New Year, Refining A New Quickie String Block Technique!

Happy New Year!!!

This morning I  decided one of my New Year Resolutions was to make a concerted effort to sew from my stash of fabrics and to completely EMPTY my string bin! 

I like to switch over to quilting mode once the weather changes (as you might have guessed from my last post) and so I’ve pulled out all of my quilting projects as well as my scrap bins and string bins.  There are many ways to make string blocks and most of the techniques I know about use a foundation to help stabilize the block as you sew.  The foundations are either fabric or paper but after experimenting with the following technique a couple of years ago I decided to use my STRING BLOCKS IN A JIFFY technique this morning to help me with this goal!

Here’s how it works…

Pull out strings from the bin that are the same length.  Here, below, I like to use those strings that are selvage to selvage, you know, the ones that you get when you straighten up the edges before you start rotary cutting measured strips.  These are always wonky but they work just great for this technique.

Next I’ll take two strings and press them flat and sew two edges right sides together…  

After this first pass I’ll then match up another set and sew those right sides together…

Continuing this technique until I’ve sewn all my strings together to measure about 18 inches or so in width…

I press this flat as best I can and then start cutting out my string squares…

For this example I’m working on 6″ string squares.  This was the size of the squares I finished with when I was sewing the 16 patch blocks combined with the hour glass blocks in my last post, so I’m maintaining a size consistency on these strings to see what I can come up with.  I don’t have any definite plans yet for these but I have some options now by cutting them this size!

I continue through the entire piece and after the first pass I have cut 8 blocks, several starter block triangles and a pile of starter crumbs..

I match up 4 of these larger triangles to give me 2 more 6″ blocks for a total of 10 BLOCKS!  All this in a matter of 30 minutes!  This was a great start to the New Year!

I hope your New Year kicks off to an equally fantastic start!

Happy New Year!

~Cathy