Tuesday, 16 September 2008

'Double your blocks' - A (silly little) Tutorial

I was trying to explain to a friend the other day how I intended to 'double' my string blocks, but I don't think that I was making myself verbaly very clear so here are a few pictures to explain what I mean - I'm sure this is all very obvious, been seen before etc etc, but humour me :-)

So here you have a pile of string blocks, but not enough for your project...
(These were won from Kate when she was having all her fab giveaways - Thanks Kate.)



Measure them. These were 8". So I cut an 8" square of plain fabric...



Draw a line along the diagonal. Here I have drawn the stitching lines too, but you don't need to. Just draw the diagonal and



lay it on top of your string square. I laid it in such a way as to halve the strings exactly.




Stitch a quarter inch on either side.



Cut on your diagonal line to get your 2 pieces...



Iron towards the solid fabric. And Voila! Double the amount of blocks you started with! Admittedly they will be slightly smaller - The blocks now measure 7.5"



Quick, easy and only a little bit silly ;-)

14 comments:

Kristie said...

That is such a wonderful idea! I had never thought of that before!
Kristie

dutchcomfort said...

wow, thanks for the tutorial! Now I know what doubling blocks is! I’ve made lots for the starblocks quilt-a-long. Now just figuring out what colour to add!!

Totally love the quilt you received from Kate!

Fran said...

For a beginner like me, that was actually one of the most helpful tutorials I've come across! Thanks.
Fran

Unknown said...

This is a great idea.

Toni said...

What a great way to extend your blocks out!! Great tutorial!!

Brenda said...

The string blocks alone were pretty, but splitting them makes them stand out in such a magnificent way. Thanks for the tutorial, you did a great job!

Sarah said...

Excellent KA excellent!

Unknown said...

Quick, easy and also a lot more user friendly - putting a complimentary HST on the other side of half a string block makes it far more useable - just string blocks can be a bit busy for me - great tutorial!

Anonymous said...

Not silly at all! What a great tip for doubling up the blocks...very clever! That's one I'll have to remember!

Mistea said...

I have come here for the first time today and am impressed by all the beautiful things that you have made or are working on. The bag swap surprise was obviously a good one... Enjoy.

Linda said...

Not a silly tutorial - a great one! Always love easy tutorials that include pictures! Great job! Can't wait to try it out!
Thank you!
Linda

Lynda said...

As the proud owner of all sorts of donated Linus blocks (and there are NEVER enough to make a quilt top from them!) this is a great idea! Even doubling a couple of blocks will make some blocks for the corners......Hmm. thanks for that!

Ruth's Place said...

Great idea. It's going to be fabulous.

Rose Marie said...

Now, that is a good tip and one that I will be using!