Technique Tuesday: Warp & Weft Hourglass Blocks

Today Debby Kratovil from Debby Kratovil Quilts is sharing a Technique Tuesday post using Modern Quilt Studio's Warp & Weft fabrics. See how she uses these fun, bright yarn dyes in ai quick-to-cut and quick-to sew quilt! 

Here's Debby:

Hello! I'm excited to be featuring Warp and Weft by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr of Modern Quilt Studio. These fabrics are not your ordinary cottons that are surface dyed, but are wovens with colored threads. As soon as I saw them I knew just what I'd like to stitch with them. My tried and true "Yikes! Those Stripes" pattern is a go-to anytime there are fabrics such as these in my studio.

First, the fabrics. I separated out the clear colors (many brights) from the grays. I have plans for those grays - on another day.

Crayon colors from the Warp and Weft Collection

And I added the red plaid to the grays and darker blues:

Grays and blues with a single red from the Warp and Weft Collection

One thing I did notice about these fabrics is how soft to the touch they are! They have a lovely "hand," which means they feel good in my hand!

Now let's see what I did. I first paired the colors as I thought I'd like to see them in each block. My plan is to make Hourglass Blocks using my quick piecing method, which I first published in Quilt Magazine about 25 years ago!

Six sets of paired colors 

I cut 2-3/4" strips of each fabric and stitched a 1/4" seam. I offset one strip by about 2-1/4" because I'm going to cut some triangles in the next photo. Offsetting gives me one more cut when I reach the end. This pattern also works well with 2-1/2" strips. You'll see!

Two 2-3/4" strips, offset by 2-1/4"

Press toward one of the colors (doesn't matter) and then we start to cut. The cuts are 45 degree angles.

Cutting with an Omnigrid ruler

 Flip flop the ruler and cut the second wedge.

Two pieced wedges cut

You may not have this type of ruler. You can use your standard 6 x 12 ruler and align the 45 degree line at the bottom as shown below. Trim off the side.

Trim left side as shown. 45 degree line is running along the bottom edge of fabric strip

Then flip flop the ruler and cut the right side of the pieced triangle. Again, you are using the 45 degree line as your guide.

Flip flop the ruler and cut other side of triangle

You should be able to get 8 pieced triangles from each strip set. Here are four together, getting ready to make an Hourglass Block. I will get two Hourglass blocks from each strip set.

Hourglass Block parts

Stitch pairs together as shown

And the last seams?

Sets of blocks with their last seam sewn

I was able to get 12 Hourglass Blocks from the fabric pairs. I only cut one 2-3/4" strip from each fabric. I don't want a small quilt, so I'm planning on making another 12 (or 13) blocks so I can have a good sized quilt center. These blocks will finish to about 8-1/2" (maybe 8-3/4"). Here are my 12 blocks:

12 Hourglass Blocks using Warp and Weft

Thanks Debby! 

Head over to Debby's blog to read more and to enter to win a fat quarter bundle of 8-10 Warp & Weft fabrics for yourself! 

Stop by each day this week for more yarn dye project inspiration! 

Click here to read an interview with Weeks and Bill about their new collection. 

Click here to see the entire Warp & Weft collection.
Visit Weeks and Bill's website. 

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