It's been a busy past few days in my house! So many things have been going on this week. It's amazing I survived it all. Today I have another tutorial for you! Yay! I'm going to show you how to make a string block with scraps. In my last post I showed you my scraps all separated by color. So today I'm going to show you how to put them to good use.
Click Here for the full tutorial!
You will need to make sure all fabric strips are cut straight & even- not wonky and crooked.
I like to use a 12"x12" piece of scrapbooking paper because I cut the paper into FOUR 6" squares without any excess paper to worry about.
Here is how to make a 6.5" block....
Grab your 12"x12" paper,
a paper cutter of some sort,
And a snack!
Cut your 12"x12" paper into four 6" squares
Take a white 1"strip piece of scrap fabric and line it up in the center. Leave 1/2" of fabric off the paper. You may want to pin it in place so it doesn't move while sewing.
Line up your first piece of fabric with the white, leaving at least 1/2" off the edge of the paper and sew it down the right side
Pinning the white will make this part much easier
Open up the seam and iron it open, try not to use stream because it will warp the paper
Take your next piece of fabric and sew it
Keep sewing strips to the paper until you reach the corner then switch to the other side and do the same thing
Continue to sew pieces on until your whole sheet of paper is covered.
Here is what the back looks like
Use your ruler and cut the fabric a 1/4" larger than the paper on all side.
You should have a nice 6 1/2" block now
Now start tearing the paper strips off
It should tear off pretty easily. Changing your machine to a smaller stitch length will help the paper tear off even easier.
Here is your finished block!
Make a few more blocks and you have this! Great job!!! Keep going until you the quilt size you want. I want mine to be a pretty good size so I'll probably just work on it a little at a time using my scraps as I go. I have a blue diamond done, now it's time to work on the other colors :)
First thing I thought was "why isn't she doing both sides?", then I realized one side was a specific color - good idea. I've done string blocks with the same color string in the same spot and also did chevrons doing this by marking the sides where the strings go - with an up and down block. I also use wonky strings, and sew short ends together to make longer strings, adds lots of interest. Thanks for the great tut.
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