Here's the first completed block for my Echino Improv Quilt! The rest of this post will walk through my process for making it.
Before I start, I want to mention that the whole concept of improvisational piecing is wide open to interpretation. Different quilters interpret improvisation in different ways. There are all kinds of tips and tricks out there, but I don't think there's any one "right way" to do it.
For me, this is an improv project because I'm starting without a pattern, only a loose plan. It means that I plan to approach each block as a fresh part of the project and not worry too much about precise angles and measurements.
Remember those sets of four Echino pieces? Each of those is going to be the starting point of a block in this quilt. The four pieces above are my starting points for this block.
My first step was to pull coordinating solids from the stack I had chosen earlier.
Once I knew what fabric I was going to be working with, I made a quick little sketch of a block design. No measurements or anything like that -- just a quick little sketch.
My main ideas for this block were a) framing the bird cutout in Ivory, b) vertical strips on the left side of the block, and c) using that dot piece in the upper-right corner. I started by piecing those three components of the block.
Next, I filled in the negative space surrounding each component with a solid orange fabric.
From there, it was just a matter of joining the three components. I squared off the corresponding edges of the two pieces on the right and sewed them together.
Then I squared off the corresponding edges and sewed together the left and right halves of the block.
The only measuring I plan to do in this project is squaring up each block with my 15" x 15" ruler. Unfortunately, when I went to square up this block, I found that it wasn't quite big enough. I suppose that's the downside to not measuring!
The good news is that, with a project like this, it was pretty easy to just add another strip of fabric. I squared off the bottom of the block and added a strip of red solid fabric.
I should note that, when I refer to "squaring off" an edge, I don't mean that I'm making that edge square (i.e. at a 90 degree angle) with the sides of the block. I just mean that I'm creating a straight edge along which to sew. My "squared off" edges are all at slightly random angles.
With the red fabric added, the block was large enough to trim to 15" x 15".
And here it is after trimming!
