Prevarication - the father of invention

Isn't it amazing what you can get done when you don't want to do a task?!

In an effort to avoid basting my latest project I've cleaned the sewing room, tidied and rearranged fabric, made other blocks...basically anything I could to avoid scrambling around on my knees on a hard floor basting. 

But by Friday night I knew that the prevarication had to come to an end. This child is going to be attending elementary school before her baby quilt is done! 

So that night I smoothed, taped, sprayed and stuck the pieced backing, batting and top together in preparation for quilting. With the horrible bit out of the way, quilting was quickly underway. 

As the blocks are drunkards path, I decided to go with an all over paisley free motion quilting quilting pattern so that the curvy lines matched the blocks. All credit to Leah Day for the quilting design (and teaching me pretty much everything I know about quilting).

 There's a distinct risk that this quilt might actually be finished this year. Eek.

The (easily explained) UFOs

I'm a child of the 90s so one of my favourite programmes growing up was the X-Files. Mulder and Scully's ever lasting search for answers reminds me of trying to find that fat quarter I know is in my stash somewhere...

Something I am ever conscious of (and couldn't escape even if I wanted to) is my pile of UFOs - unfinished objects.

When I started quilting I made myself a promise that I wouldn't start a project until I'd completely finished the last one. Yeah, that didn't last long.

To date my UFO list includes:-

Craftsy BOM 2012 - needs borders (they're cut and just need adding), basting, quilting and binding
Craftsy BOM 2014 - needs basting, quilting and binding
Hey Mister DJ - needs basting, quilting and binding
Indigo Crossing Jacob's Ladder - needs basting, quilting and binding
Re-piecing the Past -  needs basting, quilting and binding

Can you see a theme emerging? I basically run out of steam when I finish piecing a top. And they're just the ones I can immediately think of!

Maybe my resolution for next year should be to finish a UFO a month?

(Sort of) finish it up Friday

Ok, so I have actually haven't finished this quilt but I've finished the blocks for this month - that counts right?!

Come to think of it, this week has all been about finishing up tasks for the month. Today is the turn of the Moda Building Blocks BOM project by Simply Solids.

This month we finished the last of the 12" blocks and also joined section B of the quilt together.

In all honesty we could have joined at least one of the other sections together too as we have finished all the blocks but no doubt this is a task for another month.

I loved the 12" blocks; they're so much easier to deal with than the behemoth 36" ones or the 28" ones. I'm not looking forward to those tiny 6" ones - those flying geese are going to be nightmarish!

Basting a large quilt

Whilst collecting quilts to take to the Auction of Promises, it occurred to me how many WIP I have. Many of the tops have been completed (or almost completed) and I have backs for but haven't basted. The reason? I hate basting. REALLY hate it.

I've watched numerous videos and read tons of articles where people show you how to baste but they always use little baby quilts or smaller. I don't make quilts that small - all of mine are lap size or bigger. The mechanics of moving that weight of quilt around tires me out just thinking about it. 

My technique is fairly straight forward but does include a bit of manual labour. I dare anyone to find a basting technique for larger quilts that doesn't.

1. Find a willing victim. My housemate is now very experienced (and bless him, willing!) in basting.

2. Clear out a large area with a hard surface. I use our tiled conservatory floor. Make sure it's as clean as you can get it.

3. Grab some pins or curved safety pins, some sticky tape (I find masking tape the best) and something to baste with (I use spray but pins and tags work well too).

4. Fold your backing material in half lengthwise and mark each edge of the fold with a pin or safety pin inserted exactly in the crease of the fold. This marks the centre of each short side. Unfold the back and refold it widthwise. Mark the centre of each long side with a pin or safety pin. Your back should now have a pin in the middle of each side.

5. Unfold the back and lay it out, as smoothly as you can, on your surface with the wrong side up. Smooth out as many wrinkles as you can and tape down the edges, about every 5-6". Don't over stretch the back - you want it smooth, not taut. 

6. Lay your batting on top of the back, ensuring that it's as evenly spread out as possible. Smooth out any big wrinkles but don't worry too much about small ones - they'll quilt out.

7. If you are using basting spray, fold your batting back away from half of your quilt and spray the exposed wrong side of the back lightly with basting spray. Relay the batting back on top and smooth out, repeat with the other half of the back and batting. You should be able to tell when you reach the mid point of the batting where you've already sprayed as it won't lift easily from the back anymore.

8. Repeat step 4 with your quilt top.

9. Lay your quilt top down on top of your batting, wrong side down ensuring that the pins marking the centre of the sides of the quilt top line up with the pins in the centre of the backing. They won't lay perfectly on top of each other because your top will be smaller than your backing but they should be in line.

10. Either pin all over with curved safety pins or repeat step 7 if you are using basting spray.

11. Carefully remove the masking tape from the backing and quilt your sandwich!

If this doesn't motivate me to do some basting, nothing will!

