Whirlwind Quilt Project with Kit from Fat Quarter Shop

I am here to share this dynamic quilt I finished recently. The Whirlwind Quilt was made with a kit and pattern purchased from Fat Quarter Shop. 

I first saw this quilt pattern advertised in an email from Fat Quarter Shop and fell in love with the terrific toss of colors. I decided to purchase the quilt kit and matching backing fabric.

The fabrics in this quilt are from Moda's Petal Power line, which was released a few years ago. The pattern is "Whirlwind" by It's Sew Emma. The pattern is still available, but the fabrics are probably hard to find now. However, the quilt would look great using any brightly colored fabrics.

Learn more about this Whirlwind Quilt and the pattern by watching our video through the link below or continue reading.

Petal Power Kit

The kit came with a variety of fabrics from Moda’s Petal Power line and a printed pattern, Whirlwind, by It’s Sew Emma. There was plenty of fabric to sew the quilt top and binding, and I had a good amount left over.

The kit also included triangle paper for making the half-square triangles. I used my Accuquilt cutting machine to cut the triangles, so I didn't need the paper.

I purchased the coordinating backing fabric from the same fabric line to finish the quilt.

About the Whirlwind Pattern

The quilt appears complex but consists of two 16” blocks, the Star block and the Whirlwind block.  This is not the traditional whirlwind quilt block but a bold half-square triangle version.

Each block is assembled with four identical quarters except for the fabric color. The blocks do not have strange seams, as they mostly consist of half-square triangles assembled in an interesting way.

The 18-page pattern includes detailed instructions and steps for cutting and sewing the blocks and finishing the quilt top. It also includes many helpful diagrams and instructions to guide you.

The pattern includes the fabric requirements and cutting instructions to make four quilt size options: Crib, Lap, Twin, or Queen size. The quilt kit makes the lap-sized quilt finishing at 72" x 72".

This Whirlwind pattern is available from Fat Quarter Shop as a printed or downloadable PDF print-friendly pattern. Look at the end of this page for a link to purchase the pattern.

Cutting the Fabrics

The pattern includes detailed cutting instructions and diagrams of the fabrics to make it easy to cut.

I used my Accuquilt cutter to cut out the squares and half-square triangles for this quilt. The Small Value Die cut the small squares and triangles for the small half square triangle blocks, and the 4-1/2” half-square triangle die cut the larger triangle. Cutting the half-square triangles with the die sped up piecing the half-square triangle blocks.

Using the Accuquilt to cut saved a lot of fabric, which is probably why I have so much left over.

If you don’t have an Accuquilt cutting machine, the pattern instructs you to cut out squares, rectangles, and strips—no complex cutting is necessary!

Half-Square Triangle Cutting Tip

In the instructions, the squares used for making the half-square triangle blocks are cut at 2 7/8" and 4 7/8", which is an odd size for cutting out squares.

If I cut those squares, I would round them up to 3" and 5" and then use my trim-lock tool to trim the half-square triangle blocks to 2-1/2" and 4-1/2" squares after they were sewn together and pressed.

Assembling the Quilt Top

Eight star and eight whirlwind blocks make up this quilt top.  The blocks are put together in four quadrants, and then those four are sewn together to complete the identical 16-1/2" blocks.

The blocks are alternated and sewn together in the quilt top. One final border was added around the outside.

Quilting the Whirlwind Quilt

I envisioned a flower or daisy pattern for the quilting of this quilt to coordinate with the backing fabric. 

I could have used an edge-to-edge machine embroidery design to quilt the layers but with the size of this quilt, it would have taken a LOT of hoopings.

I am also not good at free-motion quilting, so I decided to take the quilt to my longarm quilting friend Becky at Sugarloaf Quilting. She quilted the layers with a flower pattern and variegated thread.

I love how the quilting turned out and the final look of the quilt.

Binding the Whirlwind Quilt

The kit included fabric for the binding, and I decided to bind the quilt using my favorite flange binding method. 

Two fabric strips are used for the flange binding: one for the binding and the other for the flange. I used a mix of colors from the leftover fabric to piece together the flange strip, then sewed the binding onto the quilt.

Labeling the Quilt

Lastly, I added a quilt label to the back. I printed this label using my inkjet printer onto fabric, cut it out, and applied it to the quilt. We have a tutorial on using an inkjet printer to make quilt labels.

That finished up the quilt.  I currently have this quilt hanging in my sewing room to enjoy the happy fabric colors while I sew.

Other Quilt Projects you may be interested in are:

• Woodland Animals Baby Quilt
• T-Shirt Quilt Video Series
• String Quilt