I May Have A Scrap Problem - But Here's a Neat Technique that Helps!

 

Hi, all!

I have been playing in scraps this week, and I like it!  I was looking for ideas for quilt tutorials for this year's series (coming up in a few weeks) and I saw a great pic of a totally scrappy quilt...

I went to the creator's website and verified that she didn't have her own pattern written for the quilt, then opened up EQ8 and did a mock-up of the quilt.  Lots and lots of 2.5" squares, which I definitely have, but oh my!  The time it would take to sew them all together.

And then I remembered a technique I posted about once for sewing true postage stamp blocks (made with 1.5" squares) in a fun and easy manner.  Why wouldn't it work for larger squares?  And so I gave it a try - and it works so much faster and easier than traditional piecing!  

What is it, you ask?  Well, here's a short and quick picture tutorial to show you...

The first thing I did was grab some sheerweight fusible interfacing out of my stash.  I took my squares for one block and laid them out, edge to edge but not overlapping, on the fuse side of the fusible interfacing.

After laying the squares out, I cut the excess interfacing away.

Then it's time to press - and I mean press, not iron.  Just set your iron on the squares, then pick it up and move it to an unpressed section.  I used a very hot iron with lots of steam.

When you've finished pressing, your block will look like this - thin lines between the squares.

Now take it to your sewing machine and fold it between two sets of squares.  It should fold easily.

Now sew that folded edge, a scant 1/4" from the edge.  Repeat for the second strips.

This is what your block will look like once you have stitched both lines.

Now grab a pair of small-bladed scissors (these are my Kai embroidery scissors, which I love!) and inserting the blade between the two pieces of fabric at one end ABOVE the line of stitching, cut the seam open.  Repeat for the second seam.

Press the seams open.  Go back to your sewing machine and repeat for the seams that run the other direction.  Cut those seams open as before.

Press the seams open.

And look at that!  A perfect block, with perfectly matched intersections, no pins required and no matching skills needed!  I made two of these blocks in about ten minutes, so it's much quicker than traditional piecing, too.  It makes sewing with 2.5" squares mindless and relaxing!

Have you been playing with your scraps?  Just think of all that "free" fabric waiting to be turned into quilts!

Hugs!

Sarah