Friday, January 10, 2014

The Process of Quilting

Do you ever stop and think about how you like to go about making your project? Are you a dibs and dabs piecer, a follow the directions step by step sewer or a production line assembly worker?

I shift back and forth between all of those methods but if I had to pick my most comfortable sewing style I'd have to pick dibs and dabs. When I started working on Road to Oklahoma over the weekend I really wanted to be a mix of the other 2 methods. My plan was to cut all the pieces I needed so I set up my old cutting table out in the family room so I could watch TV and stay warm by the fireplace.
I started cutting yellow 2.5" squares and by about half way my attention started wandering so I started playing around with my Easy Angle rulers and cutting darks and lights. Then I wanted to make sure I was cutting them correctly so I finished the blocks I had started years ago and made up a few more.

Next I pulled out my bins of 5" charms and 2.5" strips and started pulling more fabrics randomly. Pretty soon I was distracted by the pretty purple strips in this drawer and paging through my jelly roll books for ideas. Are you starting to get the picture?
By yesterday morning I had a handful of blocks, a scattering of cut pieces and a huge mess in our family room. And I was frustrated because obviously the assembly line was anything but!
As soon as I let go of my self imposed "plan" and thought about what WAS working everything started clicking. Here are my 2.5" strips on a tension rod ready for cutting. I do this when I am making string blocks to hang the pressed strings and it works great for strip projects too.

On the back of my quilting room door you can see my new scrap storage method - an old over the door shoe holder that I'm trying out. Anything less than a FQ and wider than a 2" strip are being kept here. I've started rolling up leftover bits of binding and putting them in the outer pocket. I love scrappy binding so this will remind me to use them up.
I used to periodically cut my scraps up (as you can see by my bins above) to join my swapped collections but I'm going to try this for 6 months or so and see how it works. If I find I'm not using them I'll go back to cutting them up.
I also pushed my cutting table down to make room for the ironing board. I'm finding with these blocks I get too mixed up unless I piece one at a time. I'm sewing ahead with the parts for my next block as leader/enders. Again, the assembly line concept was breaking down far too often.

Normally since our laundry room is just a walk across the family room I like to get up and move around by taking my chain of pieces to press. Placing it in here allows me to keep my eyes on all the parts, the block instructions and the blocks on the wall so I can stay better focused. I think I only needed Mr. Ripper once all afternoon!
I also found that my scant 1/4" foot is a little too scant for the Easy Angle triangles so I dug out this press on seam guide so I can stay consistent. It also really helps me to not drift off on the tail end and lose my seam allowance. And I'm using more pins than usual to really hit those star points - I'm pretty picky on blocks like this with lots of contrast. That's just me and I'm OK with it.
So... dibs and dabs is working! Cutting pieces as I go, picking 3 fabrics that look nice together, assembling one block at a time and most importantly enjoying the process. I made one of the border blocks just to try it out as you can see.  They go together very quickly... perhaps the assembly line method will work just fine for them.
I've got 15 star blocks done and 33 to go. I'm thinking I'd better get Warm 16 Patches assembled so I can make more room on my design wall.

What is your preferred method of working on a project? Leave a comment and let me know what works for you.

21 comments:

  1. You know me, just one at a time. I think with limited sewing time, I like to know I have time to complete a project. Love the green circle fabric, I have just been using it in my Celtic Solstice Quilt.

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  2. I made up a bunch of the Lori Holt design boards and arrange a block on each one and then power sew to get the stack done. Then back to laying out half a dozen more. It keeps me on track when I get interrupted.

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  3. wow lovely blocks -- it's going to be a wonderful quilt and basicly free. that's the best thing about scrappy quilts

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  4. I'm all over the place! I like chain piecing, but I always have to stop and make up some of the blocks to see how they look and make sure I'm doing things right :) And, yes, I'm easily distracted too :) Love your blocks - my colors!!!

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  5. I really like to do all of my cutting for a project and then lay things out so I can see how the pieces fit together. But if it's a block I've never done before, then I usually just cut enough for that one block to test out first. I do really well assembly line sewing smaller units for awhile, but then I get impatient and just have to go ahead and finish at least one block.

