I am new quilter and have instructions only (no picture) for a quilt that sounds very interesting. The title is Making Quick Quarter Quilts. It says to "Arrange and stack 4" half strips..." What are half strips? It also says that the half strips may be different lengths. :?:

could be it means strips of different lengths? Like scraps from your scrap bin? what size do they want you to cut them into? Maybe google that quilt name in images and see what pops up? You could get a blog of someone who has made that quilt and you could ask them via their comment box or return address. What is the name of the pattern?

Beth in AZ
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I wonder if they mean half the width of fabric? There would likely be some variation there.

A friend gave me copied sheets of the instructions only and I have no name for the quilt; the 4" half strips are to be sewn together side to side (for full/queen/king size: 4 each of 24 fabrics); then the ends are sewn together to make a "tube"; the tube is then cut into sections (crosswise). It is difficult to explain. I am guessing that "half strips" means that the fat quarter is cut into 4" strips and then the strips are cut in half????? But I wanted to make sure before getting the rotary cutter out and starting cutting.

not enough info...could mean making quilts from fat quarters of fabric. But need more infor for source. You say you have instructions but no pattern. How did you get the instructions. Where did they come from. From a book or on the internet etc.

That is what I was guessing. Thanks.

I don't know if this has anything to do with your directions, but I googled "Making Quick Quarter Quilts" and it brings up Eleanor Burns Quick Trip Quilts. I assume it is the bonus quilt in the book using Fat Quarters.

AHA!!! I never knew what a bargello quilt is....after your post I looked it up and GADZOOKS! There it was. I started on this site only this morning and have learned so much from you all. Thanks to everyone who responded to my question!

Eleanor Burns refers to "half strips" when she's talking about strips cut from the width of fabric and then cut in half, so that they're only about 22" long.

She prefers to use "half strips" because they're less cumbersome.

Eleanor Burns does half strips all the time. She cuts full width strips and then cuts them in half on the fold. It makes it easier to sew and press because they are shorter.

Half strips (like whole strips) may be slightly different lengths because fabric is not all the same width.

LOL! I guess we were posting at the same time!!

That is correct. Different manufactures have different widths of fabric and because of this it creates different widths of 'half strips'.

They use them because it is easier to work with the 'half width' lengths.

Not a bonus quilt, it is one of the patterns in one of her books. There is no matching of seams and that is where the 'quick' part comes in. Quarter is that all 4 'quarters' of the quilt are the same.

Sounds like an Eleanor Burns pattern it means to make your 4" cut width of fabric and cut it in half so you have 2 4"x21" pieces

Those are definitely instructions for making a bargello quilt.Or in your case maybe it's a bargello *block*. I think half strip is half the width of the fabric since bargello instructions call for strips of the full width. The book I used was Margie Edie's Bargello Quilts. The instructions were clear and easy(??)to follow.

It sounds a little like the quick trip around the world quilt by Eleanor Burns. After you sew the tubes together, on one tube set you cut at the seam, on the next tube set you cut in the middle of the strip. That's what makes your seams offset each other. It gives kind of a stairstep effect. That's the way I did the strips on this quilt for my sil.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-3580-1.htm

Thats what I was thinking too maybe a bargello. I watched a cool tute on making tubes this morning. I got it from a post on here and man I am glad I watched it, I want to make one and I would have done the tubes totally wrong. LOL

That is a beautiful Quilt.

Could mean you didn't get the full instructions

Half Strips: This means 1/2 the width of the fabric. Most fabrics are 42" to 44" in width. Half strips are 1/2 of this. The fabric has been torn at the fold line, or cut. That creates 1/2 strips.

I agree with kbonafede. A half strip is half the width of fabric in length. If your fabric is 44" wide, the half strip is only 22" long. The term is used seldom enough that it really should be explained before it is used.