Monday, December 10, 2012

4 patch methods

    I heard from a lot of you about the last post on reducing your usage on the Picasa Web Albums.....so I know many were busy the last couple of days resizing photos.  I have an album with 700 photos to resize, so yes, it takes a while but is worth the effort.  Hang in there!  One more hint.....while you are re-sizing photos, you can also add text for marking your photos in the Creative Kit online.  Most of my older photos are not marked, so I am taking the time to add my blog addy to them.

   Guess we all know how to make a basic 4 patch unit or block....cut 4 squares the same size, sew 2 together, then sew the 2 patch units together and you have a 4 patch.  Both the patterns I am working on call for 4 patch units, and I used different methods on both for each of them.  So I thought a little comparison would be good.
  First,  there's the  the mystery at Quiltville called Easy Street.  I know I said I would not do another mystery, but here I am in the midst of part 1.  I decided not to use gray, and  I chose a light blue.  Bonnie's preferred method of making 4 patch units calls for sewing the strips together, and matching the long strips in pairs before cutting  the 2 patch units.  Once cut they are already matched and just need to be joined and pressed.  She gives  excellent details and photos on her blog.
   Pros to this method....everything is matched up, and by working thru  the directions correctly the intersection seam does swirl and lie flat.
 
   Then there is the method  from Missouri Star Quilts that makes 4 patch units from pre-cuts or in my case
 5" squares.   It can also be adapted when working with jelly roll strips.      

   This technique worked perfect for this scrap quilt because I was concentrating on value rather than color.  I wanted 4 patch units  of light fabrics, and units of dark value fabrics.
  Rather than explain the whole technique, check the link above for the tutorial.  My photo shows the final cuts for the 4 patch units....all are different and very scrappy.  Perfect for this!
  Pros to this method.....quick,  working with large sections, produces very scrappy units, and you are not sewing small pieces together.

  I think there is a time and place for each method depending on what you are trying to achieve.  No cons to either method really.    I am about ready to put a block together for the scrap quilt....maybe tomorrow.  Happy stitching.

2 comments:

Ann Marie @ 16 Muddy Feet said...

I use Bonnie's way all the time. Never seen the other way before. But that would be great when you want to do scrappy scrappy. Thanks.

Lynne said...

I think I'd have to try both methods because just reading it hasn't made any sense to me. However, I admit to reading through a fog of having just returned to my real world and the pain of a toothache which is also affecting my jaw and my ear!

Thanks for sharing.

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