Originally Posted by
jcrow
I'm taking the BOM from Craftsy classes and one month we did string quilts. We didn't cut on the bias. We did two blocks. One we had backing, and the second we had backing just so we knew how long to make our pieces, but we didn't use the backing...we cut it away after we sewed our string block together. I liked that method better because the block was thinner. But, like I said, we weren't using bias fabric. Anyway, why do you use bias fabric for string quilts? Wouldn't it be easier to cut on the grain? Am I missing something?
I made the same blocks. The first one, with the foundation under the entire block, turned out thick, but perfect. All I had to do was press the seams open instead of to the side to make it flat. The second block, where I cut out the fabric underneath much of the block, was a problem in terms of stretching out of shape, It was a horror to sew the final 4 pieces together, because the edges didn't match due to stretching of the bias, and I finally chucked it and made another block without cutting out the foundation underneath. That one was also perfect.
I think I would go for a foundation lighter than most quilting fabrics. For example, a very low thread count fabric, starched. Or muslin, starched, not the 200 thread count. I'm a nut about starch. You might get away with less.