Wednesday, December 29, 2010

January Log Cabin - 3. Cutting and Giveaway!

The next job is cutting the 1.5" strips.  The key here is to cut accurately.  Ironing is a must!!  Use a hot iron with steam and your life will be much easier.
A ruler and rotary cutter makes a big difference with strips, but you can definitely do it with scissors and a pencil.
There are very few straight edges on scraps, but if you have a selvedge, or its been cut well at the shop, you can be on a winner.
Use your straight edge as a guide, and cut from there.
Try to cut with the grain.  Being slightly off grain is not a big deal as with patchwork its all locked into place.  But you must never cut on the bias unless you are told to!!!  This will completely stuff your whole block up.

If you have a geometric print (like stripes)you need to cut with the pattern rather than the grain of the fabric.

So now cut strips.  You need 1.5" strips.  Not too many of them, only about 2m in total length of each colour.

Here is my scrappy block all laid out with the strips.  Doesn't it already look nicer?


And here is my coordinating block laid out the same way.
Pretty right?  The different length of strips is due to the way I cut it off the piece of fabric.  Some came from scraps, some from fat quarters, some leftovers, and some from 20cm full pieces.

Ok - now you need to follow the cutting instructions on the tutorial found here
Essentially you need one 2.5" square for the hearth, then Fabric A has 2.5" up to 11"5" strips, and Fabric B has 3.5" up to 12.5" strips.

When its all cut out it will look like this.

And then you can rearrange to make it look all organised like this....

And if you are feeling game, you can now lay your blocks out - overlapping each piece slightly so you see what the finished product will look like!
Scrap block:

 Coordinated block:

And because I had too much time on my hands today, I decided to do an extra 3 blocks with the leftovers.  These will be giveaways!  If you would like me to send you an already cut out set, please leave a comment below, maybe telling me why you are keen to give this a whirl, and I will draw on New Years Day.  You will save the time of cutting for now, and can concentrate on sewing perfectly.....  Or maybe you can work on finding a 1/4" quilters foot for your machine?





Next post:
Sewing, and the magic 1/4" seam allowance.

21 comments:

Joanne said...

Oh Fi! This is just the push I need to get to try lots of different techniques.
The hardest thing will be to try and not get too fussy with the fabrics! LOL

Fi said...

Leanne's comment cause her blogger account doesn't work :)

huntd said...

Im a quilting newbie, so this would be a lovely 'helping hand' so to speak

macca said...

ahh excellent Fi - need to give this a go

punkacat said...

As I can't cut straight to save myself this'd be seriously helpful!

stardust1 said...

So looking forward to doing this! Have been wanting to quillt for a long time - but so scared!! Need to buy an 1/4inch foot and some fabrics ( ;) ) and I'll be away laughing!!

white-rose said...

great idea - I am going to make this my blanket for Ben, the others all have one and he is 8mths old and I am yet to find my mojo!!!

Kiley said...

Fi - I was so going to sit on the fence and watch but you have convinced me to give it a go.

Nat said...

oh how exciting. I got a beautiful book on patchwork for Xmas and I'm so inspired!

Judith said...

after reading your tutorial I have got the motivation to give this a go. Just need to get a quilting ruler and maybe a rotary cutter.

Judith said...
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Megan said...

I have straight line issues too lol. I have been meaning to give quilting a try for aaaaages but I've been too scared to take the plunge.

Jo Ruthven said...

I've never Quilted before! Nappies is probably as far as i get! Love your work, Im sooo Going to try this! Pretty excited.
Would love a head start ;)

Jo Ruthven said...
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hannah said...

very cool Fi :)

Julia said...

Wow, great idea! I love how you are putting step by step instructions up, it's exactly what I need! I'd love to be entered into your giveaway too :) Happy New Year Fi, hoping that 2011 is full of lots of special and memorable moments for you.

Krissie said...

I'm very tempted to give this quilting thing a try, would it be crazy to attempt two? One for each of my girls...

Unknown said...

Oh wow - thank you for the photos, I was thinking of buying material but now I remember in my stash lots of co-ordinating cottons. I'm rather excited to start this.

nickers said...

Thanks Fi for your help and inspiration, doubt I'd be giving it a go otherwise :-)

mike said...

so looking forward to starting this,might make two. Now to pick some fabrics :))

rosie

Plingie said...

You've got me all inspired to try making a block. Seeing a whole quilt is daunting but jus tone little block can't hurt, can it?