badskirt - I had an unexpected visitor last night when Belinda was outside my door hand delivering her Beehive fabrics to my mailbox. I called out (through the power of Vodafone) and she came in for a cuppa. Ordinarily, I might have been embarrassed for a house guest to see every tub of fabric I own thrown across the living room floor, but I'm pretty sure Belinda appreciated my chaos.
She sent along precut centers, reds, blue, linen and splashes of green. Each pack is different. Mine included a variety of yuwa, suzukos, denyse schmidt and liberty. She asked for string blocks with varying sizes pieced to 8.5" calico squares.
I've done string blocks before for Andi, but this time the technique varied a bit we foundation pieced to calico instead of paper Despite the extra bulk it adds to the quilt, I've realized that the calico method has many benefits...
some benefit of using calico instead of paper
- no paper to pull away at the end
- no need to use a super tiny near-unpickable stitch for perforating. That means it's much easier to unpick and fix any mistakes. Also, if you do unpick, the calico won't fall apart at the perforation where paper sometimes will
- the seam allowances of the fabric are covered by the calico, so they won't fray as you work or while you collect enough blocks for assembly
- the bias edges of the strings are stabilized by the calico. When assemble them this will help keep the blocks from stretching
there are caveats, of course
- calico adds extra bulk in your quilt
- you need to make sure you've pressed the calico well so your blocks aren't skewed to start with
- you need to make sure your strings are probably trimmed as you add them. Any frays to begin with are going to be stuck behind calico and near impossible to fix
Of course there are other methods for making string quilts too. Another common method is to sew together long strips and then using a rotated template to cut them. Another gorgeous method that results oin a more regular look.
If you're thinking of making a string quilt, I'd suggest trying a few methods out and deciding what's right for you. Then get your rotary arm ready...
Thanks Belinda for sending great fabrics to match a great pattern.
Would you mind taking photos of the process of this? It sounds really interesting and I've never heard of it. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same as Beth Lemon I rather dislike sewing through paper as it's a pain in the butt to get all the little bits out later!
ReplyDeleteI've made hundreds of these blocks! I used muslin, and made the "foundation" larger than the finished block. This way you don't have to worry about the strips being exact as you trim the block down to size when you are done. Makes the quilt assembly a breeze!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your blocks. I look at them every time I am on flickr (which is not as often since my son discovered minecraft but that is probably just as well as I should sew some more....)
ReplyDeleteNote that what is calico in some countries is muslin in others. My mother used to use worn out sheets mostly white for her foundation. Worked like a charm and didn't add as much weight as new cloth. By the way, regularly check out what you are doing. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started my most recent paper piecing project, the lovely lady at my quilt shop suggested using very light weight interfacing - you can draw the pattern on it, you don't have to pull it off and it adds very little extra bulk to the block / quilt. It worked a treat and I will be using this method hence forth.
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