Saturday, August 6, 2011

Ribbon block tutorial

Last night Frederick asked if I could point him to some directions for my ribbon block, which I made up last February.  At the time, I took pics to make a tutorial, thinking I'd use the block for my month in a bee, but changed my mind.  Now's as good a time to share it as any, right?  So here goes--

Start with a square (I think mine was 9")

Make a slice to one side of center, cutting the block into roughly 3/5 and 2/5.

add in a strip of fabric.


Press.  Rotate the block a quarter turn, slice again, making 3/5 and 2/5.

Add in a strip of the same color.  When joining the pieces, fold back the top a bit so you can line up the seams of your first strip.

Press.  Rotate the block another quarter turn.  Slice and add again.  This time I put in a different colored strip.

For the 4th cut, I added in the same yellow, making it appear to overlap the moss green.

First round done!  On to the next round..

As you slice and add, be sure to keep rotating in the same direction and it will appear that your ribbons overlap in a spiral pattern. 

Some slices can be a little wonky/angled, but be sure to match seams carefully and pin if you want your earlier strips to line up.

It's really not as difficult as it looks.  Go ahead, give it a try!

My second attempt:

If you make any, I'd love to see them!  add links to blogs/flickr in the comments~

11 comments:

  1. Very cool... though I feel a little confused... I guess its one of those blocks that you need to do to figure out. Thanks for this. It's a great block.

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  2. What a great use of scraps this would allow to make something totally cool. :)

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  3. i like it!! thanks for sharing...i have a basket osf scrap strips that i was wondering how i'd use them...

    how would you use the blocks in a quilt?

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  4. Excellent tutorial! I feel confidant now that I can go do this. The pictures and the text all quite clear to me. Yeah! So glad I asked and it was just waiting to be revealed. I will post soon as I have something together on flickr. Thank you so much.

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  5. Thanks! I've never been able to figure out how to get that woven look. Think I'll make some of these sometime.

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  6. Thanks everybody~
    Shannon, I have no idea how I'd put them in a quilt.. the bee challenge didn't want us to think that far ahead. Do you have any ideas?

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  7. Wow I love this...definitely going on my "to try" list. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. Here is the photo of my first block posted on flickr.com I took several shots and posted them there. Frederick
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodcut55/6016666996/

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  9. I've just made one of these blocks....what size should it have finished up? I ended up trimming mine to a bit of a messy edged 10" lol I've posted a pic on my blog if you want to look at it.

    Thanks for sharing....I did find it a little confusing, but once I saw the main instructions, I did my own measurements.

    Hugs
    Naomi

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  10. Wonderful. I want to try to do these also..
    Stephanie

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