Mod Mountains Quilt Sew Along: Week 1

Join the Mod Mountains quilt pattern sew along! Learn new quilting skills and win weekly prizes as an online sewing community.

Welcome to the Mod Mountains quilt sew along! Click here to get your Mod Mountains quilt pattern and scroll to the bottom of this post for this week's prize details. If you are just hearing about this sew along for the first time, I encourage you to read this introductory blog post on all of the details, prizes and schedule. If you would prefer a shorter, bulleted list, I got you covered:

  • What is a sew along? A sew along is when a group of people get together virtually (a.k.a. online) and sew the same pattern over a set amount of time. The really exciting thing about a sew along is that with a potentially tricky sewing pattern (this one uses triangles), nobody has to muddle through alone. There will be lots of support via InstagramFacebook and through this very blog (click the sew along drop down tab to always see the latest post).
  • How do I join the sew along? There's no official sign-up and technically the only thing you have to do to participate is make a ​Mod Mountains quilt. Your level of involvement is completely up to you.
  • Sew along perks!
  1. Prizes! Every week, by posting your progress to Instagram and using #ModMountainsSA, you will be entered into that week's giveaway. Each week is sponsored by an amazing company, hand picked by me, to award one lucky person a free prize. See below for this week's rules and photo prompt.
  2. Support. This includes a weekly blog post explaining what we plan to accomplish, helpful tips, and what I’m working on. A new post will go live every Wednesday morning around 8:00am CT (I'm in Chicago...so that time zone). A weekly newsletter will go out the following Thursday morning reminding you about that week's prompt. If you're not already signed up for the SQ newsletter, sign up here! And finally, the Suzy Quilts Patterns Facebook group is available for questions that we can answer as a team or I can answer myself. I will also be posting videos and Live Q&A sessions in both the FB group and on Instagram.
  • The Schedule:
  • Week 1: Pick fabric and gather supplies. If you would like to change the layout of the mountains, finalize your altered layout.
  • Week 2: Extra time to gather fabric and supplies
  • Week 3: Cut fabric
  • Week 4: Sew Color 2 triangles
  • Week 5: Sew Color 3 triangles
  • Week 6: Sew 5 triangle rows together
  • Week 7: Sew the remaining 5 triangle rows together
  • Week 8: Sew all rows together and add the borders
  • Can I miss some weeks and still participate? Yes! Every week we start fresh with prizes, so even if you miss a couple weeks, you're still very much in the game. To win the grand prize of a LAURASTAR iron, you must show a photo of a finished throw or larger Mod Mountains quilt top. Prize details and restrictions will be published in each week's blog post.
Join the Mod Mountains quilt pattern sew along! Learn new quilting skills and win weekly prizes as an online sewing community. | Suzy Quilts

Watch the Week 1 Facebook LIVE!

Welcome Week 1 of the Mod Mountains Sew Along!

This sew along is starting off nice and slow, giving you two weeks to pick out fabric and gather your supplies. I decided to start at a leisurely pace  for three reasons.

  1. More weeks = more prizes!
  2. I'm a new mom and have less time. My whole life is moving at a leisurely pace now.
  3. Feedback I got from my last sew along, Modern Fans, was that one week was not enough time to cut all of the fabric. With this schedule, I want you to think of Weeks 1-3 as a lump of time for you to gather and cut your fabric. No need to wait until Week 3 if you have your fabric ready to go during Week 1.

Gather Your Supplies

Supplies for making the Mod Mountains quilt are pretty basic. I do recommend getting a 60-degree triangle ruler OR plastic template sheets, however it's not necessary. One of my pattern testers photographed a hack for getting around that and using a straight ruler. See the image below.

The Mod Mountains quilt pattern is fat quarter friendly and great for using fabric scraps from your stash. Video tutorials show step by step how to cut templates and sew triangles.
Join the Mod Mountains quilt pattern sew along! Learn new quilting skills and win weekly prizes as an online sewing community.

Supplies:

Join the Mod Mountains quilt pattern sew along! Learn new quilting skills and win weekly prizes as an online sewing community.
Mod Mountains Fabric Requirements

Alternative Cutting Chart for Printed Color 4 Fabric

Below is an alternative cutting chart for Color 4 fabric if you are using a print that is NOT reversible. (Solid fabrics are reversible, while prints are usually not.) If using a print, half of your Template B pieces need to mirror the other half. This happens naturally on the cutting charts for all of the quilts except 3 pieces on the Baby and 2 pieces on the Throw. This does not change your fabric requirements (even if you already cut everything, you will still have enough extra).

Join the Mod Mountains quilt pattern sew along! Learn new quilting skills and win weekly prizes as an online sewing community.

Choose Your Fabric

I've made a few of these Mod Mountains quilts, and with each one I try to push myself to add something new or different. I will be making my fourth version of this pattern during the sew along, so it's time for me to bring out the big guns. And by big guns I mean linen.

