When (and When Not to) Strip

Okay, before anyone reads too much into the blog topic, let me assure you that it’s a G-rated, family-friendly blog.  While strip or stripping or stripped may be a verb in most languages, for quilters it can be a verb or an adjective, as in I plan to strip this quilt, or Where did I put those strip units?

For quilters, stripping means sewing sections of fabric together and then subcutting them into block units.  I am a long-time fan of this method for reasons I’ll get into in just a bit.  I’ve been quilting for almost 40 years, and I was introduced to this technique early on in my career.  As I began research for this blog, I wanted to find out what blocks could use this technique, what is the best way to prepare your strip units, and  how do precuts fit into strip piecing?  However my first burning questions were who came up with this technique and how long has it been used? 

Who Developed Strip Piecing?  How Long Has It Been Used in Quilting?

According to the International Quilt Museum, the strip piecing technique was developed in the early Seventies by engineer-turned-quilter Ernest Haight.  He receives credit for this method because he was the first to publish directions on how to implement it.  As an engineer, Haight wanted the most efficient and accurate design process.  He tried out lots of different ideas, but once he developed strip piecing, he knew this was a keeper.  The process was extremely accurate and easy enough for even a beginning quilter to grasp.  He also realized that most of the new quilters (who were drawn back to quilting via the US Bicentennial in 1976) were not being taught to quilt by their mothers or grandmothers.  Because of this, Haight wrote books to teach quilters new construction methods.  But was he really the first quilter to use strip piecing? 

We may never know for sure, but we do know that he was the quilter which popularized the technique.

What is Strip Piecing? Can It Be Used with All Quilt Blocks?

Strip piecing is a quilting technique that involves sewing long strips of fabric together to create a pieced strip set, which is then cut into smaller units.  This technique cuts sewing and cutting time in half, so quilts which look like this:

Aren’t as daunting as they would be if you had to cut each square out individually and then sew them all together, one at a time. 

Strip piecing can’t be used with all quilt blocks, but those which have squares, rectangles, or other types of quadrilaterals are fair game.  So blocks such as

Rail Fence

Nine Patch

Four Patch

Some Pinwheels

Irish Chain

And Lone Star

Can employ strip piecing well.

Precuts and Strip Piecing

Precuts are wonderful fabric additions to the quilting world.  While they average slightly more in price than yardage, the cutting process is done for you.  You simply take it home and begin sewing.  There are so many different precuts:  Jelly rolls, layer cakes, charm squares, honey buns, fat quarters, crackers…so many types and so many sizes.  For the purpose of strip piecing, we will concentrate on two types of precuts – jelly rolls and honey buns.  Jelly rolls are probably the best known, and they log in at the popular 2 ½-inch size.  Honey buns (also called Sashing Strips) are 1 ½-inch wide.  Both kinds can be used for strip piecing.

These strips come rolled up like this:

Many times the edges are pinked and sometimes there are a lot of loose threads on the outside of the roll.  I’ve found it’s a good idea to take my Jelly Roll or Honey Bun outside with a lint roller.  After I take the wrapping off, I run the lint roller over the fabric several times.  This helps keep all those loose threads off the floor in my quilt studio.  Once this is complete I open the roll up and measure a strip from peak to peak.

Sometimes this measurement is the 2 ½ (for the Jelly Roll) or 1 ½-inch (for the Honey Bun) measurement.  If it is, you know the peaks are the part of the fabric you need to have lined up with your ¼-inch mark or the phalange on your quilting foot.  If the measurement from peak to peak is greater than 2 ½ or 1 ½-inches, then you know the valley must be at the ¼-inch mark.  This is important to know because in order for your strip set to come out at the exact needed size, the ¼-inch seam allowance must be precise.  Keeping the seam allowance consistent and accurate assures the sub-cut units will all be the same, consistent size – which is important if you’re mixing these sub-cut units with other sub-cut units.

Let me also add this tidbit.  For the most part – the majority of the time – the Jelly Roll and Honey Bun precuts are great.  However, the measurement can vary from roll to roll and manufacturer to manufacturer.  So just because a Maywood roll maybe 2 ½-inches at the peak, a Fig Tree roll maybe 2 ½-inches at the valley.  Sometimes even if you have two rolls from the same manufacturer, the measurements can vary.  Always measure one strip width from each roll just to be sure.

Sewing the Strips Together

Sewing these strips together can be nearly mindless.  It’s a great thing to do while watching a movie.  However, it’s not completely mindless.  Yes, this is a great quilty thing to do at the end of a long day or a long week when you don’t have the mental energy to put into anything more complicated, but it’s super important to keep a consistent quarter inch seam.  I really recommend using a seam guide or a ¼-inch quilting foot for this.  Along with this thought, you may want to consider that speed may not be your best friend.  The faster you sew, the easier it is for the 1/4-inch seam allowance to wobble and not be consistent.  A steady speed with a steady hand can produce yards of stripped units, accurately sewn, waiting to be sub-cut into block units. 

