Gin & Tonic Quilt Pattern Tips

This page provides additional information and tips to make the Gin & Tonic Quilt. If you’ve stumbled onto this page, but don’t yet have a copy of the pattern, you can purchase it here.

Using a Circle Cutter

Using a circle cutter tool instead of the templates is a good option for those who find templates tedious. A circle cutter is basically a compass with a rotatary blade at the end instead of a pen.

  • I used the Grace Company TrueCut360, which is pretty robust. Please do read the instructions that come with it since it’s not entirely intuitive!

  • A pattern tester suggested the Mr. Pen Circle Cutter as a more economical option to the one from the Grace Company, but warned that the measurement markings aren’t accurate.

  • If your fabric is on a slippery surface, your circle will be inaccurate.

  • One of the challenges with the Grace Company cutter is making sure the pivot is on the seam that should run through the center of your circle. Take care that you’re well aligned. Even if you’re very familiar with your circle cutter, make some practice blocks so you know how to deal with this.

  • Set the diameter to 8 ½" for Template 1 and 9 ½" for Template 2.

  • If you’re not using templates, you won’t have registration marks to copy. You can either prepare the templates and just use them for copying registration marks, or use the alternate method depicted here to align Unit 3 and Unit 5 in Step 07.

    • Create a crease in Unit 5 perpendicular to the seam line by folding in half while aligning the opposite ends of the seams. Press and unfold. Create another crease line on the diagonal by aligning the ends of the first crease line with the ends of the seam line. Press and unfold. Repeat for each Unit 5.

    • Set a Unit 5 right side up on your workspace and then place a Unit 3 right side up on top. Align the diagonal crease on Unit 5 with the seam of Unit 3. Flip back the left and right edges of Unit 3 until the inside edge of the circle is aligned with the outside edge of Unit 5. Pin. Repeat on the top and bottom. Continue pinning around the circle. Sew around the entire circle with a ¼" seam allowance, removing pins as you go to create Unit 6. Press the seam towards the inside of the circle. Repeat until you have 5 (7, 10, 12) units.

Creating crease lines on Unit 5
Aligning and pinning Units 3 and 5

Alternate Colorway

Do you have an alternate colorway to share? You can contact me here!

Natalie’s Colorway

Pattern tester Natalie (@natalienovacek) made a twin size quilt in an alternate colorway. There were no changes to Fabric A, but Fabric B was different for each row. She has kindly shared her method and math for this colorway.

  • For Fabric B that appears on the RIGHT side of the quilt, you will need ⅓ yd. each. For Fabric B that appears on the LEFT side of the quilt, you will need ½ yd. each.

  • For Fabric B that appears on the RIGHT side of the quilt:

    • Cut a 10 ½" x WOF strip.

      • Subcut into 1- 10 ½" x 5" rectangle, 1- 10 ½" x 5 ½" rectangle. These are used in place of pieces e and f, respectively.

      • From the remainder of the strip, cut a 23" x 9 ½" rectangle. This is piece h.

  • For Fabric B that appears on the LEFT side of the quilt:

    • Cut a 9 ½" x WOF strip.

      • Subcut into a 41" x 9 ½" strip. This is piece g.

    • Cut a 5 ½" x WOF strip.

      • Subcut into 1- 5 ½" x 10 ½" rectangle. This is used in place of piece f.

      • From the remainder of the strip, cut a 5" x 10 ½" rectangle. This is used in place of piece e.

  • In place of Steps 01 and 02, cut your strips b into 4- 10 ½" x 5 ½" rectangles each. Sew these along the long edge to the Fabric B pieces used in place of f. These will be Unit 2.

  • Similarly, in place of Steps 05 and 06, cut your strips a into 4- 10 ½" x 5" rectangles each. Sew these along the long edge to Fabric B pieces used in place of e. You will have to use some of the remainder of b for some of the 10 ½" x 5" Fabric A rectangles. From each of these units, you can cut one Unit 5.

Natalie's Gin & Tonic quilt in an alternate colorway

My inset circles are too small…

That’s okay, as long as they’re consistent. Measure the height of the inset circle block including the ¼" seam allowance. Now change the 9 ½" dimension of pieces c, d, g, and h to match. So, if you’re making the throw size and your inset circle block, including seam allowance, only measures 9 ¼", you would cut piece c as 32" x 9 ¼", etc. For the baby size, pieces d and h are 9 ½" squares. In this case, only change ONE of the dimensions to match your inset circle blocks.

Do you have any questions or tips to contribute? Just let me know!

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