Beaded Lanterns Quilt Along Week 1 – Getting Started

Welcome to week 1 of the Beaded Lanterns Quilt Along! I’m Christa Watson, an author, fabric designer and BERNINA ambassador, and I’m excited to cheer you on over the next 7 weeks as we make a complete quilt from start to finish.

I’m excited to be making my free Beaded Lanterns Quilt pattern that beautifully showcases my my second fabric line, Fandangle, available from Benartex Contempo Studio. It’s currently available and in shops now if you’d like to follow along and make the same version as me. But of course, you can work with any fabrics you like, and this pattern is perfect for scrap busting! As long as you select a contrasting fabric to go along with your colorfu; prints, you’ll have success no matter which fabrics you choose.

This week I’ll share the list of materials you need to make the quilt along with the complete schedule for you to follow along. This quilt is super fun to make either by yourself or with a group – the more the merrier! So grab your favorite 2 1/2″ pre-cut strips (jelly roll, strip-pie, pinwheell, roll-up, or whatever they are called) and let’s get going. I’ll be working with one Strip-Pie of Fandangle, plus the coordinating light gray Confetti Crosshatch print.

Materials to Make the Beaded Lanterns Quilt

Note: fabrics are based on 42″ wide fabric with at least 40″ of usable length.

• Beaded Lanterns pattern – click here to download from the Benartex website.
• 1 Strip-pie bundle (set of 40 precut strips, 2 1/2″ x 42″)
• 4 yards of tone-on-tone gray for background
  • (or 40 precut 2 1/2″ x 42″ strips + 1 yard of matching fabric)
• 5 yards of coordinating fabric for the backing
• Piece of batting that measures 70″ x 86″
• Thread for piecing and quilting
• General rotary cutting equipment (assorted ruler sizes, cutter and self-healing mat)
• Sewing Machine in good working order
• 1/4″ patchwork foot for precise seams, or create an accurate seam guide for piecing
• Walking foot or dual feed system for machine quilting
• Free-motion foot to fit your machine for free-motion quilting

Click here for a list of shops that have purchased Fandangle from Benartex. More are being added daily!

Quilt Along Schedule

• Week 1 – Today – getting started
• Week 2 – Cutting the fabric and piecing the blocks
• Week 3 – Quilt Top Assembly
• Week 4 – Backing and Basting
• Week 5 – Walking Foot Machine Quilting
• Week 6 – Free-Motion Machine Quilting
• Week 7 – Binding

Be sure to share your progress as you make this quilt. You can share pics on the We All Sew community site and on social media with the hashtags #beadedlanternsqal and #berninausa. Tag me @christaquilts so I can see your progress and cheer you on. Please post any questions or comments you have and I’ll be glad to answer as soon as I can.

So gather your supplies and we’ll dive into cutting next week. See ya then!