Stack 'n' Whack - Lesson 1
The Fabric and the Block
QuiltingCoach Penny
For years, quilters have used rotary cutters to cut their fabric, so there is nothing really that new about stacking fabric to cut it with a rotary cutter.
The uniqueness of the Stack 'n' Whack technique is that you stack squares of fabric, cut patches from the squares and then switch the fabric shapes in the stack just cut.
Using a very simple example -- stack a blue square beneath a red square and then cut the squares into quarters. This represents 2 blocks.
In one corner, switch a blue quarter-square (patch) and a red quarter-square (patch), bringing the blue patch to the top and the red patch to the bottom.
The result would be 3 red patches and 1 blue patch on the top block and 3 blue patches and 1 red patch in the bottom block.
Repeat the process with the patches in the opposite corner, and you will have two 4 patch quilt blocks with both colors.
I know this is stating the obvious, but using more than two different fabrics will give you more variations in your design.
So the question is -- what's the point when you can just cut strips of fabric, make squares and go from there?
And I agree. But, this is a very simple example. The real fun comes in the fact that you can make your cuts in all kinds of crazy directions, and because you are starting with a square (representing the block) and cutting several squares at the same time, the parts are interchangeable from layer to layer, and you know they will fit.
This gives you all kinds of design possibilities, and allows you to create blocks with odd-shaped patches and not worry about templates.
However, it also brings some challenges.
The first one is your fabric selection and placement of the fabric in the layers so you are assured of getting nice-looking blocks.
If your fabrics are too similar in color and/or value of color, the resulting blocks will be fairly monochromatic, and you may not be able to see the block design.
If that is the look you are after, then you will have succeeded. However, if you want your block to have an obvious design, you will need to make sure that your layers are placed correctly to accomplish that.
Fabric Selection
Since the beginning point is a stack of squares, I decided to start with a package of fabric currently available called a Layer Cake.
When I first discovered a bundle of Layer Cake fabric, I was unsure what the benefit would be in that purchase. Now I know.
The fabrics are coordinated, making the selection really easy, and the bundle includes 40 -- 42 squares -- already cut! Whew -- no cutting squares.
One small disadvantage is that the colors in the Layer Cake bundles are very coordinated, probably more so than I would choose for a different style quilt. However, the variety of fabric is very extensive, and it is much easier than pondering my stash or the bolts in the fabric shop to come up with the variety of fabrics available in the Layer Cake.
In looking at the stack of fabric in the Layer Cake I chose (a Moda Civil War selection), it occurred to me that the most important thing to pay attention to was the value of each of the fabrics.
Value, it turns out, is relative to the other fabrics in your collection. And the best way to figure out the relative value of fabrics is to remove the actual color.
Now that sounds like a strange thing to do, and may sound mostly impossible.
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| Ruby Beholder |
There are, however, a few methods for doing this.
The first one, which has been around for years, is to use a red filter. This can be in the form of a Ruby Beholder, as shown on the right.
The idea is that the red filter removes the color in the fabric leaving you with just the relative values of the colors.
To be honest, I've not had much success using this tool, but many quilters find it extremely helpful.
The square hole at the top of this particular tool allows you to see what a small square of your fabric would look like as it would appear in a patch in your block.
Relatively recently, I discovered that I could scan a picture of my fabric into my computer and then use a photo editing software (Photoshop is what I use) and see the picture in grayscale. This effectively removes the color so you see only the relative values.
The Color Values in My Fabric Selection
The first step for me was to stack my fabric so I could take a picture of it.
Since I knew that I would probably be moving the fabrics around, I did not try to accurately place them by value, but you can see that most of the lighter fabrics are in the column second from the left on the next page.
Once I had a picture of the fabric scanned into my computer, I copied it in grayscale, and the values became obvious.
My goal was to arrange the fabric in rows with the lights in one row, the mediums in one or two rows and the dark fabrics in one or two rows.
With my grayscale picture in hand, I returned to the fabrics and made a second attempt to sort them properly.
This attempt was better, but still not perfect. I continued the process of moving the fabrics until I got them placed the way I wanted.
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The second attempt at sorting the fabric by value |
This is the grayscale of the second attempt. |
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This is the third attempt. |
The third attempt in grayscale. You can see that there are still medium fabrics mixed in with the dark fabric, and a dark at the bottom of a column of medium fabric. |
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And the fourth attempt. |
The fourth attempt in grayscale. This is interesting to me in that there seems to be a dark-dark and a medium dark. |
Now that I have a better understanding of the values of each of these fabrics, I will be able to layer the fabric to get the desired effect.
The Block
As you might imagine, there are many books written about Stack 'n' Whack quilts, with many tempting designs.
However, for a first quilt, I wanted something that was going to be relatively easy.
In wandering through my big book of quilt blocks, I found a block called Broken Rainbows, and it seemed like it offered some nice possibilities.
The block itself is created using 4 sections; two different designs.
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Patch 1 |
Patch 2 |
The Broken Rainbows Block |
You may notice that Patch 1 is in the upper left corner and the bottom right corner, while Patch 2 is in the upper right and bottom left.
The colors I have used are mostly to see how the values play in the block. I will work out the use of my specific fabrics in the next lesson.
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Happy Quilting!
Penny Halgren
TheQuiltingCoach
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