U/D - Pastel Brights - Set #1 done -

 

 

OK - 

 

I was going to show you how I sorted the strips for SETS #5-6-7-8 - 

 

But I sat down to sew a couple of strata - 

 

And before I knew it - 

 

I had the first set of blocks - 

 

For my Upstairs/Downstairs - Pastel Brights sewn - 

 

And then I thought that this post could be an "all-in-one" tutorial - 

On how I make these -

Except for the layout - that will come later - 

Because I can't show you that until I finish making ALL of the blocks - LOL -

 

Anyway - to backtrack a little - 

 

I pulled out SET #1 from its baggie - 

(Sorted yesterday on THIS post) -

 

Strips for TWO strata - 

 

Five strips in each strata - 

 

Same order - identical strata - 

Enough for SIX identical blocks - 

 

And laid them out on my ironing board - 

 

Since I will be sewing BOTH strata at the same time - 

 

In order - both BLUE - both YELLOW - both GREEN - both PURPLE - both PINK -  

Linda - Art in Search -  is going to use BLUE as her "main diagonal" -

So hers are in order already -

 

I'm going to use YELLOW as my "main diagonal" - 

 

So I moved the BLUE one to the other side on the right -  

That way - the colors are still in the same order as hers - 

 

Linda will be joining her strata - in her order - this way -

 

I'll be joining mine this way - 

 

And will be showing you "my way" - 

 

Now - because I have BOTH strips - for BOTH strata -

 

I can sew the GREEN ones to the YELLOW ones - 

 

And the BLUE ones to the PINK ones - 

 

Chain-piecing - one right after the other - 

 

 

Then I can clip off the YELLOW/GREEN ones - 

 

And add the PURPLE ones - 

 

 

Then - by that time - I can clip off the PINK/BLUE ones - 

 

And add them to the YELLOW/GREEN/PURPLE ones - 

 

 

And I have BOTH strata sewn at the same time - 

 

 

PRESSING - IMPORTANT -

 

Press the MIDDLE strip OUT - 

 

And the END ones OUT -  

 

Label BOTH of the strata with the same label as the baggie - 

 

Until you decide to cut them - 

 

 

I sewed and pressed SET #1 and SET #2 - 

 

 

And then decided to go ahead and cut SET #1 for this post - 

 

So I laid out both strata on my die cutter - 

And staggered them a bit - 

And sub-cut them into 2-1/2" segments - 

 

 

And laid those out on my ironing board - 

 

Five piles of SIX - for SIX identical blocks - 

 

 

Some people like to sew the strata into "tubes" first - 

 

And THEN cut them - 

 

But I find that my accuracy is much better if I cut them FIRST - 

 

The trade-off then - is that I have to sew them into "tubes" individually - 

 

But I don't find that to be a problem - 

 

It's easy - mindless - and I'm more accurate on shorter seams anyway - LOL - 

 

SO - 

 

The first SIX are already the way I want them - 

 

So they stay put - 

 

 

The other 24 were taken to the sewing machine - 

 

And sewn into "tubes" - 

 

 

Chain-piecing - one right after the other - 

 

 

And - I won a game of "bobbin chicken" - LOL - 

 

I ran out of thread right after I sewed this one - 

 

 

Anyway - all of the tubes were sewn - 

 

 

And clipped apart - 

 

And  put into four piles of SIX - for the SIX blocks - 

 

 

Each tube was separated at the spot needed for the "stair-step" effect - 

 

Like a "Trip Around The World" block - 

 

 

Once I found the "correct" spot - 

 

 

I adjusted the other tubes to correspond - 

 

And "chain-un-sewed" them - at the same spot -

 

 

And un-sewed the rest of the tubes the same way - 

 

 

One thing that I find interesting - 

 

Is that I am NOT locked into - 

 

Having the YELLOW as my "main diagonal" at this point - 

 

I can easily make BLUE the "main diagonal" - 

 

By moving the YELLOW one to the last one on the right - 

 

 

Or move the BLUE one over and make the PINK one the "main" - 

 

 

Or move the PINK one over and make the PURPLE one the "main" - 

 

 

Or move the PURPLE one over and make the GREEN one the "main" - 

 

Or move the GREEN one over and make the YELLOW the "main diagonal" again -

 

Anyway - before we sew these together - 

We need to PRESS them -

 

IMPORTANT - 

The YELLOW or MAIN DIAGONAL gets pressed OUT - 

 

In Column #1 - 3 - 5 - 

The patches at the TOP - MIDDLE - BOTTOM are pressed OUT - 

 

In Column #2 - 4 - 

The SECOND and FOURTH patches are pressed OUT -  

This helps the seams nest when we get to sewing the blocks together - 

 

Now I sew the block together - 

 

The same way I sewed the strata together - 

 

The first two get sewn together - 

The last two get sewn together - 

 

 

Then the third one gets sewn to the first two - 

 

 

And - finally - 

 

The last two get sewn to the first three - 

 

 And you have your block - 

Times SIX -

 

The blocks gets pressed like so - 

 

The SECOND and FOURTH columns get pressed OUT - 

 

 

 

SIX blocks - 

 

 

I put the label back on the stack of blocks - 

 

 

And put the stack on my cookie sheet - 

 

Where it can wait for its friends -

 

Tomorrow I'll show you and Linda - 

How I sorted the strips for SETS #5-6-7-8 - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -