Seminole Patchwork Band

The strip of blue squares I used to separate the upper from the lower case letters in my alphabet sampler quilt is an example of Seminole Patchwork. There were a few books about this technique published in the early 80's, and I have them all. They are now out of print, but some newer ones are available. Last summer, I posted pictures of a Gizzy Quilt I made for my cat Jasmine using Seminole Patchwork.


(You can click the photos to enlarge.)

This band is very simple to make. The fabric is cut into strips. Here the white is 2" and the blue is 1-1/2". I cut two strips of white, and one of blue, and sewed them together using a 1/4" seam. I pressed the seams away from the middle. Next, cut crosswise at a 90 degree angle into 1-1/2" pieces.Sew pairs together, offsetting the pieces like so. You can use the seams to line them up, as shown here.
Sew the pairs together using a 1/4" seam. Don't bother pressing them yet.Sew your pairs together, as shown.
When all your pieces are sewn together, they should look like this.
Now you can press.To get a band with a straight edge, just cut somewhereAnd then join the cut piece to the other end.You have to be careful when trimming the points on these bands. Remember, it is completely on the bias. If you look carefully at my blue band in yesterday's post, you will see the band wobbles a bit.

No, I am not ripping it out.