Lay your strips out

 

Day 7 – Laying Out Your Strips Before Sewing

Yesterday, we talked about calculating and cutting your strips. Today, we’re going to focus on laying out those strips before you begin sewing. Taking the time to organize your colors now will help your star come together correctly later.

For this project, we will be creating five groups of five strips sewn together. Each group follows a specific color pattern that creates the beautiful flow of colors in the finished Star Quilt.

Start by sewing your first group together in order:

Group 1

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

For the second group, begin with the second color and continue through the pattern:

Group 2

2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 4

The third group continues the color transition:

Group 3

3 - 4 - 5 - 4 - 3

The fourth group:

Group 4

4 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2

And finally:

Group 5

5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1

Your finished strip groups should look like this:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 4

3 - 4 - 5 - 4 - 3

4 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2

5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1

Using my color choices, that would be:

Light Yellow - Yellow - Orange - Red - Maroon

Yellow - Orange - Red - Maroon - Red

Orange - Red - Maroon - Red - Orange

Red - Maroon - Red - Orange - Yellow

Maroon - Red - Orange - Yellow - Light Yellow

Before sewing, lay all of your strips out on a table, floor, or design wall and double-check the order. It’s much easier to move fabric around now than it is after everything is stitched together.

Take your time and sew each group carefully, matching your seams and keeping your strips straight. Accuracy at this stage will make cutting your diamonds much easier later on.

By the end of today, you should have five strip sets, each containing five colors sewn together in the correct order. These strip sets will become the foundation of your Star Quilt.

Tomorrow we’ll continue preparing the strip sets and move one step closer to cutting and assembling the star. Every step brings your quilt closer to becoming something beautiful. 🧵⭐👍🏼