Scrappy Trip Along Tutorial

Fabric Requirements: 
Fabric scraps, fat quarters, fat eights, jelly roll fabric pack, whatever you have available. I used ten fat quarters in various prints and got a final quilt that was 48"x48".

Tool Requirements: 
Seam ripper [will be very important to do this the easy way], rotary cutter and mat, straight edge [at least 2 1/2” wide and 16” long], scissors, sewing machine, thread, straight pins, iron and ironing board

Cutting Instructions: 
Prepare the fabric by cutting strips that are 2 1/2” wide by 16” long

Piecing Instructions:
[use a 1/4” seam allowance for all sewing, nothing scant, just comfortable]

Prepare the fabric by cutting strips that are 2 1/2” wide by 16” long
I used fat quarters of coordinating fabric prints I had in my stash,
but the beauty of this quilt is anything will work. Jelly rolls are
especially great since they are already cut to width.

Randomly or purposefully select 6 strips and sew together, with a 1/4” seam allowance, along the 16” edges. Do not press the seams until all this sewing is done. Set the length of your stitch to 2 mm or 2.5 mm so that it will hold together but not be too tight because you will be ripping seams later.

Press the seams on the back side of your 12”x16” rectangle
towards every other strip and not all in the same direction.
This is important so that the seams nest together when sewing
the final block. It creates a cleaner corner and prevents seam bulk.

Fold the rectangle right sides together and sew the last 16” edges
together, creating a tube.

Take the tube back to the cutting mat, square off one side, and cut
the tube into 2 1/2” tube-strips. Cut 6 tube-strips.

Each tube-strip is six squares sewn in a circle. Use your seam ripper to remove the stitches of only one seam per tube-strip.
By choosing the “next seam” for each tube-strip you create
a diagonal to the squares on the strips.

At this point I take the strips back to the ironing board to reinforce my earlier seam pressing. I then lay the strips out to see how I want
the diagonal to present in the block.

Once the strips are arranged to your liking, sew them together along the long edge. This is where the alternate direction seam pressing will benefit you since there will be equal bulk on either side of the new stitches.

Take your block back to the ironing board and press the new seams. I pressed these seams open though it is to your preference.

Once you have several blocks lay them out and start playing with the arrangement. I enjoy the diamond shape my quilt is developing but there are many possibilities. When you have all the blocks you need for the quilt top sew them together and enjoy!










Quilting Recommendations: I backed my quilt with stretch crushed velvet and instead of quilting just did a tack through stitch ever 9x9 squares to hold it together. Overall the final piece is used quite a bit, it's soft and warm, and come on, it's stretch crushed velvet!