Making String Blocks out of Scraps.

stream blocks are so fun to make and there's many many ways to make them my preferred method is this one I take a 10 inch foundation and it's not exactly 10 inches it's just really close to that I get a center string that is going to be consistent throughout my quilt because I like how that keeps the strings being happy and I press them the way you just watched me I flip them back and forth as I press and then I find little friends to go with them and I start sewing and right sides together the center string is facing up and the rest of the strings the whole time you sew will be facing down these foundations are made out of flannel so they keep acting like a flannel board and messing up the string Under them you can see that one to the right of me oh I lied left of me so anyway you get the strings you sew them um and you just keep going and I do 24 at a time because that's how many locks it takes for me to make a baby quilt this is how I cut them apart when I've got 24 done put them in my lap put them up and press them open so as I press them open I make sure to press that seam really carefully all the way open so it doesn't have a fold in it find the next string that is just the right size just check it on each side to make sure it's going to work press and go so I sew I sew a whole section of a whole bunch of them and then I press them all and then here I go this is later after I've sewn some and I just find it trim it clip it these are leftover strings from other projects they're in my black and white box of scraps pressing press open now this is fun because you get to decide if you're going to finish it off yep it works so yeah that'll be that'll be perfect sometimes I trim it I had sometimes I wait till after I sew it to trim there isn't a right way you just get to do what you want it's really freeing when I'm at the corner as you'll see I often check to make sure that it's going to cover the rest of the corner and so off I go so so so I find it really therapeutic because it's kind of brainless after you get learning how to do this and do it enough which I've made these blocks so many times it's one of my favorite go-to's then you just can do it whether you're tired or you just want to not think hard because it just it just works so well and they all turn out so differently depending on the color scheme that you choose I love the part where you trim the blocks you trim them you flip them you trim the other side and they come to life they just turn into beautiful things from a mess of fabric so watch this you do it you trim it I should have held it up for you look it's gorgeous so this is my favorite part of the process is trimming the blocks I just love doing it and I take a nine and a half inch square ruler I trim two sides I flip it over and do the rest and here I'm just showing you a different set of blocks these were with a blue Center and here's a pink Center so I have I've done eight sets that I'm putting up here to show you so this is a beige with really soft colors this is white and black and pink gorgeous they all turned out gorgeous and I'll give you a still picture at the end so that you can see them but this was Just Me sewing strings because they're so happy and they're so fun when you lay them out there's so many different patterns and designs you can put them in I'm going to put them into squares this time so I just try to make sure that nothing's annoying me it's not even that things can't touch they can as long as it doesn't annoy me so it's hard to tell you because what annoys me might not annoy you there really isn't a right and a wrong but I like to lay them out and I like to see and put the blacks and whites where I want them and just see if anything bugs my brain so that's what I'm doing here I'm pondering okay do I want that do I want this look how those two above me are together I decided no no no and because it bugged me so I trade blocks in and out and transform around and decide where they go and I always do this on the floor because I've done it on design walls before but I prefer it on the floor so I guess I'm still young enough to do that as I move things around and get them set then the the rows line up four blocks by six blocks and that's 24 blocks total so you need 24 centers when you do this and I cut mine at two and a half inches so some people do two inches but I like two and a half those are my number blocks I go from bottom to top one two three four five six that way I never have to think again I have a piece of Dyslexia that gets me really confused and I know a million Quilters out there would be like why don't you just pick them up and do them well because if I do I get them confused so I pin them so that I never ever ever have to think again and the truth is I can do three or four tops and have them sitting there pinned and I never have to worry that I don't know what I'm doing because they're pinned so here I am sewing them together and I do cheat a little I do a little bit bigger than a quarter inch seam on these just because I find that I'm sure to catch everything I also so at a two instead of a two and a half for size on my machine because I just want them all held really well together and I've quilted these for other people who've done them and it makes me crazy when something's come apart or something so I'm always really really sure to make sure to catch everything make sure it's lined up make sure it sews well because I want these quilts to last for a long long time here I am one two make sure the bigger numbers on top when you sew them together this is just showing me pressing the seams open which is kind of fun to do I press seams to the side in my real life but when I do heart