Free Quilt Pattern | Zippy Quilts

Here’s a QUICK, EASY way to use up scraps while making some gifts. Could be gifts for you, of course 😉 I like to make them ahead of time to have as hostess gifts, housewarming surprises, etc.

A bin of scraps being made into a long strip

Start by cutting scraps into strips of set widths. (I cut and sort all my scraps, so I have bins of strips ready to go.) In this project, I used strips in widths of 1.5”, 2”, 2.5”, and 3”. Sometimes I just use whatever color comes next, but for this project I selected yellow/gold, orange/red, and brown/tan scraps. I joined the strips end-to-end to make long strips of a given width. So, for example, a strip may be 1-1/2 inches wide and be made up of scraps of various lengths from 1-1/2 inches to about 8 inches.

add another strip, then fold them right sides together and sew the seam through all layers

After piecing my long strips, I started a placemat as follows. I cut a piece of backing 14 x 20 inches, layered a piece of batting 13 x 19 inches on top (batting scraps, yes!), and placed a strip in the middle of the batting. [picture] I used the flip and sew method to add strips on each side, sewing through all layers as I went so that I was quilting while assembling the placemat top.

Strips can be oriented horizontally, vertically, or at any angle you choose! You can mark your first line to be sure it’s straight if you want, but I just eyeballed it.

I pressed after adding each strip, and every few strips I turned it over and ironed the back of the mat, too.

When the mat was finished, I trimmed it to 12 x 18 inches. Note that it helps to make the last strip added a wide one so the mat can be trimmed to size without leaving a really skinny strip on one edge.

Last strips added are wide to allow for trimming to size

I bound the edges with scraps of bias binding left over from various quilts as well as scraps from my bins. I got four mats done easily in a day, so this would work as a last minute gift—we all need those!

Donation quilts are a great use for scraps, but they aren’t usually very exciting to make. I make them more interesting by trying something new with each quilt.

Most donation quilts are smaller than bed size, which makes them a good place to try new things. Here’s an example where I “tweaked” the usual quilt design in several ways to make it more modern while still using older fabric from my stash.

First, this is a typical donation quilt. It’s made 40″ x 40″ as requested by the charity, and it used up a fair number of those 5” charm squares that seem to reproduce themselves while the fabric closet door is closed. I used it to practice some of the quilting designs I’m learning in Leah Day’s Craftsy class, so I did learn something in making it.

And here’s what I decided to do on the next donation quilt for a children’s charity to make it more modern.

I made these changes to made this design more modern:

The blocks are rectangles rather than squares. It didn’t use up any charm squares, but it did use come cute fabric I’ve had for a while.
I found a nice coordinating almost-solid in my stash. (Solids are commonly used in modern quilts.)
The rows run vertically and are offset by a half block starting alternate rows. This breaks up the usual march of blocks across the quilt, making a diagonal zigzag pattern. It doesn’t hurt that the quilt also is easier to construct because there are no corners to match 😉
The quilt was designed without a border.

If you’d like to make a quilt like this, I’ve made a separate page with instructions; click on this link. If you make a quilt from this, send me a picture!