An HBC Point Blanket Quilt Of Your Own

As I was reviewing my list of goals for 2012 the other day, I realized that I never finished sharing my Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) Point Blanket Quilt instructions. Whoops!

So without further ado, here are the complete instructions for my Canadiana quilt that I made with the traditional HBC point blanket design on the front and my 'party on the back' layout for the back. If you want to make a more true HBC point blanket quilt, just make a second top.

This will make a 90" by 90" quilt.

Fabric Requirements (NB: These are generous fabric requirements. I did not want a seam in the stripes and I knew I'd be using the colour stripes on the back too so I bought the stripe fabric for the width of the quilt):

• 3 - 2.5 meters (3 yards) of off-white cotton, totalling at 7.5 meters (9 yards total) of off-white cotton
• 2.5 meters (3 yards) indigo cotton
• 2.5 meters (3 yards) yellow cotton
• 2.5 meters (3 yards) red cotton
• 2.5 meters (3 yards) green cotton

Cutting Directions:

1. Fold all of your fabric so you will be cutting along the length of the fabric instead of the width. Trim off the selvedges.

2. From the off-white fabric, cut:

• 1 - 22.5" wide by 92" piece (top)
• 2 - 6.5" wide by 92" pieces (top)
• 6 - 4.5" wide by 92" pieces (top)
• Trim one 2.5 meters panel to 94" and remove the selvedges (backing)
• 2 -13.5" wide by 94" pieces (backing)
• 3 - 4.5" wide by 94" pieces (backing)
• 4 - 2.5" wide by 94" pieces (binding)

 3. From each of the indigo, yellow, green and red, cut:

• 2 - 4.5" wide by 92" (top)
• 1 - 4.5" wide by 94"(backing)

Layout Directions:
Top:

1. Layout your 92" stripes according to the design below, with your 6.5" off-white strips on the ends and the 22.5" piece as your centre.

2. Sew them together using a 1/4" seam allowance. Press seams open or towards the coloured fabric.

Backing:
1. Layout your 94" stripes according to this design, with your 13.5" pieces on the outside edges.

2. Sew them together using a 1/4" seam allowance. Press seams open or toward the coloured fabric. (NB: Depending on the width of fabric for your large off-white centre, the backing may be up to 8" wider than your top. You can trim it down now or wait until it's basted or quilted so that you have some flexibility when lining it up with the top. I waited until after the quilting to trim it.)

Finishing the Quilt:

1. For the basting, lay out your backing wrong side up and tack down well with masking tape.
2. Add your batting, smoothing as you go.
3. To get the backing and top stripes to be accurately perpendicular to each other, you can use your ruler. Start by rolling your top from the top and bottom edges towards the centre so that you essentially have a long, skinny double sausage. Place your double sausage in the centre of the batting/backing so that the stripes in your top will be perpendicular to the ones on the back. Slowly unroll towards the bottom, using your ruler to check that the top stripes are perpendicular to the backing stripes. I found that I could check the backing lines by gently lifting the top and batting or by feeling for the seams, working from the centre to the left, and then centre to the right. Take your time with this part.
4. Once you are happy with the line up of the lines, baste (I did pin-basting) very close together so there is no shifting.
5. Quilt as desired. I did in-the-ditch quilting along the top stripes to stabilize the quilt and then filled in with straight-line quilting about 3/8" apart in the colours that matched the top.
6. Trim to 90" by 90" and bind.

And voilà, you have your own HBC quilt. If you do make one, I'd love to see it and know if these directions are clear and easy to follow or could be improved.

Cheers and happy quilting!