Cutting Quilt Block Pieces the Old Fashioned Way

Prior to the Civil War during the days of the Underground Railroad when quilts were made, quilt patterns were possibly made & shared on paper, most likely old newspaper. Many of us baby boomers learned how to quilt using the same methods except we used recycled cardboard from things like cereal boxes.  This will be the method used for this unit.

1. With a piece of whole cloth fabric in hand demonstrate the following terms:
     A.  Selvage- The factory finished edge of fabric.  Sometimes it contains the printed name of the manufacturer & colors used. The opposite side will be the middle fold of the fabric as it is folded & rolled on the fabric board.
     B. Weft- Concerning the weave of the fabric, the fibers that go left to right from selvage to selvage & perpendicular to the warp.
     C. Warp- Concerning the weave of fabric, the fibers that go the length of the fabric, or perpendicular to the weft fibers.
     D.  Bias- The diagonal across the weft and warp.  It has the most stretch & fabric will not ravel when cut on the bias.


2.  Point out that square pieces of quilt blocks should be cut on the weft and warp. The sides of the square pieces should be parallel to the weft and warp. The line made from corner to corner of a square pieces should lay on the bias.

3. Trace around 4 ½ inch cardboard squares (assigned earlier as homework) with a pencil. Note mechanical pencils work best as they have a thinner lead.

4. Demonstrate how a long cut using scissors is more accurate than short choppy cuts when cutting long.