I know you may think otherwise. I know...I know- I promised a strip quilt tutorial days ago. And, until now, there has been no strip quilt tutorial. I promise, this is not because I've been kicking back, sipping Pepsi and obsessively playing Nintendo DS. Who me? Never. Never ever. Well. Maybe just a tiny tiny bit. But I swear that was only brief breaks from a huge room cleaning/toy sorting project that has completely consumed the last two days. I won't bore you with details- I'll just say that it started with two girls with more toys than any ten kids need and has ended with a few more grey hairs, tears on both sides and a much cleaner, tidier less cluttered bedroom. Ever try to sort toys into keep, sell, donate and trash piles with the help of a nine month old and a four year old? Yeah, not a pleasant experience.
Anyway- on to the quilting!
Let me start by saying that this is not the Holy Grail of strip quilting. This is simply how I make my strip quilts. If there is one thing that I've learned is that there is not one right way in quilting. There are lots and lots of right ways to do the same thing. In fact, the only way to do something wrong is if you hate it or it falls apart. If you like it and it stays together- it is right. This way works for me- it may work better for you some other way. That's OK.
Step #1 Gather your fabric.
If you are one of the five lucky people who ended up with one of my fabric bundles, this step is already done for you. Go ahead, cackle with delight in your fabric bundle.
If you are not one of those five, don't panic. This step is so much fun. Dive into your stash. Gather all the leftovers from your last quilt. Strip quilts are a fantastic way to use up all those leftovers. Add some new fabrics that you've been afraid to cut into. Mix and match. Have fun. Go crazy. Grab more fabric than you think you could possibly need. It's much easier to take out a fabric later then to have to stop what you're doing and search out more. There is no limitation on length but you do want all your fabrics to have the full width still. Does that make sense? In other words- your fabric can be as small as 1.5 inches tall, as long as it still has the full 44 or 45 inch width from selvage to selvage.
Wash your fabric, don't wash. That's up to you. Remember- more than one way to do things. I would recommend not washing if you've got one of my bundles. You would lose too much fabric to fraying. I have used all of these fabrics in about six quilts now. None has ever given me a problem- no bleeding or excessive shrinking.
Step #2 Cutting Strips (if you have one of my bundles)
First of all, you can choose to entirely skip this step. You can use your fabrics in the six inch width strips I sent you. You'll end up with a quilt with regular 5.5 inch stripes broken by two tiny stripes. Or leave out the two little fabrics and you'll have a quilt with even stripes. Nothing wrong with that.
If you would like one with random strips like my sample quilt, you'll need to do some cutting. All right, untie your lovely little ribbon. Set it aside for some other project. Pull out the two skinny strips. Pick one or two strips to leave as the full six inches. Start a little fabric pile with these two types of strips. Now its time to cut the remaining strips. Pull out your cutting mat, ruler and rotary cutter. Google rotary cutter tutorial if you have no idea how to use them. Really- you've got a really sharp blade in your hands. Learn how to use it first. Ok, you're going to cut each of your remaining strips into two pieces.
Cut some in half. Cut some kind of half and half. Cut some so you have one really big piece and one really small piece. You could even go crazy and cut one in threes. Whatever strikes your fancy. There is only rule. Don't cut any pieces smaller than about an 1.5 to 2 inches. Smaller is just two small to work with. I've done all the math, so you should have just enough for a 48" long quilt with maybe one strip left over. Throw all your strips onto your little fabric pile as you finish cutting them.
Step #2 Cutting Strips (for everyone else)-
OK, it's much the same as above but you have to do the math. Grab your fabrics and start cutting strips anywhere from 1.5 inches to about six inches. You can try just guessing when you have enough. I did that the first time and ended up with enough strips for two quilts (and two quilts). Or you can keep a running tally. Your goal is 50" or so. Keep in mind you are going to lose half an inch of each strip to seam allowances. I have started just cutting everything at 1.5 or 2.5 or 3.5, etc to make the math easier. Then I just keep a simple running tally. 1 plus 2 plus 3 and so on. I always cut at least a couple more strips than I think I will need so I have more flexibility in the design part of it.
Step #3 The Design Part
I love this part! I'm sure some of you have fancy design walls. Great for you. I am not so lucky. Some of you have big dining room tables. Once again, not so lucky. I have my living room floor (sometimes). All you really need is about 50 inches of open space. Grab your pile of strips and just start laying them out. I leave mine folded in half or fourths just to make them a little easier to handle.
The goal here is a good mix of everything. You don't really want a big clump of one color or all the small strips next to each other. You want a good variety of color and strip sizes throughout the quilt. Just move around the strips until you like it.
Once you have a layout you love, start at one end and stack your strips one on top of the other in order.
Step #4 Time to Sew
The best quilting tip I have ever read is to start off with a lot of bobbins pre-filled. That way when one runs out, you don't have to stop everything, unthread your machine, wind the bobbin, and then rethread everything. All you have to do is pop in one of your pre-filled bobbins and get back to sewing. Completely changed my life.
Other than that, its pretty simple.
Start with the top two fabrics and then move down through your stack of fabric. Use a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
Line all your fabrics up at the top edge. The bottom edge will look all jagged-
thanks to differences in the the widths of the fabric. Don't worry, we'll fix that later. Keep sewing until you hit 50 inches or run out of strips.
You may have noticed that there are no pins to be seen in my pictures. I rarely pin. Almost never if I'm sewing a simple straight seam- which all of these are. Now, I have sewn millions of simple straight seams. And I'm a bit of a pinning rebel. If you're not, by all means, pin. I will not think any less of you.
I do, however, press. I press a lot. I usually stop every third strip or so to press just so it's not such a huge task at the end.
I press my seams towards the darker fabric. I don't have anything against pressing seams open. Pressing to one side just seems a little quicker and easier to me. It all goes back to that lots of right ways to do things theory. Press them however you like, just as long as you actually press them.
Step #5- Trimming Your Quilt Top
The title says almost everything really. Pull your trusty rotary cutter back out and trim your quilt top. I like to cut something like 38 by 50 inches. That gives me two extra inches from my final goal to allow for shrinking from quilting and washing. Trim the even edge first. Turn it around and trim the wonky edge.
Save that trimmed off strip! It would be great to include in the backing of the quilt or maybe even as the beginning of a stacked coin quilt. Oh the possibilities.
All right, stand back and admire your finished quilt top. Isn't it a thing of beauty? All that's left is to baste it, quilt it and bind it. Simple, really.
I'll be back tomorrow or Saturday with notes on how I baste, quilt and bind and what my favorite materials are. Just a few notes and links to other people's tutorials. I don't think I could handle writing another of my own. Thanks for sticking through with me to the end. Comment with any questions or needed clarifications of the confusing bits. I'll try and help.
