Saturday, May 4, 2013

Decisions, decisions

For the pieced border I am planning for the HST quilt I need 76 units.  Of course I drew it out and chose it before giving any thought to how I would construct it.  It took a bit of thought, but I finally decided that paper piecing it was the way to go.

After figuring out how much fabric it would take and checking that I had enough of each colour, I cut out fabric and started piecing units.

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I made all of 8 units before my husband commented that the units look great but that paper piecing seems like an awful lot of work.  He was right, which made me start thinking again about the best way to make these.  This morning I pulled out some scrap strips and tried something else.

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This is two strip sets, sewn together right sides together along both long sides to make a tube. Cut a triangle with the base along one seam line making sure the tip doesn’t include the other seam line.  Open up the triangle and ta-da!

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This is a lot faster than paper piecing!  I’ll have to be a little more careful not to stretch things, since the squares’ sides are all bias edges and there is no paper to stabilize them.  There’s also waste, one triangle cut the opposite way between each one cut for the fabric order I need but those units can go in the orphan block bin and become something else at some later date.

The catch?  I’m not sure I have enough uncut fabric  left to switch methods now.  However I didn’t cut all the pieces I needed for the paper piecing so I may manage.  I’m off to measure some yardage and do a bit of math.

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5 comments:

  1. That's going to be a great border!

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  2. It's a fantastic looking border! I like the second method for making the squares. How clever!

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  3. You are very clever! I don't think I would ever think of that - and I think the border will be great. Good luck with your fabric - having enough, that is.

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  4. I like it! I hope you have enough fabric. (If I had any of those, they'd be in the mail this afternoon...)

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  5. Very pretty border and love your choice of color!

    Liri

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