That felt like a very productive evening!Once I'd divided the lighter from the darker strips (those are relative terms!), & made a pile of each, I picked one at random out of each pile and sewed them together & pressed the seams, so now I have 20 light/dark double strips.
The next step will be to piece that lot together (and again), then do some jiggery pokery with the cutter on the diagonals. Plenty of scope for cock-ups there, with no wriggle room on the amount of fabric...
Gorgeous fabrics. They're going to make a beautiful quilt.
ReplyDeleteVery pretty, and a very productive evening. I love strip-piecing, some people find it boring but I find it very therapeutic and restful.
ReplyDeleteAnd people moan that ~I~ never sit still!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you already know this but when you get to jiggery pokery with the cutter on the diagonals bear in mind that all of your cut edges will be on the bias - and if you are a little too "rough" handling your cut squares the edges will stretch and you will have horrible trouble getting everything to fit together nicely.
I recommend spray starch ... in fact, I am notorious for sometimes starching fabric to within an inch of its life - but it sure makes the stretchy little b*ggers behave!
I'm with Ali - love strip piecing (have just had to correct a Freudian typo - it started off as peacing ...)
Another thing to bear in mind when you're playing with bias edges is to make sure you have a sharp blade in your cutter so you don't have to saw backwards and forwards, and to handle the bias pieces as little as possible. OK, that's two things - I can't count!
ReplyDeleteThe fabric is pretty, Sue, and I think that it will be lovely, although it remains to be seen what the contrast will be like on the trellis!
ReplyDeleteI've been enjoying running my 'bunting' through the machine - theraputic not boring for me too, Ali!
I can quite see how the cut edges will wander if I am not careful, Bilbo, and I am very wary of the cutting part of this quilt - spray starch now at the ready!
Good point on the sharpness of the blade on the cutter, Sue - how often do you suggest that I change it? The current one has only been used for the runner/mats & the cutting for the QAL - maybe I should put a new blade in at the start of each project (like I'm putting a new needle in the machine at the start of each one)?
You know a blade is getting dull when you have to apply pressure to make the cut (which in itself is ruddy dangerous 'cos THAT is when you're likely to slip and damage yourself).
ReplyDeleteOr else you have to run the blade back and forth ...
Can't say how long a blade will last, depends upon what you are cutting through, the quality of your mat underneath, phase of the Moon (?). It is, however, something you will develop a "feel" for so don't panic, just do whatever feels right.
PS: spray starch on the whole piece BEFORE you start cutting, not after.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the cutter info, Bilbo, and I will be starching this very evening, and having a cautious cutting session...
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