A little tip to start a new year

I have recently had the opportunity to create a Frank Lloyd Wright quilt for a client.  I really struggled with the thin black strips wanting to stretch a bit and distort, this added quite a bit of time to my task as I had to rip and resew many times. I finally came to a system which really helped in my struggle and I thought it would be a great tip to pass along.

First, I chose to cut my strips the length of salvage, as oppose to salvage to salvage.  I did this by measuring the fabric to the longest piece I would have to cut, I hate to waste fabric. I also was aware that I would likely use all of the piece I had cut. I then folded the fabric edge to edge and not salvage to salvage.   I did this for each strip I cut from every fabric color in the quilt.

Second, I decided that I needed it stabilized a bit more.  Can you say spray starch?  That’s right I used a sizing agent on each piece of fabric, and then on each segment after it was together. This not only helped in stretching and distortion, but it also gave the quilt a crisp look.  Now that my problem was solved I couldn’t help but yell a yipee and share this tip with you.  Hope you try it.