DESIGN DECISIONS ON OH, MY STARS

 I am happily working away on Oh, My Stars!  This is a future class offering, most likely a 5 day Seminar Workshop. It has much to teach about the skills of piecing a quilt: the CUTTING, the SEWING, and the PRESSING. 

The design wall today:

Only 3 more Full Stars to make, and those fabrics are selected and cut into strips. It only takes 5 fabrics for each star so it's not hard to choose them. I repeat some of my favorites for continuity across the quilt and to USE UP some of this stash--a novel concept for some:

All four QUARTER STARS are done for the corners, as are all eight HALF STARS for the perimeters. That can be the most challenging: which blocks to complete and which to make as quarters and halves.

 I decided I didn't want any two FULL STARS to be exactly alike so I used fat quarters and worked each star in two parts. First I made a FULL STAR  from 5 fabrics. Then I either made HALF or QUARTERS with the rest of the fabric OR I shuffled the fabrics around, replacing a few with other fabrics, to have FULL STARS that are similar but not the same.

The biggest decision so far has been what fabric to use for the SASHING--the one that joins the small 4" stars. Here were the contenders:

I went with the bottom one, a very rich dark purple solid. After I cut a bunch of those rectangles and made two sashing sections, I could see it on the design wall:

Guess what? I didn't like it. The purple is just TOO DARK. So I made another sashing section, using the soft gold Dit Dots fabric--I LOVE Dit Dots! Here you can see both, the dark sashing on the right, the lighter one on the left. My decision was made, the soft gold is the winner:

There are only a few more decisions to make. The pattern shows 12 half TINY STARS for the ends of the sashing rows. But it doesn't provide instructions for making them:

I don't want bias edges on the long side of this triangle section so I would recalculate how to sew them so there is straight grain there. Not a problem, I could easily do it, but they are already SMALL. I think I will replace them with a quarter square triangle (QST) of  fabric. Which one? Perhaps one of these:

Two more decisions that will be part of the overall decisions on fabric selection to complete the quilt is the narrow INNER BORDER and the PIECED OUTER BORDER. The pattern shows those:

The four fabrics above are definitely in the running for the the borders. And I want to design a different pieced border. I am still thinking about that, probably half square triangles (HST). If you want to do the diamond triangles as shown in the pattern, you can. If you want an alternative pieced border that will be an option.

I will make those decisions as I get to them. I am several weeks away from that now. Stay tuned for more updates...

While working on this kind of project I spend a lot of time making notes on suggested notions and tools that will be helpful. I work on a HANDOUT that will add some additional instruction to the pattern if there are areas that need more information, like pressing directions. 

I will create a chart as part of the handout students can use to keep track of the 5 fabrics in each FULL STAR block--that helps in cutting the correct number of the various strips needed and sewing them together in the correct order. I used orange notepaper but a chart will be better.

This quilt is really fun and I am enjoying the process. While it is not for beginners it provides enough of a challenge that even very experienced quiltmakers will find it engaging. A good STITCH RIPPER is essential! Yes, even for me.

To see more of my process with this quilt, check out these posts:

Fabric Pull Part 1

Strips for Stars  Part 2

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Oh, My Stars!

 This week I started a new quilt project. Oh, My Stars from American Jane Patterns is a bit challenging and will make a great multi-day project for students who want that immersive experience of several days with one teacher.

My FAVORITE PART is the FABRIC PULL--also called "shopping in my closet":

The first pile, way more than is needed

These were pre-washed, notice how much dye is on the Color Catcher

Everything that wasn't pre-washed, still more than needed but lots of choices

While the pattern calls for 1/4 yard pieces cut into Width of Fabric strips, about 42" long, Fat Quarters can be used. I have lots of them and will be using them, along with Width of Fabric cuts--much more instruction about that will be provided in class. 

There are full stars and half stars, and even 4 quarter stars for the corners:

There are 132 small Evening Stars; these are great to use as "leaders/enders" while sewing the larger stars or other projects:

The piecing will require our best work. All the important aspects of piecing quilt blocks is at play here, the CUTTING, the SEWING, and the PRESSING. Each will be taught in detail in the class.

All the DIAMONDS have a bias edge so it is important to keep them straight and true. Here are just a few photos of my process:

The units are sewn together so you get a perfect seam alignment match:

Then you get to choose which fabric arrangement you prefer:

Light points on the Outside

Dark points on the Outside

As usual, I even get to show WHAT NOT TO DO:

OOPS, time to get out the stitch ripper and fix that middle segment--I sewed the orange to the WRONG FABRIC

When the top is done I will start offering this as a Workshop for extended day classes. It is big, 94" x 94"  square as the pattern is written. I am planning to add an additional border to make it King size. So I don't think I will quilt it before teaching the workshop--a King size quilt can fill a suitcase by itself.

So tell me? Would it bother you to see the sample as a top only? I can make a very small additional sample and quilt that to provide quilting suggestions for the final bed-size quilt. 

I am also considering a different pieced border. Do you like the long Sawtooth border or would you like an optional alternative?

Making a quilt for a major workshop takes a lot of time. I write a lot of notes about pressing instructions, notions that will be helpful, how to speed up the process, how to achieve maximum accuracy. All the things I have to consider and think about get written down while the quilt in in progress. There will be an additional handout for students with all the "Tips and Tricks" to being successful with this quilt. 

Let's Quilt!

Barbara