strip quilt center white piece

[abbie]

Good morning everyone,

I am trying to make a scrip quilt similar to MQC tutorial however I have cut my strips randomly at 2 inch and some at 1.5 inch . My centre white piece I have cut at 2.5 inch and eyeballed it to the centre of the MQC foundation papers, however I have done 4 practice pieces to see how I was going and my white lines are no where near lining up.. Could anyone help me or maybe send me a link to a tutorial of what I might be doing wrong.. I am really confused as to why or how I can be so far out, I have checked my measurements and the appear very accurate.. ( all four white pieces are all 2.5 inches, I folded them and did a little crease to get the middle as well but I seem to be really out. ) ...... Hmm maybe a scrip quilt is harder then I thought it was going to be ...

thanks everyone have a beautiful safe day where ever you are.
Abbie

[Snip Snip]

Re: strip quilt center white piece

Which tutorial are you referring to? Maybe the random cutting is keeping the pieces from lining up? Sometimes something that appears randomly done is actually precise in the making.

[Hulamoon]

Re: strip quilt center white piece

Here's one I like.

http://filminthefridge.com/2009/04/27/a-string-quilt-block-tutorial-paper-pieced-method/

[rebeccas-sewing]

Re: strip quilt center white piece

I really like Midge's idea coming up and since I paper-piece I'd go that route. This way would work too. Just depends on which you prefer. Use a fine-point wash-away quilting marker and draw a line down the middle of each white strip for ease in accurately lining up the ruler to cut the squares to size after adding all the strips. That line will make it easy to get the corners of the ruler placed exactly at the center point on each strip. It's more accurate than creasing the strip.

[Midge]

Re: strip quilt center white piece

Good morning everyone,

I am trying to make a scrip quilt similar to MQC tutorial however I have cut my strips randomly at 2 inch and some at 1.5 inch . My centre white piece I have cut at 2.5 inch and eyeballed it to the centre of the MQC foundation papers, however I have done 4 practice pieces to see how I was going and my white lines are no where near lining up.. Could anyone help me or maybe send me a link to a tutorial of what I might be doing wrong.. I am really confused as to why or how I can be so far out, I have checked my measurements and the appear very accurate.. ( all four white pieces are all 2.5 inches, I folded them and did a little crease to get the middle as well but I seem to be really out. ) ...... Hmm maybe a scrip quilt is harder then I thought it was going to be ...

thanks everyone have a beautiful safe day where ever you are.
Abbie

Are you referring to the strip-pieced squares quilt using the 10" foundation papers that MSQC sells? Maybe you are unaware that is also available as a printed pattern called Paper Stories. I have that pattern, so I looked to see if there is something there was different from what I remembered from the video tutorial. Are you using a light streak of glue to hold your first piece in place when starting a square? It helps a lot. If you are really determined to try to match these, maybe you could make yourself a template and mark your papers with a line to be sure you aren't drifting a bit. That said, the pattern clearly states the center solid strips are not meant to line up perfectly. And the photo on the pattern cover is definitely not lined up. It certainly doesn't detract from the design, because you see the overall look when the squares are sewn together. Also I think you made a wise choice using random width prints for your squares. That way you won't see that the white centers don't line up. Hope this helps.

[rebeccas-sewing]

Re: strip quilt center white piece

Good idea, Midge!!! I didn't think about paper-piecing them. That would give great accuracy if one wants to line up those white strips. To me that's better than my suggestion. Really, all you need to do is draw three diagonal lines on the foundation paper. The rest of the strips don't need to line up. I'd draw a line corner to corner first. Then I'd draw lines equally spaced apart on either side of the line. Glue baste the white strip and then sew the first two strips on either side of the white strip directly on the line. Trim the seams to 1/4".

[tlragogo]

Re: strip quilt center white piece

If you are referring the strip quilt, like the one in one of the block idea books, the text specifically states that the strips are not supposed to match perfectly. I made this quilt and thought, nope I want mine to match, not as easy as you would think. It is doable and the posts prior to mine all have great suggestions. When all was said and done on mine, it didn't matter, the quilt is beautiful.

I made this for a friends mother. It's a little lighter in color than I had hoped for but I'm still very happy with it. stip quilt.jpg

[K. McEuen]

Re: strip quilt center white piece



I made this one exactly like you mentioned. My white strips don't match exactly, but are close enough in a scrappy quilt.

[JCY]

Re: strip quilt center white piece

When I make string quilts, I use Jenny's tutorial as a guideline. I do not use the glue, but I pin the center strip to the 10" papers that M* sells. I use nothing but 2.5" strips. It's easy to line up the center strip, corner to corner, by centering the strip with the points of the paper. Then I keep adding on either side from the center. I do not use the paper as a guideline to square the block. Instead I use my ruler. That way each block is accurately cut at 10". (The paper & stitching shrink the fabrics a bit, so it will not remain a true 10" square.) Also, I use a 2.0 stitch length. It makes it a bit easier to remove the papers.