Tutoral: Hive 2 August Block for Diane

Hello, I am Diane your Queen Bee for August.   I am personally on a mission to make a dent in my numerous boxes and bags of scraps. If you are anything like me, you may enjoy the following. It is brainless sewing, ideal when listening to a good book or your favorite show on tv.  

Warning: this may be addictive!   

This month we will be making scrappy adding machine tapes.     

-First, I will not ask that you buy a calculator roll; they are way too expensive and usually come in box of 8 or 16 rolls. Therefore, you will find any thin paper in 11” or 18” long and cut the sheet in strips of 3” wide x the length. I use draft paper in 18” long and lengthen it as needed. By all means, if you have 3" adding tape on hand and want to use it, go ahead. Paper you have on hand, even thin printer paper, will work. The paper is used as a foundation; think of paper piecing but way easier.        

 I bought this art pad at a dollar store for $1.25 a few years ago and it is perfect. 

-Second you will take a bag of scraps in a colour of your choice. Yes, I store my scraps by colours. Keeping with one colour theme, any scrap works as long as it contrasts with charcoal, the background colour I will be using to make the quilt. 

 

Here how it works:

I first took my TEAL bag of scraps. Your scraps should be at least 3 1/2" long or you can sew smaller pieces together to get to 3 1/2". Don't fuss, just eyeball it.

Cover a 3” ribbon with a small scrap right side up. Sew another one to it right side together, flip and press. Then repeat, repeat and repeat until you have covered a long strip. When it is time to extend your tape: overlap the 2 ends of the paper, using a glue stick, lightly glue the ends together and continue sewing on top of the paper. If you don’t have a glue stick, you can stitch the two strips of paper together or simply overlap the paper strips under one fabric strip.  

Preferably the finished ribbons would be no shorter than 12”long, and as long as you want to make them, 18” to 24” being the ideal lengths.   

Starting in the middle of the tape is a good idea, as you can press both seams at the same time. Use an iron or a roller to press the seams. Another good idea is to chain piece if making more than one strip.   

The scraps should not be wider than 2” (to finish at a max of 1 1/2”) and they can lay straight or on an angle, you decide. My scraps are often not straight cuts, so I use the angles to make it interesting, but do as you wish.    

You can repeat the fabric as long as it is not too close to each other.    

You can make as many ribbons as you wish, in whatever colour you wish contrasting with charcoal.   

*Please sew with a very small stitch, this is to avoid making a back stitch at the beginning & end of the seam and also to make the removing of the paper easier.     

**Start sewing on the fabric and finish your seam on the fabrics also (extend your seam further than the paper) 

***Do not trim the ribbon, leave as is.

 ****Do not remove the paper. 

Have fun with it, 

Diane  

   

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Here are 2 YouTube videos for references:   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnmcqgGHLU0   https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hs=E8yp&sca_esv=4939a1393f783df3&hl=en-us&udm=7&sxsrf=ANbL-n5NvRm8SBX0zOiJ-

8BHhaRDCeKV6A:1780148472511&q=adding+machine+tape+quilting&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwitzOfqkeGUAxXZqisGHXmmIAAQ8ccDKAJ6BAgaEAQ&biw=1180&bih=755&dpr=2#fpstate=ive&ip=1&vld=cid:999af57d,vid:lWXJ_IyZyEg,st:0 

     

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Here are just a few of the many designs ideas to included these ribbons in a quilt. My final design will depend on what I will receive from you to play with.