Here goes the first strip block.
Green and Navy strip block
This is roughly what I did...
Cut a strip approx 2.5-2.75 inches wide off each layer cake square. I used a quilting ruler and mat to make sure I was getting this approximate width, but then purposefully cut the line a bit wonky alongside the ruler edge.
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ruler used as a guide for width, but not to actually cut the fabric |
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cut fabric showing wonky-ness of the cut |
I cut 7 different fabric strips from a selection of the green fabrics with some navy and white fabrics thrown in for highlights and contrast.
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cut strips overlaid to give an idea of how they will look together |
The next step was to roughly cut each strip into 3 or 4 smaller rectangles, and then begin playing around to get a layout of about 5 lines to start with. This layout seemed to work as a starting point. Don't forget that once sewn the overall size will be quite a bit smaller given the number of seams.
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layout before sewing strips together |
Get out the sewing machine and sew the small rectangles together to form 5 strips. I still used a 1/4inch seam, but again, not too fussed if the sewn line was a little wonky or if angles weren't straight - this is what I wanted, improvising! Then press seams.
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little rectangles sewn together into 5 strips |
Lay out the strips on a cutting mat (not pictured) to recheck if you need to add more rectangles to each strip, or more strips to get the finished block size you are after.
I was happy with what I had, but had some skinny bits of fabrics so pieced together & added a skinny line 3 rows down. Then the next step was to sew each strip to the next and press. Again, I purposefully stitched these rows together on a bit of an angle and with a bit of 'wonk'.
Later...After sewing up the other coloured blocks (that I will blog about later) & beginning to play around with an overall design for the quilt I decided to add another strip.
Don't do the next step until you have finished all your floating blocks & have worked out the sizes you want for each block. This picture shows measuring and lining up the quilting ruler to square up the final block.