Chevrons

Next part of Mom's quilt:  chevron pieces.  Yeah, these took a bit longer than I anticipated.  Once again I got the dimensions all mixed up.  Luckily I caught it before I cut my first piece.  But I was so confused I had to cut it out on paper pieces before I got it straightened out.  Whew!

I cut a few pieces, sewed them together and got a feel for the assembly before I started cutting fabric in bulk.  Even then, I only cut the blue and brown, sewed all them together before cutting the straw colored fabric.  Again, a few test pieces and viola!  Looked like good chevrons.  I went to town churning out the rest of the 124 pieces.

Top: Chevron pieces front, back, split
Bottom: an accidental cut, ironed pieces, finished chevron

The piecing instructions I found were interesting.  It kept the top and bottom triangles as squares to sew them, then cut them apart after stitching.  I'm not sure how time-saving it was (or if it helped with accuracy), but it did cut down the number of little fabric pieces floating around. 

I had a few mishaps while splitting them apart.  Occasionally the square piece underneath would flop under the center where I cut.  I lopped off a couple of triangles; I had to rip out and replace. 

I often don't bother clipping off dogears or squaring pieces before assembly.  But since these blocks have so many subsections I've been taking the time to square off the 3½" pieces.  I'm happy that they've been mostly true (and the right size); I haven't had to do any big fixes and only little bits of trimmings.  I'm hoping that cleaning up each little square will help when it comes time to stitch the blocks together.

What a pile!  Pinwheels are up next.