strings I press them open because it's so thick it just works better so I press all the seams open every time I do a a string quilt like this which there's a group online called heartstrings and that is who got me started on making string blocks like these I do bigger centers than they do and I love to just change up the colors and make them all different I like to make boy quilts obviously boy quilts and obviously girl quilts some people do kitchen sink where they do anything goes any strings go any color goes and those turn out really nice too I prefer to control my colors I want to bust them around I want to decide what is allowed in each individual quilt because for me it just feels more peaceful to my brain and it's always all about how my brain feels so here I am just pressing some more it a hottest iron you can go this is all cotton so nothing's going to melt and off you go sewing now if you'll watch I hold the seams as I get to the seams you'll watch so my finger's always on it it's because I have them lined up I line them up and then sew towards them and then I make sure they're lined up with my finger and that's just how I do it so watch I put the theme together that's what I do and then I start sewing and this time I didn't cut the back off yet because I didn't want to here I go cutting it off putting it down getting it all so it's lined up so I can match seams again hold them watch my fingers hold that seam that whole time then I set it down and I keep my finger on it because I don't want it to shift or move I want them to be lined up and if they're a little off it probably wouldn't matter with this quilt but the better lined up they are the better it works out so just how to do it it's just what I do I like to press as I go because I don't like pressing all at once at the end and ta-da one two three four five six my rows are there it's Beauty it looks so great you know black and white is really good for children there's some kind of psychology study so I love doing black and white with color in the middle and I especially like it if it has some kind of motif on it this has cars for boys it's on Teal my borders for this quilt I made them two and a half inches oftentimes I will make them two and a half inches or three inches because I take a little bit more than a quarter inch seam there's room to do three inches and still be able to use just a regular piece of fabric for the backing press those open I don't know if you know how to do this but there's tutorials all over you just line them up and sew so that they're on a on a diagonal and I like how that looks and I like how it it works into the quilt so I often do it that way okay this is me getting ready to put the borders on and the quilt police will tell you that you're supposed to measure and do all this stuff well this works I take it I've I've pressed it out I didn't show you that part but I did right here you lay it out you do it you press it and then you put the top on and you press it yeah see I did it I was worried I might forget but nope press it put it on press it the other thing that I do in this is I pin it after I press it and I do pin if I'm going to do both sides in real life when I'm not just doing it to show you I sometimes will gather it up in my fingers and not pin because um I'm lazy because it works I don't know because it it's fine to do if you're good at that but if you pin it it just keeps it where it should be and I haven't had it be a problem I haven't had wavy borders it all quilts out beautifully this is how I do borders so if I press them ahead and make sure I'm not stretching anything it works so don't call the quilt police on me but that's how I do it and it works every time sewing sewing sewing I'm almost to the end it gets really exciting when you when you're at the border phase because you know you're really almost have a flimsy and you really almost can pull it off and look at it and see it done and the next step that'll make it beautiful of course is to quilt it then bind it but this is a really fun stage because then you can just go start on some new project whatever you have next in your heart in your mind is a good idea okay pressing it open again you do not want any folds in the Press so make sure to open it really far clear this is a stay press I always press over my seam and then I fold it and press it open it just presses better that way trimming make sure your angle is right and it's correct this can really mess up a quilt if you don't have the square so Square it up really carefully pressing and putting the last border on and here's proof that it'll fit on on one piece of fabric because I don't have to put any seams in this piece pinning it on getting it ready last two borders and then we will have a finished heartstring quilt Mary Johnson is in charge of the heartstring group online and it is a fun little group we have a uh I don't even know what they're called it's an i o group now and we should chat with each other and talk about what what we're quilting and mostly it's for making charity quilts or Comfort quilt so Some people prefer to call them and it's a really lovely little group okay getting ready to lay it out here I'm just straightening it out for the beauty camera view isn't that fun this just makes me want to go make another one I love string blocks and I love these heart string blocks on foundations some people think they're too heavy I love them I hope you get your strings out and decide what you want to do and have so much fun stay Merry and creative

Channel: MerryMabelMarket

Views: 403,798

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Id: 5eKewtMLf1c

Length: 13min 3sec (783 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 20 2023