Candy Corn Table Topper Tutorial

This is a tutorial for making the Candy Corn Table Topper.  If you want a fast and easy project, this is a good one.  It took me about an hour, start to finish, with taking photos along the way.  Mind you, this has not been quilted yet, but I think probably another hour of time and I could have it quilted and the binding on.

Okay, here we go, start with 5 strips cut 2.5" x WOF 

(Width of Fabric 40-44")  

mix up lights, darks and mediums for visual interest.  

Stitch your strips together in a strip set and press all the seams in one direction. Doesn't matter which way, they just all need to go in the same direction.  TIP:  make sure your seams are all the way open.

Now take a look at your quilt ruler, look for the 60 degree marks. Don't get them mixed up with the 45 degree marks or you'll have a mess.  You might want to put a colorful sticker at one end to remind you.

Lay your ruler on your fabric and line up the 60 degree line with the first seam on your set. Make sure the bottom of the ruler is on the fabric before you make a cut.   Trim away the fabric to the left of the ruler as shown below.  Make sure your ruler doesn't move when you are cutting.  The first cut is very important.

Okay, now move your ruler and line up that 60 degree line with the cut side of your fabric as shown below.  See how we are creating that 60 degree triangle?  Okay, now cut your fabric along the right side of the ruler, as shown below.

Now, without turning your fabric, turn your ruler and line up that 60 degree mark along the cut edge of your fabric as shown below.  Again, you will make your cut on the right side of the ruler as shown below.  You will continue to do this, alternating your ruler back and forth until you reach the end of the strip set.  You should have 6 triangular pieces.

If you have done as instructed, you should have 6 triangles.  You will notice by cutting 3 right side up and 3 upside down that we have two different looking sets of triangles.  Alternate these for your layout as shown below.

We will sew this together in two sets as shown below.  All seams will be pressed OPEN.  

Take one triangle and place it right sides together on the other.  Now this is the cool part.  Since we ironed all the fabric seams in one direction to start, they will nestle together.  Nest your seams and place a pin next to the seam to keep things lining up properly. This seam is on the diagonal so be careful when you are stitching and don't over stretch the seam, you can give a little tug to get things lined up if necessary.

Nest your seams as shown below, you will feel them nest together, then tuck a pin next to the seam.

When you have stitched your seam, press it open as shown below.

You are now ready to attach the third triangle.  Make sure you alternate colorways.  Note the tip or rabbit ear that is sticking out. Don't cut it off.  Leave it, we will use it to match up the tip of our next triangle as shown below.

Now stitch 1/4 inch starting at the intersection of that tip and the other side as shown below.  Press your seam open. and it should look like the one below.  Leave that little tip, it will help us line things up, you can trim it after.

Do the same for the other 3 triangles.  You should have two halves sewn together now.   Take a pin and put it through the intersection of the point on one half and through the same point on the other to line them up right sides together.  Keep this pin perpendicular to your fabric and place a couple pins on either side before you remove it as shown below.

As before, nest all of your seams, placing a pin next to each one to keep your fabric from moving and stitch your final seam.  Trim off any remaining bunny ears and press your seam OPEN.  You are ready to quilt and bind your Candy Corn Table Topper!  It will take two strips of fabric 2.5" x WOF (width of fabric 40-44") stitched together to bind your little table topper.  Finished size is about 23 inches in diameter.   You can increase or decrease the size of your table topper simply by using wider or narrower strips in your strip set.  The table topper will finish at about twice the width of your strip set.