Last week I made a long blog post on this project. If you would like more detailed information on this project, please scroll back through the posts for this year. Since I posted last week, I have been working on putting together denim strips. I have been cutting denim strips for the project and sewing them into thirty-inch strips. Since not all of the strips are long enough on their own, I have two sew two or three pieces together. Then the pieces have to be folded in half to find the center line, and the outer edges are folded into the center. Once the strips are folded, they are sewn along the open edge. This minimizes the fraying. My week has been very busy, but I managed to get thirty-one strips completed.
Making the strips is quite time consuming. I have streamlined the operation somewhat, so I thought I would mention that today. When I first started making the strips I was ironing each one in half and then ironing again with the outer edges folded into the middle. I was even pinning the strips so that they would not come apart. This made the sewing go faster, but it was adding to the prep time for each strip. After experimenting with a couple of different methods, I finally decided that the strips did not need pinning. Nor did they need me to be so meticulous with the ironing.
What I am doing now is folding the strip in half and ironing it down so that I have an easily visible center line. After I have many strips folded in half I go to the sewing machine. I fold the out edges of the length of the strip to the center and sew across the end of the strip to secure it. With the needle down, I turn the strip lengthwise and slowly fold in the fabric to the center as it is sewn down. It means starting and stopping the sewing machine frequently. Stop with the needle down, or turn the knob to drop the needle when you stop. Before I sew the next segment, I check to make sure the edges of the open side are even. When reaching then end of the strip, turn the strip crosswise and sew back and forth to secure the fabric. This is not a quick process, but it is quicker than what I was doing before, with no loss of quality in the strip.
I have not done any weaving on the rug this week. I am considering making an adjustment to the strips that are already woven. I have a small amount of very light denim. It is such a pale blue that it is almost white. There are two strips of it woven into the rug. It really stands out from the other fabrics. The strips are also a very light-weight shirt fabric and they tend to deform when the other strips press up against them. I don't think I have enough of it to make it look as if it really belongs in the rug. I will remove those strips and replace them with a different color. Sometimes I have to make adjustments to the project. That is okay. Not everything is perfect on the first attempt.
That is where I am on the project at this time. Before I go further, I want to have the rest of the strips made. That will help me make sure that I don't have too much of one color of denim in one place. At this point, I have just about reached the end of the denim jeans I have available. I will need to get some more, before I can complete the strips.
I will be blogging about my quilt project next week. Hopefully, that will keep the blog posts on the project from becoming monotonous.
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