"But Suzy, according to your post on linen, it frays like crazy! Aren't you scared to cut triangles?"

Great point, my gentle quilter, but oh do I have exciting news to share – fabric cut on the bias doesn't fray.

Say whaaaat?! YES. Granted, the way I have you cutting these triangles only 2 of the 3 sides will be bias edges, but 2 outta 3 ain't bad! And we can toootally handle that one side.

Join the Mod Mountains quilt pattern sew along! Learn new quilting skills and win weekly prizes as an online sewing community.

Aside from fraying, the other hurdle to jump is fabric stretching. Yes, fabric cut on the bias is stretchier. To counterbalance that, I will be using Best Press starch on all of my fabric before I do any cutting. Read more about using starch in this blog post. I will also try to handle these cut triangles as little as possible. The more these pieces get touched, folded, and fondled, the more they will fray and stretch.

Join the Mod Mountains quilt pattern sew along! Learn new quilting skills and win weekly prizes as an online sewing community.

If you are interested in the fabric used in my sample throw quilt, check out this blog post full of cutting and sewing tips.

Join the Mod Mountains quilt pattern sew along! Learn new quilting skills and win weekly prizes as an online sewing community.

My Fabric

I am using a combination of 100% linen, cotton/linen blend and chambray as the background. Cottoneer Fabrics is selling just the Fat Quarter bundle here. I have lots of blog posts about how to sew with different kinds of fabric. Here are a few to check out before sewing with a similar pile of fabric:

Join the Mod Mountains quilt pattern sew along! Learn new quilting skills and win weekly prizes as an online sewing community.
  • Handkerchief Linen in Red Clay
  • Handkerchief Linen in Desert Sun
  • Essex Linen Blend in Mango
  • Essex Linen Blend in Blossom
  • Essex Linen Blend in Rose
  • Handkerchief Linen in Blush
  • Essex Linen Blend in Flax
  • Essex Linen Blend in Linen
  • Essex Linen Blend in Aqua
  • Essex Linen Blend in Medium Aqua
  • Handkerchief Linen in Oasis
  • Essex Linen in Nautical
  • Chambray Union in Deep Indigo
Join the Mod Mountains quilt pattern sew along! Learn new quilting skills and win weekly prizes as an online sewing community.
Join the Mod Mountains quilt pattern sew along! Learn new quilting skills and win weekly prizes as an online sewing community.
Join the Mod Mountains quilt pattern sew along! Learn new quilting skills and win weekly prizes as an online sewing community.

The Week 1 Prize

Our kickoff week is sponsored by one of my longtime favorite fabric shops to work with, Fabricworm. I have partnered with Fabricworm to bring you many free patterns and kits. If you check out their site now, all of my patterns and kits are currently 15% off! It's a Suzy Sale!

Fabricworm is generously donating a $100 gift certificate to the winner of Week 1.

How to Win the Week 1 Prize:

  • Photo prompt for Instagram: Post a picture of either 1. your fabric, layout and/or supplies OR 2. an introduction photo telling us about yourself. Use #ModMountainsSA
  • You must have a public Instagram profile to participate.
  • Each photo posted is an entry and you can enter as many times as you want in a single week. Once the week is over, those posts do not count in the next week's giveaway. Every week we start fresh.
  • Your photo must be posted between 12:00 a.m. CT on Wednesday, April 10, 2019 and 1:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday, April 16, 2019.
  • This prize is open to international contestants.
  • The winner will be picked randomly from all qualifying posts and announced at approximately 4:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday, April 16, 2019.

Sew Along Discounts

Lady Belle Quilting is currently offering 20% off edge-to-edge longarm quilting services on one quilt if you mention this Suzy Quilts promotion in the special notes section of your order. This offer expires June 30, 2019.

Finch Knitting and Sewing Studio is offering 15% off online and in person purchases with coupon code MODMTS15 during the duration of the Mod Mountains sew along. This is a one time offer valid on your entire order. Cannot be combined with other sales or coupons. Expires at the end of the Mod Mountains sew along, June 4, 2019.

10 thoughts on “Mod Mountains Quilt Sew Along: Week 1

  1. Janice Charron says:

    Thankyou Suzy. I have begun to purchase my material and seem to wander around not sure if my choices are OK. Never the less, so far, I am pleased with my choices. It really does take time to decide. Looking forwardto next week. Take care and enjoy Desmond!
    Jan

  2. nancyo says:

    Are all the weekly prizes available to all sizes of the quilt? It looks like the last prize has more specific rules depending on quilt size. thanks! nancyo

    • Suzy Quilts says:

      Exactly. To win the grand prize you need to show a finished throw or larger quilt top. However, to win weekly prizes you just need to show sewing progress on any size of the Mod Mountains quilt and use #modmountainssa on Instagram.

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