This may not be liberated quiltmaking in the truest Gwen Marston sense of the word (even though she did publish a book on string quilts), but it was certainly liberating for me, and it's probably as liberated as I'll ever get. Making a string quilt is truly mindless piecing at its best. Anything goes, and it's a perfect portable project. I can run my mouth all day at sewing group and I can't screw anything up!
For the pieced strips, I cut foundations from muslin or whatever fabric I had laying around that I didn't really have a use for, 4" x 8", and pieced scraps on them using a sew and flip technique. Then I sewed the pieced foundations end to end until I had a strip long enough for my quilt. The pieced strips were then alternated with solid strips and sewn together to create the top. The solid strips were cut 3-1/2" wide.
I needed 150 foundations for the pieced strips. Each vertical row required 11 foundations plus half of another to complete the row.A queen sized quilt, 93" x 93", requires 12 solid strips and 13 pieced strips, plus borders. I added a 7" wide border on either side and a 7" wide border on the bottom. My son who is receiving this quilt is crazy about that burgundy batik and wanted the wider borders. The top of the quilt will probably be covered up with pillows, so I didn't really want a top border.
The quilt is on the longarm now, and I got about half of it quilted today. Tomorrow I'll try to get the other half done. The plan is to have it quilted and bound by the end of the week for delivery to my son. Lots of work left to do still.
The idea of working in a series appeals to me, and this was a fabulous scrap buster, so I have four more string quilts planned. When I get around to it, the next one will also be a vertical strippy, only the pieced strips will be all different widths.
8 comments:
Oh Sue, this is so charming. Way to go. You make me feel like an all-out attack on my stash!
I love this! I think your son will be thrilled to have it - such a warm and comfy feeling with it...
That does not look as random as you claim. There are some nice arrainging of brights and lights going on. Lucky son.
The burgundy batik really sets the strings off nicely!
What a fun and easy quilt and the results are spectacular!
Wonderful!!
Good to see your post, Sue. I've been really behind in my blog reading, but it sounds as if you've been busy too. Your string project sounds interesting....I need to do some serious stash busting of yarn and fabric!
I like your strippy quilt. I have been setting small strips aside to make one. I am going through my scraps and separating pieces into common sizes. I love this type of quilt. Like you said, it is mindless sewing. Sometimes I want something to sew but do not want to think about it a lot. This is the perfect project. Cannot wait to see your other strippy quilts.
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