I started on a new project this past week. I loooove starting new projects! It’s only after I make the same block 20 times that I get sick of a project. This is one I’ve been wanting to try for a long time. It’s a Spider Web quilt that’s string pieced with scrap pieces. I still have tons of scrap pieces left over from the Rocky Road quilt I finished earlier this year so it’s perfect. Here’s a picture of my organized scrap keeping system.
The pattern I’m using is from a book that I’ve had forever called “Scrap Quilts from the Depression” published by Oxmoor House. I got the book for another pattern called Kansas Sunflower that I made for my daughter (it only took me 14 years to finish that quilt) but I’ve been wanting to make this quilt as well. I looked around on the internet to find some other similar patterns and found that most patterns piece the quilt in such a way that you put a strip of background fabric in the middle of a triangle and then string piece the other two corners. In this way, you end up with pieces of two different spider webs. It’s a very efficient method of sewing but it looks like your quilt has half spider webs around the outside.
This pattern uses a triangle piece which all the strings are sewn onto and then a background triangle sewn to the top. Then all those pieces are sewn together for a complete 16 inch finished block.
The bad thing is that I have to trace the pattern onto paper to use as a foundation for the strings – 8 for each block. Then, of course, I have to rip that off at some point. The nice thing is that I can use light and dark fabric scraps. Also, I decided to use up some of my selvage pieces because I thought that would be a cool way to use them. Not sure if you can see in this picture that I used several selvage pieces.
The last string pieced project took me two years to finish because it does get a little tedious. Hopefully this one won’t take that long. I’m already imagining quilting it with a spider web design.
I really want to make something with my selvages! I refuse to do foundation piecing. I hate sewing through the paper and I hate tearing it off. Remember the Virginia Bound quilt? I think that’s where we met! I’m no further along. I was thinking I might do spool blocks with my selvages. I also saw a string pieced star that I liked made with square and half square triangle blocks. I would have to make 2 different sized string blocks – one for the squares and one 3/8″ larger for the HSTs, right?
I love seeing what you’re making.
Cheryl
Would you just sew the selvages together & cut to the right size instead of to a foundation piece? I honestly never even thought to use the selvedges until I went to a quilt show & saw a woman wearing a vest made from selvedges. I thought it was so cool.
There are so many selvedge quilts out there. I have so many projects though!