WAVERUNNER: Choosing Fabrics

2010-02-24T18:49:00.000-08:00

There are many posts on my site Bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com
about the process of this quilt.

This site is only for the tutorial and the video...
If you make one, please send me an email at

bumblebeansinc@gmail.com

Enjoy and have fun!

Thanks!

Victoria

Choosing fabrics

Fabric requirements:

I've had a few good questions about collecting your fabrics...

my quilt top is aprox 50" square.

I used 1/4 - 1/2 yard of, i think, 9 different fabrics...
Depending on which ones I wanted more of or less of in the quilt top.

Some asked about Jelly rolls, I would say this:

You need to be able to cut various size of strips.

We will not be using a ruler to cut these strips...
A rotary cutter to randomly cut strips is all we need.

we want wonky wavy strips... from 1" to about 2 1/2 or 3" strips, and long is best...

I have some scraps left over but not a lot...

I suggest you keep it to solids, or blender prints... (subtle fabrics with small designs)

My preference, I am loving the solids... I don't do it very often...
But ultimately that choice is yours...

I tried busier scraps, and a blender, and solids on this little piece...
You decide.

Waverunner tutorial

2010-02-24T18:47:00.000-08:00

WAVERUNNER QUILT ALONG DAY ONE

ready to Rock and Roll?

Here we go...

Basic Tools:

Rotary cutter
rotary cutter mat
straight edge
sewing machine, of course!
steam iron and ironing board...

Got your fabrics selected?
(I'm using the right hand fabric for inspiration and most likely the backing...)

Remember when selecting your fabrics to pick LIGHTS, MEDIUMS and DARKS, & BRIGHTS

For a challenge, try to not use WHITE or WHITE BASED FABRICS... White becomes a comfort zone color, and it's the first thing your eye is drawn too.

I used some scraps, some 1 yard,and half yard pieces.
I folded them so they were about a 10 piece on my cutting mat.

Using your rotary cutter, and NO RULER
Cut random width strips, 1 - 3" wide...
make slightly wavy cuts.
You don't need to be EXTREME in your waves...
A few every once in a while is good, but you don't need them all to be that way...

****Cut ONE strip of each of your colors, and lay them out for starters...
(not like I did below.
that image is for when you finish cutting your strips to show a variety of cuts)

Take each strip of each color and lay them out.
How do they look?

Hmmm, for me, I don't like the black and darkest brown...

make sure you have a nice balance of colors...
I've laid mine out on the design wall, dark to lightest...
a nice gradation of tones and values...
Does it look good?

Does one color seem to flatten the whole thing?

For me the BLACK, and my darkest brown, where to much...
So I am pulling them out.

I added a deep purple instead with a warm reddish brown.

That Looks better to me...
If you have a warm palette of colors, it doesn't hurt to throw in a few cool tones... my two purples are helping to balance to warm colors...

so visa versa, have mostly cool colors? add one or two warm colors....

Continue Cutting all your strips...

If you want to cut all your strips the same length, that's fine, I use a lot of scraps so I have a random cut lengths...
We will be sewing strips together to make a variety of 10" x 10" blocks and 10"X20".

SAVE ALL YOUR SCRAPS from your trimming. in the end we will use them to create other odd 10" blocks and a few filler pieces with them.

In no particular order, I begin...
Our goal is to sew enough strips together to make 10" wides sections.

Pick you first two strips, see how wonky they are...

Doesn't matter. lay them together edges together at the beginning....

Start to sew, keeping the red edge lined up with the purple edge...no matter how wavy...

keep adjusting the top fabric... your sewing line DOES NOT need to be straight,

if your strips are to straight, then sew a WAVY LINE, JUST KEEP YOUR EDGES TOGETHER....

See how my seam is wavy and I have pulled the fabric to keep my raw edges lined up?

Open it up, and with your full steam iron, you'll press, steam and pull the fabric til it lays flat.

These curves are very gentle and with a hot iron you CAN press them out flat... Just keep spreading it out, and steam pressing it flat...

See? now continue adding rows, til it's just over 10" wide...

You can press as you go, or sew all your rows on, and then press it out... Since we are only going 10" wide, I tend to do the whole bit, and then press it out... Stretch , pull, and keep lots of water in your iron to steam it all out flat...

Mine looks like this because I used scraps... I sew the long bits together anyway,
as when I trim this, (the only time you'll use your straight edge)
I save the bits to start new blocks... SAVE ALL YOUR trimming!!

trim to cut 14 ...10"x10" squares
4....10" x 20" rectangles,
And, I repeat! Save all your trims, as you can use them to start the next 10" block...See some blocks have little bits tucked into the to create another 10" block?
It's nice to change directions even inside a few random blocks...
When you start to lay them out, I try to do a vertical, horizontal vertical pattern...
some blocks I make have both directions in them ...
Here are a few more areas where there are two directions inside of one block.
mix it up... there is no right or wrong way to put these together...

This is the random layout I used on my first... After you've made up your first 18 blocks, Using your scraps , you can start to use them for filling in...

We'll deal with the lay out in the next post. Because sometimes a block just doesn't sit the way you want it, and you have to PLAY! with them to get it right...

VIDEO clips WAVERUNNER

2010-02-24T18:40:00.000-08:00

WAVERUNNER TUTORIAL CLICK HERE

A few things...
the second Waverunner top is complete. I just need to sew the blocks together.
I need to write the second part about layout... so I will wait til next week to do that.
I need a new name for this one... any ideas? "BROKEN...."Something...
I haven't figured out what...

Here is some short (goofy) videos I put together this a.m.
( It's hard to sew and hold a camera! )
to help show the process of the waverunner quilt.
watch them in order...

WaveRunner Quilt along

WAVERUNNER: Choosing Fabrics

Waverunner tutorial

VIDEO clips WAVERUNNER