Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Modern Irish {Scrappy} Bee Blocks: July

I did warn you that it is going to be a bee-block filled week, did I not?  Next up are bee blocks from July made for Fiona R.  She is a girl after my own heart asking for scrappy string blocks for her month.  I love quilts made from scrappy strings but never want to go to the effort of doing all of that cutting and piecing myself.  It makes for a perfect bee block, then, doesn't it?


Fiona asked that we use this tutorial to make eight 6 1/2 inch blocks.  As a personal twist, Fiona asked that we incorporate a selvage strip in the center diagonal.  Now, I have a pile of selvages that I save up and give away to selvage-loving friends when I see them, but I do not generally incorporate them into blocks that I make.  That was a whole new adventure for me.


I had only a few selvage strips that were long enough to go into the center, but I did find a few others I could incorporate into the edges for a bit of fun.  I found that if I sewed them in using a traditional 1/4 inch seam, I would loose the fun text or color dots that really are what Fiona wants.  So, instead I tucked the next scrappy strip under the selvage, placed the selvage on top and sewed 1/4 inch on top of the selvage strip itself.  It won't fray, clearly, as that's the one job a selvage strip does have.


Should I have done it differently?  Any hints for incorporating a selvage without loosing it's personality?

Fiona, I hope you like them!  They were good fun to make.

9 comments:

Linda Coleman said...

You used grest colours Cindy

Anonymous said...

Hi Cindy! Looks fantastic! I collect selvages and this is great way to use them, as I don't have so much to make whole blocks with them. Some 'selvage' sewers I follow use the same method as you did. I need to make some strip blocks, too! x Teje

Lynz said...

I used some selvage strips funnily enough in my own string bee quilt and this is how I used them. It worked beautifully on yours - they are lovely blocks!!

Sarah said...

I have often wondered about how to sew with selvedges. Your plan seems the most sensible to me. Great blocks!

Havplenty said...

Love the string blocks. i am making my way through about 80 of them now in an effort to reduce scraps. Right.

There are several online tutorials on sewing selvage blocks and a whole blog dedicated to it. It is basically done the way you sewed them.

http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog/quilting-general/how-to-sew-a-selvage-quilt-block/

tushay3(at)yahoo(dot)com

Ruth said...

Wish I thought of that! Hopefully Fi will forgive me and I'll get it right like you next time!

Unknown said...

Gorgeous blocks! Thanks for sharing!

Missy Shay said...

I really like them, what a fun idea to add the selvages. I always throw mine away, if the cats don't get to them first. They love playing with them!

Archie The Wonder Dog said...

Gorgeous blocks!

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