Sunday, March 24, 2019

Strings, strings, glorious strings




Today we start a journey through some (no doubt) fabulous string quilt projects. My personal favourite string quilt shape is the diamond string. It is almost as simple as the regular or standard string quilt but has one little wrinkle. 

This is my wee diamond strings quilt. It is all quilted, labelled, washed and ready for donation. At approximately 30" x 40" it is relatively small but would be great for tucking around baby for a walk in the stroller.
To get started on this you need a foundation. I prefer some really thin cotton. Old sheets work well for this or some prefer muslin. I have not yet been converted to telephone book pages although I have tried them. 
For the diamond string your base shape is a rectangle. Mine for this project were 7" x 10". I have made doll sized ones using 5" x 7" (and downsized the centre string). Any size will do as long as it is  definitely a rectangle to start with.

The trick: Half of the starter strings must reach up to the right and half of them must reach up to the left. 
On these two backings you can see the drawn centre line for the string placement. One goes towards the top right and one goes towards the top left.

I just use the lines on my cutting mat to line things up. If I had used the rectangles in the diagram above with my white centre strings the pencil line would show through and you don't want that! My centre strings are 2" x 14" for this size. That gives overlap at each end. You can make your centre string a different width but it since it highlights the pattern so make it something a good size. Also note that the centre string should contrast with  the strings you are going to use.

Then you start stitching strings in place right sides together, using a 1/4" seam. I press after each added string. That stops me from sitting for hours in the same position and it makes the my work neater. Some people finger press.
When you have covered all of your foundation your block is ready to trim. The one on the left is what it looks like from the right side the one on the right is what it looks like from the wrong side. 

Once trimmed this is what the blocks look like. I try to make certain my centre string is centred when I am doing the trimming for each block.

Next step artfully arrange your blocks and stitch them together. At this stage I will often use a 3/8" or even a 1/2" seam and press it open because there is a lot of bulk if you press to one side.

To quilt these I follow the centre string. One a good day I would go on each side of the string and on the vertical and horizontal block lines. I hope this thumbnail sketch of how I do diamond string quilts answers most of your questions and that you will give them a try. Piecefully, Joanne

Please stop by the other bloggers who are on this fun Blog Hop to see what they have to offer. We all have strings lets get using them. 
Monday, March 25th










Karrin's Crazy World


Tuesday, March 26th









ShirleyC


Wednesday, March 27th








41 comments:

  1. One of my favorite designs for strings. Thank you for playing along in the All About Strings Blog Hop and thank you for the great tutorial.

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  2. I think the rectangle strings make more over all movement and flow.

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  3. Nice will have to give this a try. Ty for sharing. .. happyness04431@yahoo.com

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  4. Nice work. I love how many different patterns you can make from strings.

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  5. Beautiful quilt! Thanks for sharing these tips and instructions, I have lots of scraps and want to try this.

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  6. I love the diamond shape for this and that you used a white string in each block to give it unity and a calming effect.

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  7. Love this quilt! You have given me another great idea for getting rid of all my strings. I'm sure whomever gets this will love it. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. This is a beautiful quilt. Thank you for sharing your tips today. Much appreciated. quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

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  9. Thanks for the info. This is a very cute quilt!

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  10. Great tutorial! I learned "the trick" by trial and error (emphasis on the latter) when I made one of these. Love yours!

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  11. It's amazing what a difference there is between a square and a rectangle. Great looking quilt. Thanks for sharing your process.

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  12. Beautiful quilt, thanks for your tips!

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  13. I like the diagonal! thanks for the tute!!

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  14. Bright and beautiful! The white really defines it.

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  15. Such a great string quilt. I like the white throughout.

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  16. Very pretty! I keep seeing this pattern. Looks like a great must make fabric scrap buster!

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  17. Thanks for the tip, as I haven't tried the Rectangle Strings block. I feel certain that I would have messed them up. Thanks for sharing with the All About Strings Blog Hop!

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  18. I love the diamond shapes. Thanks for walking us through how to do them.

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  19. Really pretty. Thank you for the tutorial on making perfect strings.

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  20. I have been wanting to make a rectangular string quilt. Love yours.

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  21. I noticed you said you use your mat to line things up. I was wondering how you make sure your middle string is always in the same exact position every time? I absolutely love the colors you chose for your quilt.

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  22. Your quilt is wonderful and thank you for the 411 on how to actually make the diamond shape come out!

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  23. Your fabrics made this quilt so beautiful! Thanks for showing how you made it.

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  24. Beautiful quilt. Thank you for your tips.

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  25. I have never seen one done with a rectangular square before, and that is AMAZING!!! I am definitely going to make one myself. Love how yours turned out, so bright and whimsical.

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  26. That's beautiful! Thanks for the tutorial which I am pinning to try soon!

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  27. Great quilt. I like the design the centre white string makes.

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  28. Your quilt is so bright and cheery. I adore string quilts and yours' is a perfect example of why they are such great designs.

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  29. Eye catching diamond design with the string quilt.

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  30. What a wonderful little quilt!! Thanks for the how to.

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  31. SUCH A NEAT QUILT! THANKS FOR SHARING!

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  32. Thanks for sharing this bright and cheerful quilt. It just has spring written all over it.

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  33. Very pretty strings quilt. Love the diamond shape.

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  34. Ah, I will NEED to try the diamond shape!!! It looks so cool! xx

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  35. Beautiful and thanks for the tips.

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