Making Selvage Edge Blocks

So I sat down and decided to show how I am making my blocks.

 Here is my intial set up with my 2.5 inch black strip going down the middle and two selvage strips on either side, prior to cutting the strips.

First pinnning the strips on the underlayment

Next, I flip the block over and generously trim the excess.

Trimming the excess prior to sewing

 Then trim the other end.

Trimming the opposite end

Time to sew.

Sewing the first selvage strip down

 I flip the block around and sew the second strip down.

Sewing the second selvage strip down

 Time to add more strips.

Adding more strips to the block

Next flip the block over and trim the excess fabric before sewing.

Trimming up yet again

Trimming the other side

Sew down the new strips.

Sewing the next strip

Sewing the other strip

Keep going until you fill up the block.

Easy peasy!

Along the Selvage Edge

Currently I am making some 10.5 inch blocks with a fabric underlayment, with 2.5 inch black strip crosswise across the block and then selvage edge strips on both sides of the black until the square is filled. I whipped up over 50+ of these almost before I realized it.

Wow! So much fun.

Must take some pictures of those.

Now, however, I need to trim all of those 50+ blocks. BORING! 

From now on, I will trim them as I make them. Yowser....

I started creating the blocks for the reverse side as I am going to make these up in a Quilt-As-You-Go style with the selvage edge blocks. 

I am using a modified version of the Moda BakeShop pattern Labyrinth. I say modified because I need a bigger initial block.

Since my other blocks are 10.5 inches, I need an initial block size of 11 inches prior to cutting them in half and sewing them back together. So I used two 3.5 inch strips, one 3 inch strip (in the middle), and two 1.5 inch white strips to make the initial block.

The BakeShop instructions tell you to cut the blocks in different directions but NO. If you put two squares right sides together and do the cut, then they are cut correctly AND the sets of triangles are already paired for sewing together. 

A much better way to do it!

I am going completely scrappy for the labryrinth squares also. So much fun!

Photos will be coming soon!