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Monday, March 14, 2016

Bargello QAL - Assembly Begins

Ready to sew your Bargello?

Last week, we talked about the fabric requirements for the Baby B and the Queen B.  You've got your 2 1/2'' strips and they have been living on your design wall.


The bargello assembly for the QAL is broken into two posts to give everyone the time they need to get things done:


  • sew together those strips, make a tube & press [today's post]
  • cut into new strips, rip out specific seams (according to the pattern) & sew back together [next week]


How about that?  Use of a seam ripper is actually part of the process.
Before going any further, just a few words on organization and bargello sewing tips.


Keep track of the order of the fabric in the bargello - use a clothespin labeled with a sharpie to secure the strips before sewing.


Line up fabrics to give contrast between neighboring pieces. Make sure your first fabric (#1) and your last are very different to avoid becoming confused during assembly

Use a small stitch length when you sew these strips to avoid some seam pops at the edges. Sew your seams together with a CONSISTENT seam allowance - 1/4''.  Consistent is really the key part so your seams will nest properly.

Don't worry about aligning edges - you'll trim later.
Got all that?

  1. Stay organized.  Keep track of the order that you are sewing your strips and stay consistent.
  2. Your first fabric (#1) should be very different from your last color/print strip to avoid confusion later. 
  3. Use small stitch length (ex: 1.4) to avoid seam pops and stay consistent on your on seam allowance.
  4. Don't worry (be happy) about aligning those edges.  We'll trim this up next week.


Ready?

Now let's get sewing.

For the Baby B, bring your fabrics 1 through 8 to the sewing machine and sew together your strip set.  Make two (2) strip sets.  Each strip set should measure (roughly) 21'' wide and 16 1/2'' tall.


 Press the seams towards your #1 fabric in one strip set and away from the #1 fabric in the other strip set.  (Red is my #1 fabric.)   (Close up photo of pressing.)
Then make a tube - instructions continued below.
    
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For the Queen B,  bring your fabrics 1 through 18 to the sewing machine and sew together your strip set.

Make three (3) of these strip sets.  Each strip set should measure (roughly) 21'' wide and 36 1/2'' tall.
Cut one (1) of these strip sets in half yielding two (2) pieces that are (roughly) 10'' wide and 36 1/2'' tall.  You'll now have two groups (1 fat and 1 skinny) of strip sets.  Press towards the #1 fabric for one set and press away from the #1 fabric for the second set.  In these diagrams, red is my #1 fabric.  (Close up photo of pressing.)

Then make a tube - instructions continue below.
    
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Don't they look pretty?


Once you've assembled your strip set, fold your strip set in half, right side together.  Your #1 fabric should align nicely with your last fabric.

Since there are an even number of strips (18 in the Queen B and 8 in the Baby B), the strip set will just fold naturally over on the stitching.  Do not try to align the sides - just fold in half and pin to make sure the #1 fabric and the bottom background strip doesn't shift during sewing.



You'll end up with a tube as shown in the photo below.   Make a tube for each of your strip sets.

bargello quilt along strip set

Then chill until next week's instructions!


In summary, here are the steps:

Baby B:


  1. Lay your 2 1/2'' strips on a design wall or a table in the order you want to them to appear in the quilt.  Pay particular attention to your top and the strip right before the background fabric to make sure they don't look anything alike.  (You'll thank me later!)
  2. Using a clothespin or label, mark each of the strips with the numbers 1 through 5
  3. Sew the strips together following your order and including the 3 background strips.  Use a consistent 1/4'' seam allowance and a small stitch length to prevent seam pops.
  4. Make two (2) of these strip sets. Each strip set should measure (roughly) 21'' wide and 16 1/2'' tall.  Press the seams towards your #1 fabric in one set and away from the #1 fabric in the other.   (Close up photo of pressing.)
  5. With each strip set, make a tube by carefully folding in half (right side together) and pin the #1 fabric to the bottom background fabric.  




Queen B:

  1. Lay your 2 1/2'' strips on a design wall or a table in the order you want to them to appear in the quilt.  Pay particular attention to your top and the strip right before the background fabric to make sure they don't look anything alike.  (You'll thank me later!)
  2. Using a clothespin or label, mark each of the strips with the numbers 1 through 11
  3. Sew the strips together following your order and including the background strips.  Use a consistent 1/4'' seam allowance and a small stitch length to prevent seam pops.
  4. Make three (3) of these strip sets.  Each strip set should measure (roughly) 21'' wide and 36 1/2'' tall.
  5. Cut one (1) of these in half yielding two (2) pieces that are (roughly) 10'' wide and 36 1/2'' tall.  You'll now have two groups (1 fat strip set and 1 skinny strip set) of strip sets.
  6. For one group (i.e. the set of 1 fat & 1 skinny), press the seams towards your #1 fabric.  Press away from the #1 fabric in the other.   (Close up photo of pressing.)
  7. With each strip set, make a tube by carefully folding in half (right side together) and pin the #1 fabric to the bottom background fabric.  You'll have four tubes - two fat and two skinny.


Next week, we'll talk about the actually assembly of your bargello quilt top - the magic of this process.

What is the magic?  It is the math behind the next set of strips you will cut from the tube - the width of the strip and where you rip the seam.

bargello qal strip set


Enjoy getting these strips sets together.

Instagram your progress with #elmstreetquilts and #bargello as our social tags.



Join the new Elm Street Quilts QAL Facebook group and share your progress!  It is going to be a lot of fun to see how everyone is doing!.


My thanks to the wonderful people at American Made Brand for sponsoring this Bargello QAL.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

2 comments:

  1. Can´t wait to begin sewing all the strips.Thanks for the tutorial.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, this will be a fun project.

    ReplyDelete

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