String Quilts: The Scrappiest of Scrappy Quilts

I like scrappy quilts.  It is how quilts were made in years gone by.  But I think my favorite of the scrap quilts are the string quilts. String quilts are made of irregularly width strips of fabric often sewn to a foundation of fabric or paper.  I like string quilts because even the smallest fabric piece is used so nothing goes to waste and they are random in color and fabric design

String Quilt

The earliest string quilts appeared around the 1880s; although you won’t find many existing today.  They were definitely utilitarian quilts so used up and worn out. To me utilitarian quilts were the most loved quilts.

Now I mentioned that string quilts were sewn on a foundation of paper or fabric.  This isn’t the type of paper piecing we find today where fabric is sewn in a certain way and certain order and a picture or particular design is completed.  This foundation is just to hold the fabric in place while the block is being sewn.

Any fabric width can be used. In fact the more variety of fabric widths, the more interesting of a quilt you will have.  You can even start with a string that is one width at one end and another width at another end.  No one says the fabric has to stay the same width

Look at the sunflower strip in the yellow block.
Not the same width from one end to the other. 

With string piecing you do not have to follow the grain of the fabric and any fabric can be used: cotton, polyester, flannel, rayon, or even knit.  It won’t stretch because it is sewn to a foundation.

Any type of paper can be used as the foundation.  I have a friend who uses the pages from her old telephone books.  I often use old exams from the classes I teach at a local college. Sometimes I use the whole sheet and sometimes I cut it into smaller squares or rectangles depending on the type of quilt I am making.  Once the block is sewn, you remove the paper (and by the way it is very satisfying to rip those papers off the fabric block. Great stress reliever.)  Although I read somewhere that back in the 30s and 40s, the paper was kept attached when quilted to add another layer of insulation.  Remember bedding like quilts weren’t often washed so the paper remained intact.

Blocks dating to the 1940's

As a side note, if you ever come across string blocks still attached to newsprint, take a look at the paper.  It is fun to see what went on at that particular time in history.  A friend found some unquilted string blocks at a flea market.  They dated back to the 1940's.  There were ads for movies and news about local teams and local events. My two favorites was an ad for a man’s suit at a price of $34.85 and a local store giving a comforter away to the first baby born in 1943.  

Suit ad on the back of a string quilt block.

Baby Comforter ad on the back
of a string quilt block.

If fabric is used for the foundation, it is best to use cotton.  You don’t want the foundation fabric to be stretchy because the block can become distorted.  And a lighter color is the best so the color of the foundation fabric doesn’t show through the string fabric.

The foundation shape does not have to be a rectangle or square.  My favorite is one that looks almost like a bowtie with two quarter circles cut from opposite corners. 

'Bowtie' String Quilt

Stars have been made of string pieces. 

Star String Quilt

  

Triangles are also a good shape (An equilateral triangle string quilt is on my bucket list.). 

Triangle String Quilt

If you like scrap quilt and have a lot of strips or strings you just can’t throw away, make a string quilt.  They are fun and just as comforting and warm as a color coordinated, rotary cut patterned quilt. 

© 2017 Cheryl Fillion