Ok this is old school alright. I'm late to the gate for sure, but I layed awake last night thinking about all the old phone books that are gathering dust. I get almost 6 a year. Not as big as they use to be because people have cellphones. 
I ripped out pages and decided I would use them for foundation sewing. Well I got the hint from watching Bonnie K. Hunter's "Quilt Cam" on Wednesday night. She used a paper foundation to make strips out of scraps. She called it making fabric from scraps. 
So I cut the square size I wanted which is 3.5 inches square. I wanted a 6 inch square when I got done. 
I started sewing strips that had been cut for miniatures a long time ago. They have been in a box on my shelf and I decided I would see how a few blocks would go. 
Pressing and small stitches are the key. Then trimming off the excess to make the square a square.
Then the fun comes with ripping of the backing. It is thin paper because it is a phone book. The real tiny stitches make the perforation in the paper release quickly. They are colorful string pieces when they are finished
This is the container I have. Most are 1 inch or 1.5 inch strips. Some small some longer. So we will see how long it takes to empty it out. 
3 comments:
those blocks are the start of a pretty quilt. I think you will have fun with that and use up some of the pieces of fabric that might never have gotten used otherwise.
nice looking blocks. I have a tote full of strings and every once in a while I do the same thing - just start putting them together.
I love sewing string quilts and it is a joy to me to mindlessly sew them--no color choices, just put your hand in the bin,grab a piece of fabric and sew the strip on, and call it beautiful! I make mine a bit differently though. I use dryer sheets as the foundation by slicing them into six inch squares. The dryer sheet is not removed--it adds a teensy bit of extra warmth, I figure, as I generally use low loft poly batting. (Why poly and not a blend? Cotton has "memory" but poly does not, meaning the cotton batting remembers how it has been folded and a bump may remain a bump but poly just goes flat when you smooth out the folds. You probably already knew that). Then I center a black (my favorite color to use) 1.5" strip diagonally over two points and sew my colored strips (of any small width) on either side. The black ends up being the sashing, which eliminates another step in the process. I even use wedges, which gives a caterwonky shape for the next fabric and adds interest. The colors in your quilt are mesmerizing!
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