The Violet QAL Week 2 - Cutting Fabrics A, B, and C
Yay! We are finally getting started with those fabrics that you meticulously picked out for your quilt. Cutting fabric can be a little bit scary if you are a new quilter, but this quilt only uses squares and rectangles so there is nothing to be afraid of.
Before we get started, a few people have asked if they can make the center part of the plus shapes out of a single strip of fabric (instead of 3 squares). Yes, you can piece it that way, but when I wrote the pattern I decided against this method for a couple of reasons.
- There are not many seams to line up in this quilt and using 3 squares helps keep everything straight. It may not seem like it will make a big difference, but it does.
- Since we need seams to sew the squares onto the top and bottom of the plus shape anyway, I prefer the more symmetrical look of also having seams for the side pieces.
If you have planned out your quilt using the coloring sheet, you can figure out exactly how many squares you need from each fabric before starting. Because I never mind a few extra scraps, I just cut as many squares as I can from each fat quarter because this gives me flexibility later. Even if I plan things out ahead of time, I am like to change my mind.
The rainbow version lists the exact number of squares for each color so that makes it a little more simple for you!
When cutting fabric, I always like to cut a WOF (width of fabric) strip first and then sub-cut pieces from the strip. This helps keep everything straight, improves accuracy, and uses fabric more efficiently.
Once you have cut your WOF strips, you can sub-cut the squares for your quilt.
Cutting for Fabrics A, B, and C for this quilt is very simple because it's just squares and they are even almost all the same size.
Below there are a couple of videos about cutting fabric that you might find helpful. Remember there is always more than one way to do things and you just need to find what works for you - if you have a completely different method and it is working, that is great!
- Squaring up your fabric
- Cutting WOF Strips (this one is me! I made this video for the Tessa QAL)