Jane's January Tutorial - 2025

Happy January!  I am going to show you how to make a Hachi quilt, a Japanese improvisational quilt.  Improvising just means making decisions as you go.  Try making a Hachi quilt.  It is okay to head in a direction you are not familiar with and make discoveries for yourself.

There is no pattern, but that is okay!  The Hachi quilting process is simple and allows you to make choices about size, color, fabric patterns, and placement to create an overall unique and lovely quilt.

There are some rules to guide you, so there is no way to get lost.  Patricia Belyea, author of "East-Meets-West Quilts", lists five rules: 

1. make each block square, preferably 8" X 8"
2. make blocks with two fabrics in a relationship:  1/2 & 3/4, 3/4 & 1/4, 1/2 & 1/2
3. as you layout your block, to make the design, alternate the blocks horizontally and vertically
4. add an unexpected visitor (1 or 2 blocks) to add even more interest to your creation
5. break any rule you want

Let's get started on this "improv" quilt.  I started by rummaging through Astrid's stash of Japanese and Asian feel fabrics.  You can use any fabrics you have and try to match each print with a solid or a fabric that looks like a solid if you step back from it a little.  I use mostly tone-on-tones, when it comes to solids.  If you have large prints, like great big flowers, they work particularly well in Hachi quilts.  

Since I want four prints and four solids, and need to narrow my fabric choices down, I used my color wheel to help me decide what other colors go with the amazing tonal-yellow fabric I really want in my quilt.

The only real large print is of the cats.  In this photo I am showing the solids that I chose for each of my four prints.

Rule #2, is one I really like.  This photo illustrates what the relationships look like.  

Here are my colors in their 1/2 and 1/2 relationships.

Rule #3 states to start your lay-out with either a vertical position (seam connecting both pieces that make up the block is going up and down, while horizontal means side-to-side, like the horizon) or a horizontal position, then alternate the adjoining blocks.  That is what I am doing in the photo, above.

You can arrange and rearrange your blocks as much as you like.  I like the bold 'L' shapes that pop out when you put two of the same color combination blocks next to one another.  That is another feature of the Hachi style.  See that uninvited guest block there?  It is called an unexpected visitor, which adds another element of interest to your design.  I chose those colors, because there is less yellow in this quilt than any other color and the print is a strip, which is unexpected!

I rearranged my blocks until I was pleased with the composition.  These blocks are on the design wall and have not been sewn to each other yet.  I can still make changes if I want.

Look at the color and shape relationships, then notice the relationships with adjoining blocks, including my visitor.  I just have to sew them all together to complete the quilt top.

Sew all the block together, in rows, then sew the rows to each other.  Cut a quilt back a couple inches larger than the front, and some batting.  Layer the back, batting, and top to make a quilt sandwich.  I recommend stitching in the ditch, but you can quilt it however you wish.

While you are quilting your quilt, be sure the stitch all around the outside edge, about 1/8 inch.  After the quilting part is done, trim your quilt with a straight ruler to square it up.  Now it is ready for the binding.  The Japanese have a way of binding their quilts, so you don't actually see it.  Patracia Belyea calls them "endcap facings".  You can bind your quilt anyway you wish, but I recommend you try the endcap facing.  Read and look on, for how to do endcap facings.

Hachi Quilt, Part 2:  Endcap Facings

Cut your strips for endcap facings.  I made mine 4" wide.  Press them lengthwise, in half, then place the folded edge away from the edge of the quilt top:  place the raw edge along the raw edges of the quilt.  See my amazing diagram, below:

See how the side facing, that was on top, is now underneath the one that runs clear across the end.

Amazing!  Press it all the way around, while pulling up a little of the front of the quilt, so the seam is right on the edge of the quilt, all the way around.  When you look at the quilt from the front, you do not see the back.  When you look at the quilt from the back, you do not see the fabric from the front.  I pin my edges in place then press them, the I go around again with my steam iron and a tailor's clapper, to make the edge of my quilt nice and flat.

With needle and thread, whipstitch the free edge of your facing down, only going through the backing fabric and some of the batting.  Do not go clear through to the front of your quilt.  Click on any of the photos and they will enlarge, so you can see the details.

This is the finished back of my Hachi quilt.

This is my finished quilt!  I like that you cannot see the binding, all you see is an amazing design!  I hope you will give this project a try.