    I've been trying to stay more organized with my scraps too. Lots of strips, squares, and bricks are being cut as I finish up with things now. Your shoe holder is very clever for organizing scraps.

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  6. I'm also easily distracted. But once I get started chain piecing, I generally like to finish it. I have tried to organize my scraps, but usually don't get very far. I like your scrap holder idea.
    Also, your Road to Oklahoma quilt is going to be beautiful--yellow and blue are my favorite colors.

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  7. Very interesting post! To be honest, this ex-accountant prefers to start and finish one project at a time. You can imagine how aggravated I am with five quilts waiting to be quilted! But I am beginning to think I should change my approach as sometimes I lose steam on a project as I get bored with tedious repetition. I think I could adopt your approach!

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  8. One thing for sure, I'm not great on instructions! I could be an assembly line piecer but dibs and dabs also works for me. I never precut my scraps -- but since they are mostly off cuts from other people's project as well as my own, they're already pretty small. I just store them by colour which makes RSC easier! The project I'm about to work on will be assembly line in that I am joining pre-made 6" blocks into 12" squares. I have already pinned the left and right blocks together and stacked all 24 pairs so I'll be able to chain piece all of them, then press all of them, then pin , then piece, then press!

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  9. I'm easily distracted too. I usually like to cut lots of pieces to do mindless sewing while watching TV. Then when I want to concentrate I can sew the blocks together. I still haven't decided on colors for my Road to Oklahoma. Maybe it will have to be a Kaffe quilt.

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  10. Deb, I think what I love most about stopping by your blog is you always have a variety of projects going on....and that makes me feel soooooo much better!!! LOL!!! It's nice to know I'm in good company! I

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  11. I like to precut and then do assembly line piecing. Seems to work best for me.

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  12. I'm glad you've found a way that works for you. I love how your quilt is turning out. The blues and yellows together look great.

    I'm mostly a one step at a time quilter. After a test block, I cut everything I'll need, then chain piece. That doesn't mean one project gets finished before another one starts though! And I simply cannot get the hang of leaders and enders. I start out with great intentions, then the next thing I know I've barrelled ahead with the "primary" project and forgotten to keep feeding those leaders and enders in between chains.

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  13. Well I'm rather lazy. I don't cut everything out first. I just cut enough to get started so I can see what it looks like ; )

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  14. I go nuts if I can't chain piece. I guess I like quick and easy quilts. I also usually work on one project at a time, but this month I am more scattered. At least my projects this month are all using the same fabric.

    Your quilt will be stunning and such a treasure. Also, I just saw that you won a prize on 2013 Lovely Year of Finishes. Congrats! You totally deserve it!

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  15. Assembly line for speed and easy things that are super scrappy. But in your dibs and dabs style when I want a more controlled look. Actually I will cut maybe 2 or 3 blocks out and chain piece those. Slower going but more accurate.
    I love your idea of a tension rod to hold cut strips! This would be perfect especially for a bargello style project. Thanks.

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  16. I am having the same issue with focus. I start working on one project and pretty soon I have 10 things laying about the sewing room. I love the tension rod idea. I have several spots I could put those around my studio. I almost always sew 2 projects at once. I use one project at full steam ahead and the other as leader ender. I am finding I get a lot more done if I use old UFOs as the leader enders. I have been sewing the blocks together in pairs and so on.

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  17. Honestly, it all depends on my mood! I do like to have a bunch of pieces all cut and ready to sew without thinking when I have a few minutes here and there. The more time I have, the more I tend to flit from project to project.

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  18. I'm with you on the dibs and dabs. Some days my attention span is longer than others and I can just sit and chain stitch or iron for hours, but usually I love to see some progress as blocks start to show up on the wall one at a time. I want to enjoy the process, not just worry about getting things done.

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  19. I like to cut out the entire quilt and then piece the blocks in parts before piecing the whole block. I tend to work on a project until I get a step completed and then move on, depending on what needs to be done.

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  20. I like assembly line. I always make up one block first to see what it looks like, then cut it all out then assembly line piece it. Of course, that doesn't work with scrappy or designs that need to be laid out completely first (like the current plus quilt I'm working on 😕 ). Maybe that's why these sorts of quilts strain my brain so much!

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