String Fever: Filler Strings
I just finished another row of my Ziggy Strings quilt, with just 2 more rows to go. I feel another row coming on this weekend. It's so satisfying to watch a messy pile of strings transform into beautiful, quilty cloth!
So, one of the more creative ways to use strings is to piece them together to create a sort of cloth and then cut them into shapes as needed for any quilt style. I think of these as "filler strings" because they are placeholders for another shape. The sky's the limit! Here are some examples I've found in the wild...
This is an old favorite by Philistine Made. She's using strings to fill out half square triangles laid out in a Roman Stripes. Her cut strips are just 1 1/4", so that's really small scale. How inspiring for those tiny bits, right? (psst... my limit for saving is 1" wide)
More recently I pinned this pretty piece of genius by Nova at A Cuppa and a Catch up. Her strip scraps were put to good use standing in for equilateral triangles. When I've made scrappy quilts before, I often feel frustrated with the visual effect until I control the color make up somewhat. Otherwise it just get's so chaotic. I like how Nova alternated with plain white so she could use every random thing. Looks great!
The Peace circle of do. Good Stitches is actually doing a filler strings project right now, using a heart tutorial by Don't Call Me Betsy. The strings are replacing small square and half square triangles. This green example is Handmade By Melissa.
Here on a much larger scale, Simply Robin used solid strings to build squares and rectangles for this improv-style quilt. The effect is like a textured print - simple, but with such depth.
Well, I'm definitely feeling silly for ever looking at my string scraps with contempt. Seriously, I was acting like there was nothing much exciting to do with them. So many possibilities, right? I'm glad you guys were game for a string-along. I totally needed it! Hope it's been as cathartic for you as well!!