Chain piecing is a method of speed piecing where segments of fabric are fed into the sewing machine one after the other without stopping to cut the threads. This produces a chain of sewn segments that are then cut apart and pressed.
Here are the steps to accomplish the chain piecing technique:
The needle plate, sometimes called the throat plate, covers the area near the needle. There are 2 commonly used needle plates: the zig zag plate, shown above, and the straight stitch plate shown below. In this article you will learn about the differences in these plates and why you might want to have both of them on hand.
NOTE: In October 2017 I posted this one minute video on using scraps from pre-cut strips. Since that time I have probably made 5 or 6 more of these. That's a lot of scraps.
Here is the finished quilt!
If you need a quilt that's easy, fast and fun to make, the Strip Pieced Diagonal Beginner quilt is for you. I found this easy strip piecing pattern a few years back when I was looking for easy quilts to make for Veterans.
Using just three fabrics and strip piecing, you will love how quickly this quilt comes together.
Here it is guys. Amazon Star designed by Quiltworx.com. It finishes at 104" x 104". I have never made a quilt this big. My daughter, Diane, wanted a duvet cover for a king size bed. So I offered to make one for her. This is a picture of the finished quilt top taken by China at Sew Special Quilts in Katy Texas, where I purchased the fabrics.
I have seen plenty of paper piecing patterns with spikes and star points. Paper piecing makes these points nice and sharp at the seam allowance. Even with the precision of paper piecing, we can sometimes end up with cut off points when piecing the units together.
What can we do to prevent ever cutting off our points? The answer is paper piecing floating points. Floating points mean the points do not end at the seam allowance. Instead, the points end in the interior of the unit.
The floating points for these spikes will never be cut off because the points don't end at the seam lines for the unit.
Strip piecing is a technique using strips of fabric sewn together in parallel rows. The parallel rows are called strip sets. Cut the strip set into segments called units. Sew the units into the quilt top. This strip piecing tutorial shows you how.
Strips are cut in various widths from selvage to selvage. Using this method cuts down on the time it takes to cut and sew units together.
Traditionally string quilts are pieced using a foundation of lightweight muslin or newspapers. In old quilts you often see the newspapers still inside. A string quilt uses long scraps of fabric. You can use scraps of any color or use coordinating colors for your quilt.
For my Quilts of Valor I use scraps of blue and red with a single white or tan fabric on the diagonal. I place the blue fabrics on one side of the diagonal and the red fabrics on the other side. This creates a look that is similar to the log cabin block. Where log cabin blocks have a light and a dark side, this block has a red and a blue side.
The Lone Star block is a classic design. It is traditionally made by piecing rows and rows of diamond shaped fabrics into larger diamond shapes. Piecing these diamond shapes, with all the bias edges, is often difficult to do, especially for beginner quilters. Instead of cutting fabric into diamonds, this workshop shows you how to use fabric strips. This free mini workshop shows you step by step how to make a Lone Star block. The following techniques will be demonstrated and explained:
My friend, Jackie Theriot, owner of Black Cat Creations, suggested an article on how to fold and store a quilt without getting creases in it over time. This is something that has always concerned me. Generally, most of my quilts are given away or donated to causes. But the ones I will always keep are simply folded and placed on a shelf. They do have creases in them but Jackie has inspired me to look into this problem and find a solution. Here is what I found.
Happy quilting!
Carol
This article was originally posted in July of 2018 on my old website.
Mitered corners look great on quilts. Many quilters shy away from sewing them because it seems complicated. Break it down to these 5 simple steps and get the results you want every time.
A star block with perfect points made from squares
I saw this technique at a retreat sometime in 2015. These star blocks are easy to cut, easy to piece and make beautiful quilts. The block is made from 2-1/2" squares and 3-1/2" squares.
Revised February 17, 2021
Changed number of units needed to complete quilt.
Last weekend I cut the fabrics for this quilt block. This is the sample I made before cutting all the fabric pieces with my AccuQuilt.
The churn dash quilt block is an old favorite. It's a 9-patch block, meaning there are 9 units of construction. There are four half square triangle units, four rail fence units and one plain block unit. In this article you will learn how to piece a 12" finished churn dash quilt block. Look at the end of this article for other finished block sizes. There is a link to instructions to make a Churn Dash Quilt approximately 66" x 80" finished. For these instructions you can use scraps or two fat quarters of contrasting fabrics. Two fat quarters will make two blocks.
This article describes how a lockstitch is made. Most standard sewing machines produce the lockstitch.
Lockstitch - a sewing machine stitch formed by the looping together of two threads one on each side of the material being sewn. -- Merriam-Webster
This video was produced by Threads Magazine and published to YouTube on March 11, 2015.
This block is part of the Texas Edition Block of the Month program.
This block is part of the Texas Edition Block of the Month program.
This block is part of the Texas Edition Block of the Month program.
This block is part of the Texas Edition Block of the Month program.
This block of the month program was done in 2019. The pictures are for inspiration. The patterns can be purchased from the designer, Tana Mueller, on her website Designs By Tana.
The first four blocks have lessons on how to make the raw edge applique blocks. There are links to them in this article.
This short video introduces the program.
Here is a video I made in January 2020 showing how to make this quilt. It's just equilateral triangles!
This weekend I started cutting my next scrap quilt I'm calling Scrap Garden. I've never been good at coming up with clever names for quilts but it's a scrap quilt and I'm making plans for a garden so Scrap Garden works for me.
The quilt is made from two classic blocks:
In July of 2019, after a subscriber asked me about the lining, I added a video I found that explained the lining a little better. It is included later in the tutorial.
The Bear Paw quilt block is a classic. This block looks great when set on point as well as in straight sets. This tutorial shows how easy it is to make the Bear Paw quilt block using triangle papers. First lets look at some Bear Paw quilt blocks in quilts. These pictures come from the QuiltNotesLLC board on Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/quiltnotesllc/bear-paw-quilt-block/
This method used Triangles On A Roll brand of triangle papers.
A chart at the end of this article shows the fabric cutting requirements for various sizes of finished blocks.
FEBRUARY 16TH, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CST
BE THE FIRST TO SEE WHATS NEW FROM ACCUQUILT!
Don't miss the excitement as the first new dies of the year are revealed! These are special, limited edition dies you won't want to miss, along with inspiring new patterns and project ideas!
There's sure to be a special offer, too, so plan to join Pam and Erica for all the news! Register now to join the fun and qualify to win great prizes during the event.
Note: I originally published this post in 2017. At that time I was either attending sorkshops to become a Certified Quiltworx Instructor, or I was already certified. I can't remember when that was. It is not 2021 and some things may have changed but I think this should give you a good understanding about how the papers are used.
Quiltmakers often choose cotton quilting fabric. New quiltmakers should understand some fabric terminology. In this article we explore 5 fabric terms. Learning these terms helps avoid frustrating and costly mistakes.
First we look at a bolt. A bolt is a cardboard tube or flat plank. Fabric manufacturers roll long lengths of fabric onto the bolt to sell to stores and other manufacturers. The 16 second video below is from Hoffman Fabrics. It shows fabric loading
These four scrap quilts were all made using the same process of cutting scraps as I finish projects. Sometimes I just cut scraps for the fun of it. Most of the quilts I make are about 60" x 80".
This 60 second video shows the process I used for all these quilts.
