A couple months back I watched The Queen’s Gambit on netflix. It’s an excellent mini series that opens up the world of chess and sheds light on how it functioned in the ’60s. It is created from the pages of a novel by Walter Tevis written in 1983 also titled The Queen’s Gambit.
Chess is something that I have never played. I love the checkerboard and all of the pieces that go with the board, like the knights, king, and queen. But no one has ever explained the game to me. The mini series has inspired me to learn more about the game and the checkered pattern has been calling out to me. It is such a simple pattern and it is perfect for a quick and easy quilt top. I made this one last weekend and listed it in my Etsy shop and today I am sharing with you how I made this Chess Board Quilt. Let’s jump right in.
Chess Board Quilt Tutorial
Baby Quilt size – square layout 7 by 9 – finished size 32″ x 41″
This quilt uses 5″ squares and is charm pack friendly. For the baby quilt, I used three different cuts of black fabric to make up 32 black squares and one cut of fabric to make up 31 white squares for a total of 63 squares.
Fabric and Cutting
| Black 1 | 1/3 yard – cut (2) 5″ strips, then cut into (10) 5″ squares |
| Black 2 | 1/3 yard – cut (2) 5″ strips, then cut into (11) 5″ squares |
| Black 3 | 1/3 yard – cut (2) 5″ strips, then cut into (11) 5″ squares |
| White | 2/3 yard – cut (4) 5″ strips, then cut into (31) 5″ squares |
| Backing | 1 yard – assuming your WOF is 42″ |
On one edge of the square, line up and sew one black to one white square. Sew together. Repeat for a total of 27 square sets.
Iron seam to the black square.
Take one square set and pin another square set to each side of it. Making sure that on the white edge you pin a black edge and on the black edge you pin a white edge to it. Sew both edges. Repeat for a total of nine square strips.
Iron seams to the black squares.
Take one strip set. On the white edge, pin and sew a black square. Repeat for a total of five strip sets. You will have black on both edges of the strip.
Take one strip set. On the black edge, pin and sew a white square. Repeat for a total of four strip sets. You will have black on both edges of the strip.
Iron seams to the black squares.
Lay the strips out alternating the colors on the edges. So on the left edge the squares will be a black, white, black, white, black, white, black, white, black – creating a checkered pattern. Pin together nesting seams and sew two strip sets together. Make sure that a white square faces a black square, ensuring you keep the checkered pattern. Repeat for a total of four.
Lay one row on top of another row, making sure that the white squares face the back squares. Pin together nesting seams and sew. Repeat for a total of two.
Sew the two sections together by pinning the white edges with the black edges and nesting the seams. Then add the last strip to the bottom of the quilt top by pinning the white edges with the black edges and nesting the seams. Sew them together to complete the top.
Layer the top, batting, and backing. Baste the quilt together. I prefer using a spray basting method where I use a folding table. To see how it do this, click here.
After you baste it, quilt it as you would like. Christina Cameli is amazing and has some great books (and classes) that I like to refer to when deciding on how to quilt. Or you can do something simple like straight lines. That is the way I quilted this baby quilt. The key to quilting is using quilting gloves. They give you extra grip that is so helpful.
Trim down the quilt and square up the corners.
Attach the binding. For this size, you could use four strips of 2 1/4″ WOF. Over the years I have tried many different ways to bind quilts. Currently I am ironing a 2 1/2″ strip in half. Then I stitch the raw edges of the binding to the edge of the quilt. I created a tutorial on how to bind a quilt. If you are interested in learning more click here.
If you are interested in making this Chess Board Quilt in a larger size, you can easily do this by adding more squares. I did the math so you can do it easily.
Throw Quilt size – 11 by 13 (finished size 50″ x 59″) 71 white – 72 black
Twin Quilt size – 15 by 21 (finished size 68″ x 95″) 157 white – 158 black
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. As alway share your photos on instagram and tag me so I can see what you make. Have a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by.
