Striped strips anyone?
July 25, 2012
The chevron mania is still at its peak, and recently I have been drawn to recreate this graphic pattern in other ways. What better to create a zigzag pattern than a basic striped fabric?
(Maureen Cracknell Handmade's take on chevrons using Indie collection by Pat Bravo)
At AGF we always like to include geometrical and linear prints in our collections. I grabbed some of the striped designs from the Sugar, Poetica, and Bespoken Collections, and started playing around with the angle and position of the fabric to come up with this block tutorial.
It is clearly not a defined chevron design, but rather a party of stripes and color. I had an initial concept of cutting the majority of the fabrics at 45º angles (biased), but the more I saw the lines, the more I loved their “natural” way, and I think that the simplicity of perpendicular lines transformed into something fun and dynamic (not to mention that it also saves more fabric for future projects).
This tutorial makes a 10" x 10” block.
CUTTING DIRECTIONS
You can mix and match with striped fabrics that you already own, but for this block I used:
1. 1” x 10” strip of Apricot Crepe from the Pure Elements Collection
1. 2” x 10” strip of Spirited Verse Candy from the Poetica Collection (cross-grain)
1. 2 ½” x 10” strip of Spirited Verse Azure from the Poetica Collection (straight-grain)
1. 2 ½” x 3 ¾” strip of Stitchery Citrus from the Bespoken Collection (bias)
1. 2 ½” x 4” strip of Stitchery Aqua from the Bespoken Collection (bias)
1. 2 ½” x 2 ¾” rectangle of Festival Fuchsia from the Pure Elements Collection
1. 3 ½” x 10” strip of Honey Ribbons from the Sugar Collections (straight-grain)
1. 1 3/8” x 10” strip of Mauvelous from the Pure Elements collection.
To make this block (1/4” seam allowance):
Lay out your pieces before you start sewing in the way they would look at the end. I find it helpful to work from this layout as I sew- it will be far less likely to get your pieces mixed up.
Now you can proceed to attach the two biased pieces to the Festival Fuchsia rectangle. To create a more interesting visual effect, arrange them as though the lines will cross (if you were to make a whole quilt this will give it that subtle but oh-so-wonderful chevron effect from a distance). This will be the center panel:
Now that you have only vertical piecing, you can begin from left to right with the Apricot Crepe strip, and then attach the remaining five strips.
Make sure to press open each seam after you sew.
Here is the finished block on the design wall.
I created the quilt digitally to see what it would look like. I love the playfulness of the stripes, and the subtle chevron. It could be a perfect match for a children’s room (switch all stripes to neutral colors and it will be a great modern quilt for a boy’s room!).
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please share your line-party quilt creations as everyone at AGF would love to see them!
Rock & Sew!
<3 Laura