Free Pattern + Strip Piecing Tutorial

Strip piecing is a fast and efficient way of piecing a quilt. It won’t work for every quilt, but for patterns like our upcoming Laura's 4-Patch, and the classic Irish Chain (pattern below), strip piecing eliminates hours of cutting and sewing.

Now there are a few downsides to strip piecing. For one thing, if you are making a scrappy quilt, it will never look quite as scrappy or random as it would with traditional piecing if you use strip piecing. Second, there are certain patterns where it simply won't work. For example, the Gertrude's Star quilt pattern has many shapes and intricate details that cannot be achieved with strip piecing.

When piecing a quilt, you typically cut out each individual piece needed to form the blocks. You then sew all of these individual pieces together. With strip piecing, you cut the fabric once, let's say into a 3½" strip (cause that's what we've used in the pattern below!) and then sew it onto another 3½" strip. From here, you are then able to cut these now pieced strips into completed units, in a fraction of the time it would have taken you to cut and sew all of the individual pieces of the units together!

To demonstrate, we've written a pattern for an Irish Chain quilt, using the strip piecing method. 

from Fabric A cut:

(10) 3½" x WOF strips

from Fabric B cut:

(4) 3½" x WOF strips

(4) 9½" x WOF strips; sub-cut onto (13) 9½" x 9½" squares

from Binding fabric cut:

(6) 2½" x WOF strips

Sew a Fabric A strip onto either side of a Fabric B strip. Press seams towards Fabric B. Make two of Strip Set #1. Figure 1

Sew a Fabric B strip onto either side of a Fabric A strip. Press seams towards Fabric B. Make one of Strip Set #2. Figure 1

Cut each strip set into (12) 3½" x 9½" to make (24) of Unit #1 and (12) of Unit #2. Figure 2

Sew a Unit #1 on either side of a Unit #2. Figure 3 Press seams to the middle of the block.

Sew 9-Patch squares with Fabric B squares to create rows. Press seam towards Fabric B squares. Sew rows together. Figure 4 Press seams to one side.

Sew the short sides of the remaining Fabric A strips end to end. Press seams open. Cut (2) 3½" x 45½" strips and (2) 5½" x 51½" strips. Figure 5

Sew a 45½" strip to each side of the quilt. Press seams to the border. Sew a 51½" strips to the top and bottom of the quilt. Press seams to the border. Figure 5

Now you are ready to make your quilt sandwich. Once you've done that, quilt as desired. Attach binding and voila, you're done!

New to borders? You can find a tutorial on how to properly attach borders here on our sister site: Lindley General Store - How To Attach Borders to A Quilt Top

Did you learn anything new from this tutorial? Would you make this quilt? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!