Tips for Strip Quilting

Strip Quilting is a construction technique where you start with sewing long strips of fabric together, side by side. These strips are cut to create smaller, already pieced units for your patchwork design. Some quilters find that this method saves time, but not if you struggle with it! Shannon is the first to admit that she finds this technique to be frustrating. If the strips are not straight to begin with, they will never turn out to be the correct size! Keeping that in mind, this blog post features tips to share and help you skip the struggle. 

The pattern we are using today is from the Easy Does It - 3 Yard Quilt Book. For the first step we made "Strip Assembly A" using the scarecrow print as the middle strip and two sunflower strips on top and bottom

First Tip:  Set your seams with the iron! It’s worth the few moments to press the seam and even out any bubbles or bumps.  

Second Tip: use the side of your iron, not the point, to iron the pieces flat. Alternatively, you can use a Point Turner / Seam Creaser! 

Third Tip: use a clapper to really flatten those strips. We carry a 7” Quilter’s Clapper and a 12” Tailor’s Clapper. The clapper is made of hardwood, which absorbs the steam and traps the heat inside of your fabric, instead of setting it free into the air of your sewing room. Use it to apply pressure directly after the heat of the iron and you’ll get truly crisp steams. 

For the second set of strips (the vertical strips) we have pinned the partially completed blocks down the side of the strip.

Follow the same procedures to attach the vertical strips! Set your seams with the iron, turn the seams and iron flat with the clapper, cut the strips between the blocks.

Sew the blocks together as rows and sew the rows together to make the quilt top!

Do you have a favorite tip for making your strip quilts? We’d love to see your projects and welcome you to tag us in your Birdsong Quilting projects on Facebook and Instagram!