This is where we need to really pay attention and go slow. Here the time needed to correct mistakes increases exponentially...AMHIK*
We need 7 tubes.
Each tube is composed of two strip sets sewn together - one strip set of each color combination, with a 4.5"X10" end block of the matching color sewn onto each end.
Each tube has two strip sets and four blocks. This makes more sense if you look at the picture. You can't see the blue/water strip set sewn onto the other side of the starry blue/white strip set, but it's there.
We will be cutting the tubes in a staggered manner so that when they are laid out, they will form our pattern.
Here's the method of our tube-cutting madness:
I have a 12"X18" cutting mat that I put inside each tube, in order to cut through just one side or layer of the tube.
I cut through the solid blue strip sets with the water strip in the middle (NOT the starry blue strip sets with the white strip down the middle).
Tube #1 was cut in the middle of the solid blue half of the tube.
Tube #1 is no longer a tube - it is cut strip set #1. It will be pinned and sewn to the middle of the backing, and the other cut strip sets staggered from there.
Tube #2 was cut 4" from the center of the solid blue side of the tube (not the starry side). #2 is no longer a tube, but cut strip set #2. Repeat...
Tube #3 was cut 8" from the center of the solid blue side of the tube (and is now cut strip set #3), and
Tube #4 was cut 12" from the center of the solid blue side of the tube (and is now cut strip set #4).
We basically will do the same with cut strip sets #5, #6 and #7, with the measurements matching #2, #3, and #4.
I squared up the edges (trimmed them with the rotary cutter so they are even). Feeding the OCS monster again :)
*ask me how I know
We have to cut the strips (in half) to size before we sew the end blocks on. (See previous post re: too confusing to describe what I discovered I had to change)
Read the directions three times, measure twice, cut once.
In related news, I have a headache. LOL
I already trimmed the starry blue/white strip sets, and here I've trimmed the blue/water strip sets.
I trimmed the other end as well. This led to a design decision that would be ridiculously confusing and pointless to describe, LOL... remember, what matters most is that you're happy in the end!
I like to check the waste to make sure I got all of the selvage off, instead of disturbing each of the layers to check, since they are stacked and ready for the other ends to be trimmed already.
And yes, I pressed them closed and then open...
Of course, it turns out that it would have been fine just to have cut solid 4.5" strips and then chain-piece the strip ends to the solid 4.5" strips, since I'll probably have to square everything up later on anyway...
We are assembling 2 strip sets into one long strip and then into a tube, and then cutting the tubes so that when laid out the design is staggered (per the original pattern).
The plain blue strip sets have a strip of "water" going down the middle. We cut them perpendicular in direction compared to how all the other strips are cut, so it will look like water and not an EKG after assembly.
So the water strips are longer than all the other strips, which were cut from selvage to selvage (the factory-cut ends). Although this results in more waste after trimming, it will be worth it to have the effect we want.
The machine on the left is a 1957 Singer 1200 in an artisan/dressmaker's table with electric treadle.
It's the same machine as a 201-2 (great-grandma's machine, on the right) except for the knee-operated presser foot lever.
It's big help in making quick work of sewing pieces together, one after another. (Also called chain piecing. Wheeeeeeeeee)
We eventually decided on 7 strip sets total. This changed a couple times...
Be open to changing any aspect of your project at any step. Cut yourself slack if suddenly you realize that what you'd declared non-negotiable in color scheme, layout, or whatever is just not working. You want to love your project when it's done. :)
We're adapting a full-size quilt pattern to make a twin quilt. How do we cut our fabric to get the right dimensions for *our* quilt? Which of the directions for the full-size quilt do we follow and which do we change?
That requires... I'm sorry to say... math. *weeping*
If you are a visual person, I strongly suggest sketches and notes for each step. Labels, lists, whatever you have to do to keep things straight.
We chose a different color scheme than the pattern calls for (and changed it again, ack), and a different (but much easier, yay!) construction of the middle, narrower strips in each strip set.
So... we worked backwards.
What's the finished size of *our* quilt?
Are we following the pattern directions for strip dimensions and just shortening the finished strip sets? (yes)
We decided to make our quilt half as wide as the pattern.
The directions are Right There, and I stared at them for a very, very, long time. LOL
