Sewing the Strip Sets

Sewing the Strip Sets

This page gives hints on how to create strip sets from the fabric strips you have created.

  • Use a fine cotton or mercerised cotton thread of a blending colour, start with a new needle and use a 2.5 stitch length.
  • Seams need to be sewn accurately. Use a ¼” foot with a guide. To check your sewing, cut three small strips of scrap material, each 1½” wide. Sew together. The middle section should be exactly one inch wide.
  • Most sewing machines have a tendency to curve seams because the feed dogs only touch the bottom fabric.  To minimise this curvature and to improve the final look of the quilt, follow these rules:
      1. Press each seam before sewing that piece to the next one, ensuring that the seams are straight.
        • Draw a straight line on a piece of scrap fabric and place on your ironing board:
          LineOnIroningBoard
        • ‘Set’ the seam by pressing it flat before opening it, using the drawn line as a guide:
          LineOnIroningBoard2
        • Press the seam open with the seam allowance upwwards or downwards as the instructions indicate, again using the line as a guide:
          LineOnIroningBoard3
      2. Sew together all the strips in pairs, making sure that selvedges are all at the same end. Place the top-most fabric on top of the other one and align the non-selvedge ends (as closely as possible). Sew from that end towards the selvedges (which may or may not be aligned). Press.
        Sewing to the right
        Pair1 pair2 Pair3 Pair4
         
        Pair5 Pair6 Pair7
      3. Sew together adjacent pairs of strips; align the non-selvedge ends, but sew from the selvedge end, that is sew in the opposite direction to the first set of strips. Press before doing more sewing!
        Sewing to the left
        Pair1 Pair3Pair4 Pair5Pair6 Pair7
      4. Repeat step 3 until all the strips have been sewn together.
        Sewing to the left
        Pair1pair2Pair3Pair4 Pair5Pair6Pair7
         
        Sewing to the left
        Pair1pair2Pair3Pair4Pair5Pair6Pair7
  • The strips you started out with will have been different lengths because different fabrics have different widths. So when sewing you need to take care that the strips are aligned to give at least 20.5″ overlap:
    Sewing