Prism99

I want to start cutting strips for scrappy log cabin quilts, but am hesitating over the width. With lots of fabrics, I can go as narrow or as wide as I want. I realize that 1.5 inch strips give the most design possibilities, but am a little hesitant over the additional sewing time and extra weight in the quilt (from the seam allowances), and maybe a little more difficulty machine quilting over all those seam allowances. I've made log cabin blocks with wider widths, but not the 1.5 inch cut width.

Any advice?

sharon b

I want to try one also, so will be watching to see what our experts say !

BellaBoo

Have you seen Jenny Beyer's Log Cabin pattern in McCall's magazine this month? It's amazing. http://www.mccallsquilting.com/articles/Kinabalu

The size log strips in it are 1 1/8" wide up to 1 3/4" wide.

ajpadilla

I would say it depends on the size of your blocks... are you making a miniature quilt or a bed-size quilt? If the blocks are very small, you might want to consider paper-piecing...

StitchinJoy

I like small strips because the give a lot of movement to the finished piece. But I most often use 2" strips because I am usually making quilts for Project Linus, and they need a lot of quilts-- fast!

Here's a link to a great article from the Quilt Study Center on Log Cabin quilts, showing different settings and explaining a lot of why they do what they do.
http://www.quiltstudy.org/includes/d...lleryguide.pdf

Holice

depends on the size block and which size would give a good balance and how much work you want to do. wider strips, shorter time, narrower strips, more time.

gollytwo

I've made a couple of log cabins; my first used 2 1/2" strips. This was way too wide although I loved the quilt - it was one of my first in the mid 70s and I didn't know much.
2" would be the widest I'd go. Courthouse might look okay with wider strips.
It's been on my mind to do a scrap one with a much larger center square and 1+1/2" strips.

bitty39

If you use two different widths you can makea curved kinda affect....as per below.

From memory they were 1" and 1 1/2"!

bitty39

If you use two different widths you can makea curved kinda affect....as per below.

From memory they were 1" and 1 1/2"!

gollytwo

Your work is beautiful