Got strips? I do. And it is time to use up all those 2 1/2 " strips and pieces that fill 3 shoe boxes in my closet. My de-stash project will be a scrappy braid quilt, where anything goes, or at least almost anything. So if you want to sew along, I will be giving details and explaining how to put a scrappy braid quilt together.
I love scrap quilts, but there does need to be some sort of order or plan to make it successful. So I plan on working in colorways and blending by value. A simple braid ends up appearing complex, because it is "on point" or diagonal when finished. Yet it is very easy to sew and it "grows" in length quickly.
This is a snapshot from EQ5 of a "block" done in a simple braid, so you can see the easy construction. It is kind of like a log cabin--you just keep adding to one side instead of going around the center. The braid will not be done in blocks but in one long strip. And you have a zigzag edge to it that will be trimmed when the strip is finished.
Rather than re-invent the wheel or construction wheel, I guess it would be.....visit Bonnie Hunter at quiltville because she has a great tutorial on the pioneer braid construction.
So how do I plan and figure out how much fabric I need? Decide on the size I want to end up with....a lap size of 50 " by 60 " is what I usually aim for. In general, that size will require about 3 yards of fabric....so I think I have that in the 3 shoe boxes of strips.
The math: I am working with 2 1/2 inch strips .....remember to subtract the seam allowance. Finished at 2 inch works out to be----- 2 times 1.414 equals 2.8 inch diagonal measurement. (Note* refer to the photo above to see how the strips end up on the diagonal). Each strip in the braid will give me a diagonal length of 2.8 inches. I want a length of about 60 inches. Divide 60 by 2.8 and get 21.4. YUK! Don't like those fractions. So I will work with 20 strips for each braid and should finish up about 56 inch in length for the braid. That will give me room for adding a border.
So how wide will each braid strip be? That depends on me! I plan on using a separator strip of black---2 " that will finish at 1 1/2 " ---between each braid. I want an odd number of braids---design principle that odd is better than even. That means 5 or 7.....using 5 braids runs and a 1.5 inch strip between each one, the braids would need to be 7 inches wide to get the width. If I make 7 braid runs (again with a 1.5 inch strip between them), the braid width will be narrower, probably 5" or 6" which will be good for using smaller strip lengths.
So here's a mock up I created in EQ5 using 5 braid runs to give a better idea of what all those words and math figures meant.
Got questions? Ask them.
Got strips? Get them out.
I am going to check my stash and see what I have to work with.
Then I will explain how I will sort them and get ready to sew.
Here's a signature creator that I ran across last week for bloggers. Just thought I would share.
Happy stitching.....
4 comments:
The computer pattern looks gorgeous. Looking forward to the tutorial and the final result.
I would love to see how the paper pattern relates to fabric. It looks wonderful.
All I can say is WOW! I sure hope your quilt turns out just like this ,I love it !
Maybe I will try one for next year .
I really like this braid!! I've always wanted to do one, but get squeamish about the bias. I love how youe explained the math! I may just have to ride your coattails on this one!! :-D
Blessings,
Mary Lou
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