Selvedge Blocks

Now that I'm all done making selvedge triangles, I needed a new project for all the fabric ends I've kept.  I liked the design of this bright scrappy string quilt and thought it might work well with selvedges.

Two things:  I wanted to make 8-inch blocks and I didn't want to sew on a foundation.  Shiplapped was so heavy and bulky to work with because there was so much fabric in every block.  I decided to make a template for the center wedge and sew the strings to that.

 

I've made templates before from scraps of plexiglass.  Google making acrylic templates and you can find a bunch of tutorials, including this one at Podunk Pretties.  This time I used a quilting ruler that had been given to me.  I found this ruler unusable, with a finger guard that got in the way and hard-to-read markings.  Repurposing it for a custom template would at least be useful!

Making the template turned out to be a whole project of its own.  My first attempt came out just what I wanted... until I cut my first pieces with it.  As I drew the first seam lines, I realized I had made the template to the finished size, forgetting to add a quarter inch to the sides.  Well, that stinks.

I traced it to paper, added a quarter inch to the three sides, and created a second template.  We'll give this a try when I get more black fabric.

What about the too-skinny template and the pieces I had already cut?  I shortened the template based on a six-inch finished block, then cut the fabric pieces to match.  I made four six-inch blocks, just to give it a try.  There are two more skinny black pieces - I may use them as-is, to see what blocks from them look like. 

It's been an interesting project so far, making the templates, sewing the blocks.  We'll see where it goes!

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