Monday, July 24, 2017

The Challenge of Working With Precuts

I enjoy working with precuts, but they can present some real challenges. 


I thought I'd use this Moda Candy bundle to make a project bag. It's been sitting in my stash for a while, too pretty to actually use in a project (or that's what I'd convinced myself because the ruler print is so absolutely perfect. Last night the solution finally hit me. Sew the squares into two panels and make a bag -- can't mess the fabric up that way, right?

I was going to divide the squares into two piles and arrange the fabrics so that the colors were evenly distributed. Once I got started, it was like a particularly vicious math problem. There are sooo many of those tiny checks. And a bunch of the prints are directional. And the whole thing just started to make my head spin.


I thought I was close to figuring it out, putting my favorite prints on one side of the bag and the others on the back...except for all of those tiny checks. Some of them even have duplicates! Looking at the pictures as I type this, I can see lots of poor choices with the fabric placement, then I think of sewing them together and keeping every square in the right order and facing the right direction and I think I'll just take the boys down to the river instead of struggling with it.

I do love the fabric collection (Moda Potluck) and could do amazing things with a jelly roll or some yardage, but these little 2 1/2" squares may be the death of me. Or may go back into my drawer of fabric that's too good to cut into.

3 comments:

pajtr said...

I enjoyed reading your post!
This is too funny!
:-D
(But, then... I love math!)
You did a good job separating by color... But there's more to it than that...
Try this: first divide the duplicates up, into the two separate piles...
Then, divide the same-patterns (like the tiny dots) so they are as evenly dispersed as possible.
Then, as you arrange the pieces in a pile, don't put same-patterns next to each other (for example a small dot piece is not next to another small dot piece)... And try to have the bold/bigger-patterned pieces not next to each other, but surrounded on the sides by the more. "blender" type pieces (like those dots)...
Try this, and see what happens!
And, *have fun!*
:-D
Pat T.

chrisknits said...

It's just waiting for the perfect project! Cute fsbrics.

Amanda Best said...

I struggle with this sometimes, too, good luck!

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