Yes! I love Swirl, too... I have two charm packs, and a jelly roll...
I'm glad you like this quilt... It is a fav of mine... I hate it that the light was so bad.... Here us the only other picture I have of it.
Printable View
Well... I replied, but I must have done something wrong, because it isn't here!
So..... Yes.... This is Swirl...one of my very favorite lines... So sorry about the terrible color.... I still have one jelly roll and two charm packs..... Here is the only other picture I have of it.... The lighting was a little better.... I'm happy that you liked my quilt...
Oh.... The beautiful quilting was done by a member if my quilting group, on her longarm..
I thought the whole point of buying pre-cuts was avoid too much cutting - If I want 5" squares I buy charms rather than slice up a layer cake.
Having said that, I'm rather fond of HST or hourglass blocks and love the scrappy look of these collections of fabrics rather than a limited palette or number of fabrics and a formal repeat design.
This was the first quilt I made with a layercake (+ JR) and its still my favourite.
Attachment 63789
These two quilts also use a layer cake + yardage and/or Jelly Roll)
Attachment 63790
This one uses a layer cake cut in half - one half makes the border and semi circles are cut from the other and appliqued on (+JR)
Attachment 63791
In this one the Layer Cake has again been cut in half and yardage used for the small squares
You are right as far as the cutting, but my problem is...I don't like just ONE block or square of ONE print on the quilt. I am an over organizer and I want more of the same print in the quilt than charms offer so make the quilt rows "even" and organized! I know! I need to get out of the organizational box...I am trying!!! Really I am! A 10x10 cake layer squares can give me 4 of the same print
4 is an even number so I can work with that!
If you are a fan of HST quilts, you might enjoy this trick I picked up for turning layer cake squares into 8 HSTs at one time while still maintaining a straight edge (not bias edges):
Half Square Triangles (HSTs): 8 at a Time! | Sew Mama Sew |
Not all layer cakes are 24 pieces. The ones I have contain 42 pieces of fabric and they are often duplicates or even triples of the fabric. So that might help your problem of wanting more matching going on in your quilt. Buy the layer cakes with 42 pieces!
What if you bought two packs of your 24-piece layer cake? That would give you duplicates and it would make a larger quilt too. You could buy 2 layer cakes and split the fabrics in two, thus giving you duplicates AND another layer cake pack to make another quilt.
For storage, I simply stack my layer cakes and charm packs and mini charms (candies?) one on top of the other. I leave them nice and tidy in their little paper wrap. They look happy and I'm happy with them like that.
Don't wash precuts! I don't wash any of my fabrics until after they've been put together, sandwiched, quilted and bound. The quilts allo look wonderful, not any shrinkage to notice.
There are tons of patterns for layer cakes. You could cut them into charm squares, and that would give you multiples of the fabrics, but I would rather buy charm packs than cut up a layer cake. It's just easier to me :)
I did a sawblade quilt (not yet done) from a craftsy class and it was with a layer cake and jelly roll. Its pretty cool.
you sound like me... I bought the jelly roll swirls- there are 5 diff designs in it.. I am making paper foundation piecing and just cant make myself mix the diff designs, although some of the designs have 2 of each color some only have ONE of each color which makes my 10" blocks be in need of me "borrowing" from a diff.design in the roll... I have to squench my eyes and grit my teeth and choose another strip to even out my blocks... so I TOO am trying to climb out of that box with REALLY HIGH SIDES and be more scrappy.
Nana B, in Texas
Generally, layer cakes, charm pack, jelly rolls, and other precuts, are sold as one unit because they are all different cuts from the same line, so they all go together. A really good pattern for layer cakes is the 10 minute square pattern. One block takes five pieces, but you only make three seams and you have a diamond laying on top of four adjoining squares with what looks like a cathedral window. You an look up the tutorial on you tube and purchase the patterns from your LQS. You can also use a template and cut your layer cake into other shapes like apple cores, hexigons, etc. Jenny has several tutorials on using layer cakes and cutting them using templates.
THanks for the suggestions. I dont remember if there is 24 or 42 in the pack, now that you mention it. But I will definately be cutting them in at least half. I like doing HST's so I can get 4 of them out of one layer piece. It is just a "structured,tailored" look thing...everything has to be even and organized! I am trying to use the cake layer set to get out of this box and more into the world of color and endless options in quilting! Storage, by problem there is "Out of sight, out of mind". I f I just stack them.. I can't see the colors so I forget they are there! Another issue I have to deal with!!! Hopefully this new year will bring some new visions!!