Orphan blocks

Whenever anyone mentions the word "orphan", I don't think of Dickens's Oliver or Orphan Annie. Instead I think of this little guy

I'm a classic Tom and Jerry fan (Fred Quimby all the way!). Did you know that the cartoon "The Little Orphan" won an Oscar?!

I always seem to end up with orphan blocks at the end of a project. I don't know whether I miscalculate how many blocks I need or always over-estimate but, in most projects, there are a few bits left over. Sometimes I put them into the backing fabric - handy if it's too narrow -  but often I'm left with them.

Here's a few from my latest projects.

Any suggestions? I hate to waste good fabric!

Foundation paper stars with Carol Doak

What seems like an age ago I bought a Craftsy class with Carol Doak. Carol was lecturing on foundation piecing and the class project with a quilt of stars. Isn't it gorgeous?

I love the accuracy and simplicity of paper foundation piecing. Plus I love the organised feeling that the pattern of "sew-press-trim" gives you. In my case it's the illusion of being organised but still, I can pretend.

In the lull before my commission begins I thought this would be a great project to make a start on because it's easy to pick up, stop and restart at any point.

I've started pieced the first four twinkle stars together and will try to get them finished before the quilt  auction on Friday. I have half my part As done and have just started my part Bs.

Natural clumsiness vs a hot glue gun Aka making a mini design board

I've been crushing on Lori Holt's mini design board for a while now and this week I finally collected the raw materials and had a go.

The idea of the board is that it's covered in batting so provides a nice amount of fraction and keeps your cut pieces in place whilst you carry them to your sewing machine and piece. Having put together the Fat Quarter Shop Snapshots block last month which had over 30 tiny pieces, I wanted something nice and secure to stop my little 3/4" squares from flying away again!

I've never used a glue gun before (let alone owned one) so gluing the batting and binding in place was a bit challenging, particularly for one as clumsy as me. Yes, I glue my fingers. Quite a few times. Ouch.

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I might try and get some bigger pieces of foam board and make a larger one for bigger blocks. Once my fingers have recovered that is...

Sewing to the beat of someone else's drum and a plea to all knitters!

To date I've always made quilts and items to satisfy my own aesthetic - I picked the pattern, I picked the fabrics, I choose the quilting. Even when I made an item as a gift, I still design it from start to finished although bearing in mind the intended recipient.

But on Friday (hopefully!) someone will be bidding on and winning a quilt to be made by me but entirely chosen by the winner. Eek! The auction is to support a fantastic charity called "Let's Talk About William" which provides practical and welcome comfort and support to parents of still born babies.

Essentially it's a commission and I'll have no control over the fabric, the design or the end product. The complete lack of control was pretty scary until I had a reminder this week that that feeling is basically what a parent feels 100% of the time - you're marching (or sewing in my case!) to the beat of someone else's drum. And if I can raise some money for an awesome case whilst doing it, that's fine by me.

A final plea to all knitters - the charity is looking for some kind souls to knit identical pairs of blankets. One blanket will go with baby to their rest and the other will stay with Mum and Dad to provide comfort. If you'd like to help out, check out the charity's website.

Right I'm off the clear the decks of my WIPs before Friday rolls around.

Quilting gadgets and Recollection by Katarina Roccella

I'm a complete magpie when it comes to quilting tools and gadgets - if it's shiny, I want it. If it lights up, I want it. If I think it will save me 5 seconds of time, I want it.

Some purchases have been invaluable and some have been utter disasters.

In the "I couldn't live without" column:-

Sewslip quilting mat - so much cheaper than the Supreme Slider, this Teflon mat means I'm not fighting with my quilt quite as much as I would have been otherwise. I got mine from Quilt Direct.

Aurifil and Isacord for piecing and quilting respectively. Thousands of colours are available but I usually piece with 2024 from Aurifil (from Quilt Direct or Sew and Quilt)and quilt with white or block Isacord (from Barnyarns).

My small ironing pad and travel iron - they fit perfectly next to my sewing machine and mean that I don't have to keep going up and down stairs to press fabric. I can't for the life of my remember who I bought it from but I got it at the Festival of Quilts last year.

In the "Er, it seemed a good idea at the time" column:

Hand quilting hoop - I tried, I failed. I'm far too impatient and clumsy to hand quilt and am awe and inspired by those who do.

1/4" foot with fixed metal guide - I found it more difficult to sew with the guide as I couldn't see exactly where the edge of my fabric was. I now use a clear plastic 1/4" foot without a guide.

Cheap scissors - you definitely get what you pay for with scissor and I didn't pay much for these so...

Have you ever anything you regret? Or now wonder how you lived without?

Finally have you seen Katarina Roccella's new "Recollection" line for Art Gallery Fabrics? How gorgeous is this range?

Let them eat cake and...cake!

The final part of my Fat Quarter Shop Snapshots kit came this week so, already two months behind, I thought I best crack on with things. I try to keep up with quiltalongs as the months pass or I find myself in September with nine blocks to do in one month (see Leah Day's building blocks from last year, oops!).

