Strip Sets and the Shape Cut Ruler

The pattern I chose for the Christmas quilt utilizes "strip sets" in the construction of the blocks. It's a great pattern for not-so-experienced quilters - you simply cut your fabric into strips, sew the long strips together, cut those strips into pieces (sets) and then sew those together. Without the need for any complicated techniques, you have several completed blocks. If you can manage to sew two strips of fabric together, you can make this quilt.

These directions for making the Nine Patch Block shows you what I'm talking about. A typical beginning quilt is the Rail Fence quilt, which is an exclusively strip set-constructed (or strip pieced) quilt.

The pattern I used - Harvest Patch - is constructed of strip sets that are off-set (at an angle) and then paired with triangles in the corners to create a square.

First, here is a sample of a strip set - and the piece cut from the strip:


Here you can see how each of the pieces cut from the strip had a cream triangle added to each end. At an angle, they create the block:

The two red fabrics were one strip set, the triple-green in the first photo was another, and the third strip set was the cream fabric with the green on either side.

One of my absolutely favorite tools is a cutting ruler called the Shape Cut Ruler by June Tailor. There are lots of other things you can do with these rulers, but if the only thing it ever did was make strip piecing so easy, it would still be worth it. Basically, it's a ruler that is a mat with slots at 1/2" or 1/4" intervals. When you lay it over your fabric, you slide your rotary cutter into each slot, cutting your fabric into strips.

What this really means is this: you have a long piece of fabric, and you need to cut it into six 3 1/2" pieces. You can lay the Shape Cut ruler over your fabric and cut all five of the pieces at once. (It's only an 18 inch ruler, so the sixth is done on its own.) You start with your rotary blade at "0" - then cut at the 3 1/2" mark, the 7" mark, 10 1/2" and 14" and 17 1/2" - and you have five of the six pieces you need. (Tip: until you get used to doing the math quickly, it's very helpful to write down the points where you'll need to cut.) In a very, very short amount of time, you've got all of your pieces - and you haven't had to move your fabric, so your edges should still be squared.

Here's what it did for cutting my border strips:




Just like that - five of the six border strips I needed from this fabric!