Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Rail Fence

 
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The Rail Fence is a very simple block
that you can use to make a quick quilt.
It also has many ways to put it
together to make a variety of patterns.


Fabric Requirements:

Fabric A, B, C and D
1 - 2" x 28" strip of each fabric




Strip piece the 4 strips together by
sewing together along the long edge
of the strip.  There are 2 things to
remember when doing this, check
your fabric placement before sewing.
And, the most important hint:
When strip piecing you should always
start your seam from the opposite side
of your previous seam.  I leave the
beginning thread tails on when I
strip piece to show me where I started.
This will give you a very tight and
straight strip set.  If you were to sew
all the seams by starting on the same
side, your piece would bow and arc
and you will not be able to cut it easily.


Once you have sewn all your strips
together, square off one end and then
cut 4 - 6 1/2" squares from the strip set.


The way you layout your squares
will determine the pattern of your
quilt.  Here are a couple of options, if you
lay them out as shown above you get:


A quilt that looks like this.


If you lay them out like this,


you get this quilt.


Decide which way you want to
layout your squares and then
sew together in 2 rows, press
the seam in row 1 to the right
and the seam in row 2 to the left.


Sew rows together and press final
seam open to reduce bulk.
Square to 12 1/2".

3 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for your pattern, I'm making it and it looks beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Karla,
      You are very welcome. Please send me a photo when you finish the quilt! ellen.americanhomestead@gmail.com
      ~Ellen

      Delete
  2. I'm still in the planning stage to make my first quilt, so reading your hint about starting at the end opposite of the previous seam is very valuable to me. This is the first time I've been told about that. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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