A New Quilt From Start to Finish - Chapter 3 Center Star Prep

Right! The design is finished (Chapter 1). The colors are chosen (Chapter 2). All using Quiltster. All that was fun, but now the real fun begins. First step - preparing the papers and cutting the fabric. Get ready to invest in ziplock bags!

Judy's patterns are foundation paper piecing patterns. The patterns come printed on newsprint and are printed precisely so that if you align them carefully and then staple them together, you can cut them all out at once. The instructions say to trim them within about 1/8 inch of the outside line. I've occasionally been a little sloppy with my cutting - trimming about 1/2 to 1/4 inch away. It makes it a little more difficult to place your pieces properly so that they cover the space completely (for those of you new to foundation piecing, this will make more sense later).

Once I have all the foundation papers cut for the center section, I put them in a ziplock bag. Now it's time to cut the fabric. Before the fabric gets cut, the fabric layout sheets (also printed on newsprint) are cut out in the same manner as the foundation papers. However, the fabric layout sheets are cut right on the outside cut lines. This is so that you can lay them accurately on top of your fabric stacks.

Fabric stacks??!! Yes, with Judy's method, you can cut stacks of fabric - saving time and possibly cut fingers. The instructions tell you how many of each color of fabric to stack. Then you place the layout sheets on top, paperclip them together, and cut the whole stack at once, cutting on the "cut" lines. The Quiltworx folks are geniuses - they even give you the proper order to cut the pieces out. This whole process saves time, fabric waste, and ensures fabric is on the proper grain.  Judy has a video of this process on her YouTube Channel. Check it out! 

My center section uses 3 colors - 2 for the center spikes and the light teal for center background. Then I also had bright green and dark green "ribbons". Most of these fabrics were cut in a similar fashion and put into the ziplock bag for the center section.  The pieces that will be used for foundation piecing are cut over-sized and the template shows the grain line and which side will be the side that you sew on. Several pieces - including the dark green ribbon - are cut exactly the size needed to sew on and might be marked by stitching reference points. Although I am showing a pic of the center section stitched and put up on the board, don't worry, I'll cover the foundation paper piecing process. I just wanted you to see the colors. 

You can either cut all the papers and fabrics at once, or tackle it a section at a time. Remember your ziplocks! My quilt has 4 sections, each section requiring at least 1 bag, some needing as many as 7.


OH, I almost forgot something. How do you know, besides looking at your Quiltster picture, which fabric is used where in each section? This is so cool - for each section the instructions have a place to put a tiny slice of each fabric - a key code if you like. Don't even think about skipping this step. Many times I looked back at my key to make sure I was using the correct fabric.

So now my papers are cut, fabrics are cut and everything is waiting nice and neat in multiple ziplock bags - labeled with a sharpie of course. Quilters should buy stock in ziplock bags and sharpie markers!
Next Chapter - Judy's assembly line techniques for foundation piecing.