Connected Stripes - Week 3

As part of the Connected Stripes sew along I wanted to share one of my favorite design techniques, curves and stripes!

I love designing with stripes.  They can quickly communicate the mood and feeling of a design,e.g.  calming, energetic, chaotic.  They also, instantly add movement and interest to the design.

 

 

Stripes make their way into so many of my designs and so do curves.  Curve piecing can be intimidating and piecing curves and stripes together can seem seem too much for a first time curve sewer but much for curve piecing is no different than straight piecing, each seem is sewn one stitch at a time.

 

You can incorporate a printed stripe in your design, like the 1/2'' aqua stripe fabric in my
Clambake quilt shown above.  Finding the best or even perfect stripe for a project can be a satisfying treasure hunt and often will lead to even more breakthrough inspiration while designing.

 

Sometimes the perfect stripe isn't out there and in those cases making your own striped textile is a great option.  For my Banner Day quilt, above, I really wanted a hunter green and white stripe but couldn't find it anywhere and chose to piece my own stripes.  This is also a great way to custom quilt patterns with your own creative touch.

One of my favorite techniques is to mix curve piecing with improved sewn stripes.  I love how the free form stripes contrast with the smooth containment of an arc or curve.  In my Festoon quilt, above, I used black and white improved stripes to add a carefree feeling to design.

 

 

It's great that you can chain piece, sew stripes combos one after another without breaking or cutting the thread, stripe and improv stripes.  This makes the process of creating your own improv stripe textile more efficient, which gets you to the fun part of sewing curves quicker.

After piecing your stripes you can treat them just like any other printed fabric.  You can use a template to cut your curves either convex, pictured above, or concave units.  Just like with all directional fabrics you may need to fussy cut, or place your template to achieve a specific pattern orientation, the stripe fabric.  After all your striped units are cut you can then sew the convex and concave units together just as you would with a solid fabric.

Begin by finding the center of each unit by folding each unit along the curve and finger pressing a crease.  This is the same for and stripes, pieced or printed, units you may have.

Next pin along the curve making sure to line up the center creases first and placing your first pin in at the crease.  The only change I would encourage when working with stripes, especially stripes you have pieced, is to place a pin at each color change or stripe.  A good rule of thumb is the smaller the curve the more pins you will need.

When sewing your curve, go slowly and stitch slighting less than a quarter inch from the edge of the curve, resulting in a  scant quarter inch seam allowance, remembering to remove the pins as you go.  The important thing is to feel in control of the stitching and the fabric.  The more curve you sew the more quickly you will be able to go.  Starting out slow will help you make minor adjustments to the alignment of the curve and will give you smoother curves and straighter stripes in the end.

Whenever possible press your curves away from the pieced stripe unit.  If you are using a printed stripe you can press seams open but the best way to cut down on bulk is to press away from pieced stripes.  This will make your blocks lay flater and easier to sew together.

If you are making a quilt and after all your blocks at sewn together you will have a more dynamic design having used stripes and curve in the project.

For more details and fabulous curve and stripe projects, please forgive my shameless plug, my friend, Daisy, and I have written a book, Quilt Modern Curves & Bold Stripes, now available in my shop, quiltachusetts.com.  I hope these quick tips and tricks will inspire you an the Connected Stripe journey and encourage you to incorporate some curves into those stripe projects.

"And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.  And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.   And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness,  And the moon into blood,  Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord."

Joel 2:28-31