How to - strip piecing

By Spotlight

Strip piecing eliminates the need to work with small individual pieces of fabric and can save lots of time when making quilts with complex blocks. The basic machine technique involves cutting strips, stitching them together to form a strip set, cutting them into units which are stitched together into blocks. Successful strip piecing relies on accurately cut and joined strips.‘Bargello’ and ’Trip Around the World’ are just two quilt designs made easy by using the strip piecing method.

Final Result

Materials

• cotton fabrics
• rotary cutter
• cutting mat
• quilting ruler
• matching Gütermann 100% cotton thread
• sewing machine
• iron & ironing board
• scissors
• pins

Step 1

Cut the required number of strips in the desired width (cut strips across the width of the fabric). Pin first 2 strips together.

Step 2

Stitch first ¼” seam and press.

Step 3

Stitch the next strip in the opposite direction to prevent the set from distorting.

Step 4

Continue adding strips always stitching alternate rows in the opposite direction.