Question about making a scrappy quilt
 

I was reading a post recently where someone made a scrappy quilt by cutting out blocks/squares from an old sheet. Then they sewed the strips to the blocks.

I have two questions. The first one is, will it look ok if I top stitch the strips on the blocks? My other questions is, should I use any type of fusible interfacing on top of the old sheet or just stitch directly on the sheet squares?

Thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions. I always appreciate the help here on the QB.
Carol

Top stitching will be fine. I don't see any need for interfacing unless it's a section of sheet that is very thin. Since you're sewing together blocks, you'll at least have some kind of backing on it, if not batting, right?

I'm doing one quilt now with scraps, sewn to the better parts of an old sheet. My problem is that I'm doing diagonal strips on the block, and the old sheet is stretching. I was thinking of adding the old telephone book pages to the back to prevent that. I haven't decided if I will have batting in the quilt.

I don't understand what you mean by topstitching. You just sew (or piece) the strips to the foundation. There's no need for fusible.

Why do you want to topstitch? It's not necessary for this kind of quilt. It's typically done simply by piecing onto the foundation fabric. No fusible needed.

I agree with the above. One suggestion .... spray starching the sheet will prevent most of the stretching; I find this better than using paper backing.

Here is a tutorial from Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.com.

http://quiltville.com/stringquiltingprimer.shtml

The following is Ditter's tutorial for a quilt-as-you-go string quilt.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/tutoria...lt-t60764.html

Hope one of these will help answer your questions.

Good luck!

Yes, these have answered my questions. In fact, Ditter's tutorial is sort of the design I had in mind except I was afraid if I put the right sides together to stitch, I might have to press it open with the iron but I see she said you can just press it open with your thumb so that is ok. That is why I thought of topstitching them together (just folding edge under and stitching on top to attach it to the piece beside it).

Now I need to check a thrift shop for a couple old sheets.

I just finished the top for a crazy quilt that I mostly pieced down onto the foundation (an old sheet) but for some of the smaller pieces I folded under a seam allowance, glue-sticked it into place and then did a lazy sort of applique with zigzag stitches around the edges. I liked the zigzags so much I actually went back and added more on some other seams that didn't actually need it. I laid pieces out however I felt inspired to do so...some ended up strips and others ended up sort of like a super wonky log cabin where I built around and around a central scrap. And in other places I sewed down entire stray blocks and fit scraps in around it.

Sort of a quick and lazy quilt - I had a lot of fun making it and will definitely be making another. :)

I also checked Bonnie Hunter's tutorial and that looks good, too. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to answer my questions. I appreciate it.

@ Sewnoma - your idea sounds good, too. Great way to use irregular shapes rather than just using strips. I may try that one, too!