with the patterns and colors!
FABRIC NEEDS:
Fabric amounts assume 44-45 wide fabric
Quilt Top Fabrics
Stripe
Multi Dots
Hot Pink Dots
Light Pink Dots
Print (VW Vans

Quilt Back
yard
yard
yard
yard
yard

Batting

Quilt Binding:
I use inch binding. If you make your
own: 20 x 20 inch square coordinating
fabric. Cut and make into a
parallelogram (I know, math word).
Theres a great tutorial on making your
own binding here: http://
quilting.about.com/od/bindingaquilt/ss/
binding_strips.htm

1-1/2 yards of 44 wide quilt

weight cotton or cotton
flannel. You will be able to
use one piece of fabric for
the back without piecing the
fabric.
I use 100% cotton batting.
Cut one piece that is 35 x 43
inches (I usually cut it so
there is about one inch
hanging out of the quilt, you
can trim it later. You can
buy this by the yard in most
fabric stores or purchase a
package of crib size which is
usually the smallest but will
be bigger than you need.

Or you can purchase bias binding

already made. It normally comes in
packages of 3 yards so you will need 2
packages or 4.25 yards.
Cutting Chart for Pieces
Size is in inches, length first, then width
Stripes
2 x 34
6.5 x 6.5
5.5 x 5
4x6
2 x 17

Qty
1
1
3
2
1

Multi
Dots
3 x 34
6.5 x 6.5
4x7
4x6
3 x 17

QTY
1
2
4
2
1

Hot Pink
Dot
4 x 34
5x8
4x8
4x7
6.5 x 5
5x5
4x6

Pale Pink
QTY Dot
1
7
1
1
1
1
2

3
5
3
7

x
x
x
x

34
34
17
8

QTY
1
1
1
1

VW Bus
Print

QTY

6.5 x 6.5
6.5 x 5

9
2

Page 2

layout
Layout pieces in the following order. Sew together by strip, then
piece the strips together.
Stripes: 2 x 34
Pale Pink Dot: 3 x 34
multi dots
4 x 5.25

multi dots
4 x 5.25

multi dots
4 x 5.25

multi dots
4 x 5.25

multi dots
4 x 5.25

multi dots
4 x 5.25

multi dots
4 x 5.25

multi dots
4 x 5.25

Hot Pink Dot: 4 x 34

VW Bus Print:
6.5 x 6.5

Pale Pink Dot

8x7

VW Bus
Print
6.5 x 6.5

VW Bus Print:
6.5 x 6.5

Stripes
6.5 x 6.5

Multi Dots
6.5 x 6.5

VW Bus Print:
6.5 x 6.5

Multi Dots
6.5 x 6.5

Hot Pink Hot Pink Hot Pink Hot Pink Hot Pink Hot Pink Hot Pink
Dot
Dot
Dot
Dot
Dot
Dot
Dot
8x5
8x5
8x5
8x5
8x5
8x5
8x5

VW Bus
Print
6.5 x 6.5

VW Bus
Print
6.5 x 6.5

VW Bus
Print
6.5 x 6.5

VW Bus
Print
6.5 x 6.5

VW Bus
Print
6.5 x 6.5

Pale Pink Dot: 5 x 34

Hot Pink Dot
4x8
VW Bus
Print
5 x 6.5
Multi
Dots
6x4

Hot
Pink
Dot
6x4

Multi Dots
4x7
Stripes
5 x 5.5

Multi Dots
4x7

Hot Pink
Dot
5 x 6.5

Multi Dots
4x7

Stripes
5 x 5.5

Multi Dots
4x7

VW Bus
Print
5 x 6.5

Multi Dots 3 x 17
Stripes
6x4

Pale Pink Dot 3 x 17

Stripes 2 x 17

Multi
Dots
6x4

Stripes
5 x 5.5
Hot
Pink
Dot
6x4

Hot Pink
Dot
4x4
Hot Pink
Dot
5x5

Stripes
6x4

Instructions (cont)
Making the quilt top:
Cut out all the pieces per the diagram. Lay them out following the pattern.
NOTE: since there are some strips that run the entire width of the pattern, 34,
when you lay the pieces out, the strips will look much shorter. Do not be
alarmed. This is because the pieces have a seam allowance. Once you sew
the pieces together and lay a strip next to the single piece strip, they will be the
same width.
Start by sewing together the pieces to make each strip that runs width-wise (left
to right). There are 11 width-wise strips that make up the quilt. The cut size
allows a inch seam allowance. Make sure you sew all seams inch as the
sizes are measured so they will all fit only if a seam allowance is used. If not,
you will end up having to trim the edges off, which is fine but a waste of precious
fabric!
Once you have the 11 strips sewn, sew these strips together to complete the quilt
top.
Batting and Back
Lay the quilt top right side down on a large surface like a table or bed. Then lay
the batting evenly over the quilt top and finish with the quilt back fabric, facing
right side up. Then flip the whole sandwich over and either hand baste the layers
together or pin with large safety or specially made quilt pins. Make sure you
have smoothed out the fabric on both sides before basting or after pinning the
front, flip it over, smooth out the fabric and adjust the pins. Pin or baste through
all three layers. This keeps all the layers and the fabric in place while you do the
quilting.
Machine Quilting
The reason you quilt a quilt is to keep the layers together and to keep the
batting from bunching up when you use and wash it. I used free motion to quilt
this but you can quilt with a straight stitch as well. There are many tutorials
online and movies on YouTube to help you.
Binding
Attach the binding by machine or by hand. I machine sew the first side and then
fold the binding over the raw edge to the back and hand stitch to finish. Check
out online tutorials that explain this much better than me!

Page 3

Page 4

Tips and Tricks

Use a rotary cutter, mat and ruler to cut our your quilt pieces. (photo 1)
Thread matters. 100% cotton thread is the preferred thread for quilting.
Make sure you dont use hand quilting thread in the machine, its waxed.
There is special machine quilting thread or you can just use any 100%
cotton thread.
After piecing together your rows, put a ruler up against the edges and trim
any excess. (photo 2)
Quilting by machine. If you are quilting straight lines (not free motion), use
a walking foot. If you dont have one, you can buy them at most fabric
shops.
To free motion quilt, use a free motion foot, put the sewing machine feed
dogs down and use a fairly fast speed. Practice first on polyester felt. It
mimic a quilt but is much cheaper for practicing. YouTube has a lot of
good video clips of free motion quilting.
Binding looks simple but its taken me awhile to get it down.
Washing your quilt. I prefer the look of the quilt after you wash it. Even
pre-shrunk fabrics will shrink up a little more with the cotton thread.

Pieces cut

Rotary cutter, mat and

plastic ruler

Straightening the edges

Quilt strips

Quilt top pinned to batting

and flannel

Finished!

This is my first quilt design. It has

been tested only by me. If you have
any comments or questions, feel
free to contact me:
Mary Walker
Sewing Geek
sewinggeek@me.com

Designer fabrics featured in

the photos of the finished quilt
are from the following
designers:
Heather Ross:
http://www.heatherrossdesigns.com
Michael Miler:
http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com

THE END