I used to sell my gift items to a local gift shop. Over the 12 yrs I sold to her I made alot of pieced items. I am always on the lookout for anything that saves time and effort.
While watching some of the Quilt shows on TV I developed my own shortcuts.
I call it the Cut Down Method.
You cut fabric swatches and sew them together and then using a template you cut out the center into a unit I call a "Block". when I was cutting out HSTs(half square triangles) I would sew strips together and then open the strips and lay the template on there and cut out the HSTs. This was my first shortcut.
Then I thought what if we use 3 fabrics. So I experimented with 3 and this is what it looks like:
1. Cut swatches of fabric
2. Sew 2 together
3. Sew on the third swatch
4. Lay template on the seams
5. Cut out the block from the center with a template
6. Ta-Da! a Boston Block made with the cut down method
Directions for these are in the tabs above
Star Point Block Combination Drunkard's Path
Wings Block 4 patch Blocks Kansas Dugout
Each one is the same basic principle but there are slight variations. One might be 3 fabrics but cut a bit differantly One uses 4 fabrics instead of 3.
Check them out and try making some and see what you think of the process!!
Have fun! Rhonda
