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Old 09-12-2011, 08:13 PM
  #31  
par4theday
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: in Idaho
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Originally Posted by Sunnye
It's fantastic.
I have looked at stack n whacks tutorials on you tube but I just can't get my head wrapped around the concept. I love all the stack n whack quilts I've seen, especially kaleidescopes. (I know, I'm dense.)
Any help on understanding stack n whacks would be appreciated.
Use fabric with 8 repeats, cut your fabric on the same point on each repeat until you have 8 exact pieces of fabric. Stack them up all 8 pieces of fabric. Then you find a spot like a point or something that when you pin it will go in exactly the same place on all 8 layers of fabric. Use flat head pins for this. You stick your pin straight down on the point you have selected, go through all layers making sure the point of your pin is going through each layer at exactly the same place.
Do this pinning process every 3 inches all the way across the 8 layers of fabric, the same way you did the first. Sometimes you have to re-pin that first one, after you have put in about 3 pins. Then go down, 3 inches and pin across another row of pins, to the bottom of your stack. Then with a sharp new blade in your rotary cutter you take a ruler, and cut into strips the width you would need to get the size block you need. For this pattern you would cut into squares, and then cut diagonally to get triangles. Cut where you miss the pins, sometimes you will need to move the pins a bit. And when they are cut, leave a pin in each stack so they stay together. But for each cut, because they are stacked exactly on top of each other and pinned in place each piece is exactly the same.
Before I started cutting anything, I split my fabric in half, straight of grain and saved the other half for the sashings and border. Also this is one time when you cannot press starch, or prewash fabric because it will distort your fabric so the print will not be in the same place. Exactness is very important for this to work. Sorry I didn't use a pattern, so I cannot tell you the sizes, but it was pretty easy to figure it out with a piece of card stock 12X12, in scrap booking supplies. I hope this makes sense.
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