The last aspect to consider is the sewing directions.  You want to alternate how the seams are sewn.  For instance, if you sew the first seam from the top to the bottom, you want to sew the next seam from the bottom to the top.  This keeps the fabric strip unit from bowing.  And bowed stripped units cannot be accurately sub-cut. 

There are two schools of thought about pressing these fabric units.  Some quilters press after each seam is sewn, pressing towards the darker fabric.  If a third or more strip is added, the seam is pressed after each addition, to the dark side, so the seams will nest.  Some quilters wait until all the seams are complete and then press the strip unit.   This is really a personal preference thing.  I press after each seam, simply because I think it’s easier to get the tip of iron down one strip at a time. 

Cutting the strips into block units isn’t a whole lot different from cutting any other block unit.  However, because these are pieced units, there is more bulk.  I don’t tend to stack my stripped units on top of each other and cut multiple layers.  I don’t think the cutting is accurate this way, because the bulk of the seams can cause a rotary cutter to wobble a bit.  I cut one strip unit at the time. 

Cutting Your Own Fabric for Strip Sets

Chances are you won’t be able to use a Jelly Roll or Honey Bun to make all of your strip sets.  You’ll have to cut your own fabric.  And in many ways, slicing and dicing your own fabric is better than using precuts.  It’s more economical and you can even vary the strip widths (which can be super creative and we’ll get to that at the end of this blog)  Cutting fabric for strip sets is no different from cutting fabric for any other block unit.  Accuracy is key.  The first step is to square up your fabric.

If you’ve read my series on squaring up, you know that even though fabric manufacturers try to be as careful as they can be, sometimes the fabric is rolled onto the cardboard bolt a bit off-kilter.  This means when you fold the fabric in half on the crosswise grain (the way it comes off the bolt) so the selvedges meet, the sides look a little wonky – like below.

Once I have my selvedges even, I pin them together across the selvedges and take the pieces of fabric to my ironing board.  Often the fabric will need to be re-pressed across the fabric fold.  If this step is skipped, you’ll have a V-shaped cut fabric strips instead of straight ones.  Once this is done,  cut off a strip to even up the sides of the fabric, and then proceed to cut your strips the desired width.  Lay the fabric on the mat with the folded side at the edge of the mat closest to you, making sure it is straight and rotary cut across the width of the fabric. Be aware you may have to even up selvedges from time to time, as they may slip out of alignment.   Personally, I find it’s easier to work with smaller “chunks” of fabric for this than a lot of yardage. 

Why I Like Strip Piecing

I like strip piecing for three reasons.  First it’s fast.  If you can strip piece block units, you have seriously saved yourself some time.  I can’t imagine making a Nine-Patch or Postage Stamp quilt without stripping it.  It would take so much time. 

The second reason I like strip piecing is because it’s accurate.  Again, let’s think about the Postage Stamp quilt above.  Think about all those tiny one-inch squares.  Now think about cutting each one out individually.  Not only would it take a great deal of time, but you’ve upped the chances of inaccurate cutting enormously.  With strip piecing, you’re cutting out strips, sewing the strips together, and then cutting out the block units. 

The third reason I like strip piecing is, besides being fast and accurate, it allows for a great deal of creativity.  If you think about it, when you’re strip piecing, you’re actually making another piece of fabric out of several individual pieces of fabric.  This means, if your stripped piece is big enough, you could cut any shape out of it and use it in the quilt.  You take strip units and sub cut them into squares to use in the center of star blocks.

My favorite way to use strip piecing (besides block units) is triangles.  Those fabric strips just add a bit of sparkle to plain old triangles, especially setting triangles for an on-point quilt. Make your stripped units large enough and then cut per normal for your side and corner triangles.

And don’t forget you’re not limited to squares and rectangles with strip piecing.  Use the angle lines on your ruler to cut out strip pieced diamonds. 

Diamond units are much, much easier to make this way than individually diamonds and then sewing them together.

I hope this blog has shown you how wonderful this technique is.  It’s accurate, quick, easy, fun, and can be so very creative.  The next time you begin a new quilt, take a long look at the blocks and see where you can use this quilting method.  Even if the pattern doesn’t call for it, you can still employ strip piecing in construction.  Remember, directions are a great guide, but they’re not the Ten Commandments.  Make your quilt your way to reflect you.

Until Next Week, From My Studio to Yours,

Love and Stiches,

Sherri and Felix