Thursday, January 20, 2011

Slicing the Cake

Do you have some pretty fabric?

Good, now go post a picture of it in the Flickr group. I want to drool over it before you start cutting it up!

After you do that, open it up and pet it for a few minutes, fabric likes to be adored.

Then lay it out and let's start slicing. We're going to cut the layer cake first, then the fat quarter. Just follow the part that pertains to you. 


Layer Cake

First thing we're going to do is cut the 10" square into two pieces

Line your layer cake square up within the grid on your cutting mat


Then measure over 7", lining your ruler up with the vertical line


And make a cut


Take that 3"x10" piece and put it in your scrap bin. Seriously, don't throw it away!

Grab your 7"x10" piece and rotate it so that the 10" side is laying horizontally
Line it up on the markings on your mat again and measure over 3.5"


Cut it off



Now you have two cuts of fabric, one that is 6.5"x7" and one that is 3.5"x7"
Take the 3.5"x7" piece and turn it so the long side is laying horizontally



Now cut it in half, on the 3.5" mark. This will give you two pieces that are 3.5" square



Take the piece that is 6.5"x7" and cut .5" off of the 6.5" side and 1" off of the 7" side so that it ends up 6" square





You will end up with one 6" square and two 3.5" squares



Here is a visual if you need it



If you have another way that you prefer to cut into your layer cake, go for it. The reason I did it this way was to get those long scrap strips. I'm thinking about either using mine for a scrappy border or a scrappy binding. There is another way to cut it that will yield square scraps if you'd rather have that.

Also, when you cut your fabric feel free to use the markings on your ruler instead of the ones on your mat if you prefer and if you have a wide enough ruler.

Fat Quarters

Please read the entire cutting instructions before you get started.

Lay out your fat quarter. It should be a perfect 18"x22" cut. It may be 21", and that's ok. If the edges aren't straight go ahead and straighten them up. Be careful when trimming the 18" side that you don't cut too much, we need the full 18".


Line it up in the grid on your mat so that the 18" side is vertical and the 22" side is horizontal


Measure 6" (and pretend like mine is lined up on the horizontal line like it's supposed to be)



and make a cut



Measure another 6"



And cut again



Then measure 3.5"



And cut



Measure another 3.5"




And cut again



You should have two 6" strips and two 3.5" strips, plus a scrap. Put that scrap in your scrap bin



Now turn one of your 6" strips horizontally and line it up in the grid



Measure 6"




And cut



Repeat until you have three 6" squares



Then repeat with the other strip



Then put one of those squares in your scrap bin, you only need five.



Now take your 3.5" strip and line it up




Measure 3.5" 



and cut



Repeat until you have five 3.5" squares and a scrap piece, throw that scrap away



Repeat with the other 3.5" strip for a total of ten 3.5" squares




And don't worry, I am NOT using this fabric with the one you saw pictured above, this was just a scrap fabric :)

Here is a visual for cutting the fat quarter if you need it


I only want you to cut 8 of your fat quarters this way!! 

For the 9th, you only need two 6" squares and four 3.5" squares

When you're done you should have 42 6" squares and 84 3.5" squares. Try to keep them together as sets, one 6" and two 3.5" squares in each set.


Cutting your solid

I'm going to refer you to a post from the first quilt along for cutting into your yardage. Reason for this is because apparently Moda Snow has become my go to solid and I have this:


I figured I'd better use it up

Following the instructions from this post:

http://distantpickles.blogspot.com/2009/12/cutting-squares.html

Fold your fabric selvage to selvage and cut your solid into 3.5" strips. You will need to cut 6 strips

Then sub-cut your strips into 3.5" squares. Each strip should yield twelve 3.5" squares for a total of 72 squares.

Put what you have left of your solid aside for now. We are going to do a little bit more cutting on it later.



Get to cutting!



5 comments:

Joy said...

I has a question! How many 6" and 3.5" squares do we need in total for the non-solid color?

JuliePickles said...

You'll need one 6" square and two 3.5" squares for each block, except for the 12 blocks around the border that get cut off, then you only need one 3.5" square. So total you will need 42 6" squares and 30 3.5" squares. We are actually going to be cutting more than we need here, but if you're using scraps (which I think you mentioned you were) then those will be your totals.

JuliePickles said...

Wait Joy, I'm wrong!! You need 72 of the 3.5" print fabrics, not 30. You need as many 3.5" prints as you have of the solids. Duh Julie! I forgot to double a number in my original comment, sorry!

Pieces to Love said...

I'm confused, but that doesn't take much these days. Just want to make sure I'm 'cutting' my scraps right. 2 3.5" squares to 1 6" square, Right?

JuliePickles said...

That's correct!

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