Oh Rita, do keep going! Your red and white version looks amazing already. Just picture it hanging among all the other gorgeous red and white quilts in the "Infinite Variety" quilt show that was held in New York. It will be a work of art!

Rita, I think your sashings look really good. Love the colors.

Well shucks! Rita, I had decided to replace the month 2 sashings with more of the month one sashings because I didn't like the way the stripes were different colors at each end, but I LUV your scrappy version! Back to the drawing board for me!

Here is where I am now. These little triangle units are slow to do - about 1/2 an hour for each long strip. It gets very boring and I am wondering if I will have the patience to stick at it. So far I have only completed one long and one short sash. I put everything I had done so far up on the design wall to try and encourage myself to keep going. All the bigger pieces still have the papers on the back so they aren't hanging straight. I think it's going to be okay. Certainly no 'grey' areas on this quilt! I am conscious of wasting fabric though. I cut my pieces from 2" strips. I reckon if we did Pat and Sue's version there would be a lot less waste. I wish they had done a quick demo of their method. And Margo I am so grateful to you for the several different methods you have demo-ed for us. I have found the paper piecing the easiest to do.

Elaine53 wrote:
Elaine, that is my experience exactly. I cut my strips at 2 inches, and cut just a smidge outside the template on the sides. It seems to result in a shape that is forgiving as far as placement, but not wasteful.

Hurray for "old math teachers"!

In a perfect world, we should only need to cut the exact shape plus a scant 1/4" on each side.

However most paper-piecing techniques call for much larger fabric pieces that are applied willy-nilly then trimmed to fit.
Because they are not paying attention to how the pieces are aligned before they are sewn, there is little to no control over grain lines and there is usually a lot of waste.

This is why I don't think you need a 3/8" seam allowance. If you cut strips shorter than 2", you might want them. I don't know that answer.

Elaine

I'm a new quilter, but an old math teacher! LOL

IMHO you don't need 3/8 seam allowance if you cut 2" strips. I'm cutting a lot of fabric away to get a 1/4 seam allowance before I sew.

THANK YOU ELAINE!! I'm impressed!! I just want everyone to know that Elaine is a brand new quilter!!



(And I'm sorry that this info was not available in the instructions from Sue and Pat!)

Hang on, Everyone! This may be a little long winded, but some of you may want to see where I got my numbers. If not, just go to the bottom and see how many strips and how much fabric you'll need.

I've done some calculations....(someone feel free to double check this!)

First I calculated how many triangles we needed for the orange.
I counted the half triangles as whole triangles since they used almost as much fabric...and to make the math easy.
Each short sash used 2 sides with 9 triangles or 18.
4 short sashes @18 triangles is 72.
Each long sash uses 2 sides with 17 triangles or 34.
4 long sashes @ 34 triangles is 136.
72+136 = 208 orange triangles. (Including the 1/2 triangles)

So now we know how many orange triangles we need, let's see how many we can get from 1 strip.

Cutting #1 ( really I just used my disappearing marker.)

I cut generous 1/4" seams (just outside the line) on my template.
I cut a very generous 1/2 triangle template.
I used the templates and a wash away marker to see how many triangles I could get from a strip.
I got 4 generous 1/2 triangles and 30 triangles. So I can get 34 triangles from a strip. (Counting half triangles as whole to make it easy.)
208 / 34 = 6.2 strips so you'll need to cut 7 strips
4 half triangles times 7 strips is only 28 half triangles so you'll use part of your left over strip to cut 4 more half triangles.

Each sash uses 4 orange half triangles for 32 total. Remember I counted them as whole triangles just to make sure we had enough, but we only cut 4 from a strip.

Cutting #2

I used 3/8" seams and followed the same process.

I only got 26 whole triangles and 4 half triangles from a strip.
This means 208/30 gives 6.9 strips. You'll need 7 strips plus part of another to cut 4 more half triangles from. (I didn't do the math to see if you can get them from the 0.1 left of your strip. I'm into easy math.)

So you'll need 8 strips if you use 3/8 inch seam allowance.

It didn't change how many triangles I could get from a strip by changing the size of the strip, just by changing the seam allowance.

OK!!! Now you can see if you have enough fabric to cut 2" strips.
For 3/8" seam allowances, you'll need at least 16" x WOF. (8 strips)
For generous 1/4" seam allowances, you'll need 14" x WOF. (7 strips)

The green should be about the same or maybe a little less since you don't have to allow for all those half triangles.

If you want to wait until tomorrow, I'll do mine today and confirm these numbers.

Elaine

Elaine, please post your findings! I am SO bad at math that I don't dare take on that responsibility!

Since I ordered the kit and ENT want to run short of fabric, I'm going to do the math and calculate how many triangles on a stip to see if I can cut 2" strips. Thanks everyone for all your posts!

Thanks Susan & Connie . This is the info I needed. I'll let you know how it goes.

I tryed the quick strip paper piecing, but found the regular paper piecing method to be easier for me. I cut my strips 1 3/4" and it is working fine, but you definitely have to be particular as to how you lay your piece in place. I am chain piecing mine so I do eight at a time which makes it a little easier since I am laying the piece the same way eight time in a row. If you have enough fabric go with the 2" strip if it makes it less stressful for you.