Vintage Style String Me Along
Hello Dear Friends and Readers and a warm welcome to today’s post. I have spent about one month in Western Australia and that time has been amazing and so interesting. If you follow me on FB or Insta you can see some of the photos there.
Now I am black home and it’s good to be here. My sewing room has been calling and I must say it is somewhat of a mess and needing a good tidy up! I thought I would start with a box of scraps which was doing nothing. A collection of all sorts of odd shapes and different fabric lines, chucked into the box from various different projects over time. In order to make some room and be able to get back to some basic machine stitching, i decided to make some string blocks with this fabric.
I sorted out the pieces and cut them very roughly into odd strips. Better pieces of fabric I cut into strips and added to my pile which may be used for a log cabin in the future. Lessons in Log Cabin Blocks It didn’t take that long and can be way more fun than hauling yardage. The piles of strips look very nice and my pile of rough strings gave a sense of achievement. As always, there is more fabric than anticipated and I’m pretty sure I can create at the very least, a baby quilt or a lap quilt.
In the pile I also have two old thin pillow coverings, so I cut them up to use as the foundation for the string blocks. My vision is a vintage style looking quilt which is homey and full of delightful strings. Depression era quilts were sometimes made of strings of fabric in this manner in order to use what was already available and then recycled into a quilt top. This lead to some very pretty quilts with a lovey mixture of fabrics. They often used the fabric feedsack bags to make clothing and quilts. It is a great look. The way the blocks will be positioned will give plenty of interest.
Begining by placing a string in the centre of the foundation block on the diagonal, making sure that it overhangs the edges. Cover with another string, right sides down lining up the sewing edges as much as possible. Sew, making at least a 1/4” seam. Make two blocks at a time so that it keeps the flow going and doesn’t use as much thread. Press the fabric strip open. I use a wooden thing or finger press well before adding the next strip. I even used up old bobbin thread which is actually great because now my bobbins are cleaned up as well!
This is how it looks from the back before trimming. It may look a little distorted because the foundry=tion was very thin however that will not matter once the block is trimmed.
I remember PJ from Quilting time in Dixie saying that she used old thin sheets for the foundation blocks and that seemed like an excellent idea to me.
In order to keep this as simple as possible I used my regular 6” ruler to cut the fabric into 6” x 6” squares to use for the foundations. This made it very easy to trim the blocks after pressing. this is how it looks from the front before trimming.
I used my trusty old treadle to make these blocks. Having been out of use for a while she responded to a good oiling. That is one of the advantages of this machine. The maintenance is easy, just give a good oiling! Treadle Tinkering
I plan to put the blocks together like this. I really like the pattern and it looks good from every side. I hope you can feel inspired dot make some string blocks. Loads of fun. It doesn’t require over thinking which means that it progresses very quickly.
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like these other string projects.
Any String Goes – Pineapple Improvisational String Quilt Blocks
String Pot Holders or Trivets for Christmas
quilted christmas scrappy string stockings
Crazy Little Strings – Diamond Charms Quilt Block and Tutorial
“End of Day” Quilters Basket – Free Tutorial
Thank you for joining me today and as always I wish you happpy stitching.
All the best, Susie.
© Susan Stuklis 2026
