|
|
|
Blue Indigo
Strip Piecing for Nine-Patches
For a large number of nine-patch units such as in this quilt, you may want to try a technique called strip piecing. Begin by cutting your blue and white fabrics into strips of the same width as the A patches given in the pattern, 1 1/2" (do not cut the individual A patches). The strips can be cut from any width of fabric, although cutting the full width of your fabric is most efficient.
Sew white strips of fabric on both sides of a blue strip for Band A (Fig. 1). Your fabric bands will be more even if you alternately stitch from opposite ends as you add fabric strips. Sew strips of blue on both sides of a white strip for Band B (Fig. 2). You will need to make twice as many Band A's as Band B's.
With a permanent marker or a long piece of drafting tape, mark a straight line on your ironing board cover. Using this line as a guide, gently press the bands so that the seam allowances are under the darker fabrics. Use a dry iron and take care not to stretch the bands.
Align the bands with the marked lines on your cutting mat and using an acrylic ruler and a rotary cutter, slice the fabric into 1 1/2"-wide segments (Fig. 3). Once you have cut the bands, stitch A slices to both sides of a B slice to make a nine-patch unit. If you've cut, sewn, and pressed accurately, you will notice that the seams will meet with the allowances going in opposite directions. Make 5 nine-patch units alike for each double nine-patch block.
|
