If you bought one of the Dancing Stars kits I want to share with you how I am planning my quilt. I've dyed the DS kits with wide backing fabric because I could get wider areas for each shade of the gradient. While that isn't as important for the pieced blocks, it will make a big difference on the side triangles.
For a refresher, here's the layout for the kit.
The quilt I am making for myself is a little different but you will get the idea. I needed a larger quilt to fit the bed that it's destined for. I also added some blank squares on the edges for a wide border and that means a few less star blocks.
First I mapped out some rows to mark how the gradient changes. Now this is a bit squidgy because the fabric isn't dyed in absolute stripes but I needed a way to make cutting the large piece of fabric a little easier.
The fabric is 108" long and about 95" wide.
To make it easier to see I changed the color of alternating sections. I have 11 sections for my quilt so I need 11 separate chunks of fabric from my large quilt back. Each section, aside from the top section, has 11 star blocks.
Here's basically how I cut my large piece of fabric. I first cut about 3" off the top and bottom and each side. I set those aside for the binding. Then I cut the remaining piece in equal strips. For my quilt it was 11 strips and each was 8.5" wide. Now it was all manageable!
I even numbered each strip as I cut it. That way I could make sure I kept up with everything while I cut the individual pieces. Tomorrow I'll talk about how I'm proceeding to cut and sew the quilt.
I love the details!
Posted by: Becky in VA | January 22, 2013 at 04:49 PM
cool!
Posted by: Deb Levy | January 22, 2013 at 05:46 PM
What an amazing design. It's going to be fabulous with your hand dyed fabric!
Posted by: Karol-Ann | January 24, 2013 at 07:43 PM