My First Quilt - Part 2 (Strip Piecing)

The pattern I chose for the quilt is quite possibly the simplest and most basic block pattern available.  In the world of quilting, common block patterns have names, and this one is "Rail Fence".  I also used the common technique called strip piecing.  In strip piecing, you sew long strips of different colored material together, then cut the strips to the proper size, turn them, and then sew the small pieces back together into larger blocks.  In this picture, you can see an example of the strip before it is cut.

Next, I cut the strip into 6.5" pieces.  Here is the same strip, cut down to size.

Finally, I turned the pieces, then sewed them together into my first block.

When sewing the strips, you don't need to reinforce the ends so that the stitches don't come out.  First of all, when you cut the strips, only the first and last piece would have that reinforcement.  More importantly, though, once all of the pieces are sewn back together, the seams intersect enough that they reinforce themselves to the point there is no danger of them coming apart.  Of course, if a lot of time passes  between sewing the strips and putting the blocks together, or you handle them a lot, they may start to unravel a bit.  Since I was in a hurry to get this done by the baby shower, I finished them quickly enough that I didn't have a problem.

Finally, I decided to be a model quilter and iron frequently.  Once I had the long strips put together, I ironed them so that the seam allowances laid nice and flat.  I also ironed them away from the lightest colored fabric, so the dark purple didn't show through the light yellow.

I'm not including a supplies needed on this post because my next post regarding the quilt will be dedicated to the supplies for the whole project.