How to construct the cathedral window with a sewing machine.

The cathedral window is a very elaborate style of quilting and can take a lot of time to construct. You will find though, that the end results look amazing and can be used on smaller projects as well as quilts themselves.

This tutorial is going to show you how to construct the cathedral window with a sewing machine rather than by hand, which this style of quilting is commonly known to be constructed by.

I will be giving you instruction on how to make a typical cushion facing.

1) Firstly, you will require 9 squares cut to 11” x 11” (28cm x 28cm).2) Using an iron, press the edges of your squares to the wrong side.

You will need to press your seams in ½” (1.25cm). Your finished square should now measure 10” x 10” (25cm x 25cm).

3) Placing wrong side to wrong side, press your square in half and then in half again.

4) Once pressed, open your square fully to reveal your press lines.

5) Take each corner and press them to the centre using your earlier press lines as a guide.

6) Repeat this step again to reduce the size of your square even further.

7) For this cushion front, you will be attaching your squares in rows of 3. By the end you should have 3 rows of 3 squares attached to each other. In order to attach your squares together, open one triangle on one side of your square and attach it to the other as shown in the illustration below. I would advise that you lengthen your straight stitch size to compensate for the thickness of the layers with which you will be sewing through.

8) Once you have 3 rows of 3 attached squares, attached all your rows together to make a 9 block.

9) Carefully measure the inside of each square. My squares measured 3 ¼” (8 ¼ cm). To make the contrasting insert, I subtracted 1” (2 ½ cm). This meant that I had to cut my contrasting inserts at 2 ¼” (5 ¾ cm). I cut 24 of these for my cushion front.

10) Once all your contrasting inserts have been cut, lay them out on your 9 block as shown below.

11) Pin your insert in one at a time. When you come to sew them in, turn the triangle pieces over as shown in below and start from one corner and gradually turning to the next corner. It is advisable to keep your stitch long and to sew as close to the edge to ensure you catch your insert in the stitches.

12) Don’t forget to sew your inserts at the edging also and trim later when you are ready to construct your cushion.

13) Once completed, you can either leave your beautiful cathedral window the way it is or you can add an additional embellishment of buttons. It really is up to you!