Originally Posted by
DOTTYMO
I always thought leaders and Enders were to begin and end chain piecing or any other shape to stop the feed dogs chewing the ends. You learn something new every visit here.
Yep that's exactly it! Also it saves on thread waste. Started with sewers re-using the same piece of scrap over and over, and then tossing for a new scrap.
However Bonnie Hunter came up with a plan which instead involved using pre-prepared scraps which would be seamed together in such a way that they can be incorporated into a quilt design later.
I use off-cuts smaller than 2.5 inch square (Hexie-size lol). Real scraps! I keep a jar of 1 inch squares, another of 1.5 inch. Every so often I'll have a cutting session in front of the TV.
They get leader/endeared into 2's. 2's into 4's. 4's go into 8's and then these into 16's. No thought required except I try not to have two the same fabric next door to each other. I don't bother to iron until I'm up to the 16 point. I also don't panic about seams nesting, the bits are so small they seem to match effortlessly.
Eventually I will have enough to make a postage stamp quilt, all from scraps too small to do anything with.....
If I remember I'll post a photo of the blocks so far later :-)
Cheers, K