All of the strips were already cut. I cut them using my QuiltCut2 Fabric Cutting System when I first started the project. I had the stars all sewn together and a few of the red and white strips. I finished sewing all of the strip sets. Then I sub-cut them into the different sizes, again using my QuiltCut2.
I cut all of the strips into the correct segment sizes in less than 5 minutes. Here are all of the cut strip sets.
Next I needed to arrange them on my design wall into a pleasing setting. This is what I came up with. I put pins on each strip to mark where to line up the next strip since everything is staggered and very free form.
Once I had them all sewn together, the whole top was done. Super fast and super easy.
I basted and quilted this little wall hanging. I quilted 50 stars into the star portion of the flag. Then I did some curved lines that follow the red and white stripes. I trimmed the top and bottom so that it had smooth curves.
The binding for this project uses both the red fabric and the blue and white stars. In order for the binding to follow the curves of the flag, it needed to be bias binding. If you want to see a very easy way to cut bias binding check out this earlier blog post. Instead of mitering all of the seams that join the binding you do straight seams where the colors change. I thought it was going to be really tricky to bind this quilt but as you can see it turned out great.
For more information on how to use the QuiltCut2 for Strip Piecing visit this Tutorial.
One more UFO finished this year. What a great feeling!
Happy Quilting,
Carol
