gypsy wife strips

 the strips of the gypsy wife quilt form a major portion of its distinctive character. on the back of the pattern, the requirements list calls for "60 assorted fabric strips cut across the width of fabric, 10 x 10cm (4"), 50 x 5cm (2")."

this is slightly misleading. the actual strips needed can be conveniently cut from these measurements if you happen to have those on hand, but it is NOT what you need to cut to assemble the quilt. the pattern uses several 1.5"wide and 1" wide strips, rather than 2" and 4" strips.

there are 55 - 1.5"wide strips of lengths varying from 12" to 65.5". nine of these strips measure over 42" long, which is the standard wof  length you can get from quilting fabric. thus, for those 9 strips, you will need to make more than one cut.

there are also 9 - 1"wide strips, which add some play and variety to the quilt structure. one of these strips is actually also 1.5" wide in portions of its length (strip 8/D).

to add to the fun, these strips start and stop multiple times as they are interrupted by the quilt's blocks. all of this is a whole lot to wrap your head around and looks rather complicated when you try to figure out the pattern diagrams. but it really isn't that bad.

section 10, lower left corner - click to enlarge

i have simplified the whole identification process by numbering the strips on the pattern, and by figuring out their entire needed lengths. i didn't want to use a fabric for a strip in section one only to find out i didn't have enough of it left to complete the strip in lower sections when it picked up again.

section 6, lower middle portion - click to enlarge

you can likewise mark your pattern. just start with section 10, in the lefthand corner, and mark all the white strips by number, starting with 1, moving left to right. please note: strip #32 is missing in the original pattern! i've sketched mine in place, and you should, too.

the grey strips are the 1" wide strips, and these i've identified by letter rather than number. you can mark the strips in all the sections by following them up, or wait until the month comes up when i will show the marked diagram for the section we're making.

section 6, lower right corner - click to enlarge

for each strip, above it's id number, i noted the length of each segment and the total length overall. i also marked each strip segment in all the sections with its id number. don't worry, you won't have to try to read my doodles. i've transcribed my information into a spreadsheet, and i will include the strip measurements for the section we are working on each month.

click to enlarge

i don't know why the two pages came out different sizes. but i've invested all the time i'm going to in getting this made and up here. if you'd like a copy of the chart as a pdf file, click here.

 in the past, some people approached the quilt by making all the blocks and then cutting the strips for final assembly. that seems like a whole lot of tedious cutting at once. so when i started my blocks with the last quilt along, i hit on the idea of cutting strips as i went. whenever i pressed a fabric and cut pieces for a block, i'd simply cut a 1.5" wof length to set aside for when the strips would be needed. i've been gathering them on a platter that sits in my sewing room.

i'm still using this method, only now that i'm working by section and assembling them as i go, it's a tiny bit more complicated. since i don't want the same fabrics in the blocks and strips for the section, i'm still cutting strips from my block fabrics as we work on the first sections, but those are set aside for other portions of the quilt. i'm having to cut fabrics that i haven't used yet for strips in the first sections. not that big of a deal. it just doesn't feel quite as efficient.

 i'm trying to include a variety of intensely colored strips along with more subtle low-volume fabrics as well. i'm not going for an every-other-one stripe look, but i do want variety.

i've tidied up my tray a little and organized the strips by width and length, and loosely sorted them by color and volume. the strips i cut extra lengths of, for those over 42" long, i put in one pile, too. this is just to ease selection when it comes to assembling the sections.

 the end of the platter also contains a variety of small pieces leftover from my block making. these pieces can be used in future blocks as they are already cut to sizes standard for the pattern requirements. i may or may not use them, but i like having them all in the same place.

some of them are the triangles cut from sq in sq blocks, or are short strips leftover.

for more information on the gypsy wife quilt along 2016, see the homepage here on my blog, tab at the top of the page.

#GypsyWifeQuiltAlong2016 on instagram

linking up with lee's wip wednesday at freshly pieced.