January's Snapshot block was "Let Them Eat Cake" - an iced layer cake block so pretty it's almost edible.

It's fairly basic to out together - all straight seams and a few snowballed corners. The only bit which requires some thought is marking the diagonal lines on the back of the squares with text print so that, when sewn and flipped over, the text is still readable. I confess to having to check every time that I had it the right way around.

Working on such a pretty cake inspired me to make some of my own.

These chocolate and raspberry butter-cream beauties are from Sally's Baking Addiction. I dare you to go on the site and not want to make at least one recipe!

I'm off to stuff myself with sugary goodness whilst cutting the pieces for my next block. I think rotary cutting whilst on a sugar high should be classified as a contact sport.

Double squee!

I had two definite "squee!" moments today.

The first was when I received my final part of the Fat Quarter Shop Snapshots quiltalong kit. If you're not already aware, Fat Quarter Shops quiltalong this year is to benefit St Jude's Children's Reasearch Hospital which is a specialist children's hospital in Texas.

The cake and sewing machine blocks are from January and  February respectively so I need to catch up this weekend

The second "squee!" moment came when by EQ7 package turned up. I've had a (very brief) play with it and it's clear that I need a lot longer to get to grips with it! Hopefully it'll save me some time and graph paper in the long run!

Two lies and a truth about free motion quilting

I'll be the first to admit to being a novice at FMQ; I've only been trying for a few years. If you're looking for a complete, professional guide to starting free motion quilting this isn't it!

There are many great resources out their for beginners. Some you have to pay for (the incredible Angela Walters's Craftsy classes jump to mind immediately or even a class at your local quilt shop) and some are free (everything you could ever want to know is available at Leah Day's website which regularly had new videos and projects). It's all out there.

There are a few things which have jumped out at me over the last few years of learning - two of them no-one ever tells you and one which I wish I'd realized sooner.

1. You can't FMQ on any old sewing machine. Some people will tell you that you can use any machine that can sew a straight stitch and, whilst that might technically be true, in my experience that isn't true for a beginner. My baby Brother machine couldn't drop its feed dogs; instead Brother provided a little plastic plate to cover them up. Unfortunately the first time the quilt sandwich pushed against the plate, it popped up, blocked the needle, which then snapped and pinged up in my face. Twice. After dicing with an eye injury I had to admit defeat and straight line quilt instead.

2. Some designs just aren't possible on a domestic machine. Those beautiful designs you've seen on award winning quilts were probably done on a long arm machine where the quilter can access the whole width of the quilt top in one sweep. Don't get me wrong - there are lots of awesome patterns that you can achieve on a domestic machine if you can only access 10" square or so of your quilt at any one time, some patterns are going to be out of reach.

3. Now for the truth. A friend of a friend was recently playing the piano with a grace, fluidity and accuracy I could only envy. After he had finished, I said to him "there's a magic button someone on the piano that lets you play like that, right?!". "Yes", he replied "but they only show you where it is after the 700th hour of practice."

FMQ requires practice, regularly. When I started out I wanted to be able to flawlessly quilt feathers, spirals, flowers and more. And I wanted it now. No waiting. I've now grudgingly accepted that I need to keep practicing to stay good and get even better. One day I'll find that magic button, I know it's there somewhere.

Back to basics

Today I finished off the Quilt As You Go sashing between the rows of the Leah Day Building Blocks quiltalong. All I need to do now is trim up the edges and bind it. It's so great to have to miss out the horrible basting bit!

The blocks in this quilt are a lot simpler than I normally tackle and I must confess that I didn't originally start this quilt because of the piecing. Instead I wanted to use it to practise my free motion quilting. And whilst I did get a lot of great quilting practise (my circles are now great so long as I can mark the quilt top!), the piecing was a good reminder about fundamental blocks and techniques. With huge four patches in high contrast fabrics, there's no room to hide if your points don't perfectly match up. It's a good reminder to me that, amidst all the fancy needle point applique and bias bars, it don't mean a thing if your 1/4" seam is off.

On a separate note, how cool is this back?! I need to add a monochrome quilt to my bucket list. You can't get more basic than b&w.

The impossibility of random

Most of today was spent joining the rows of Leah Day's Building Blocks Quiltalong. The project is a "quilt as you go" project so, having pieced and quilted 42 individual blocks I now had the task of joining the blocks together in rows and (tomorrow) the rows into a quilt.

Although Leah's pattern just called for two fabrics to be used for the whole quilt, I decided to use a variety of bright solids, one per style of block. Ironically Leah later produced a Spoonflower cheater cloth which was almost identical to my finished quilt - great minds think alike! 

Here's my quilt ready to be finished off with the sashing between the rows.

Despite changing my fabrics, I still closely followed Leah's pattern so, when it called for the blocks to be sewn together in a particular order, I still followed along. Because I had used different colours to Leah, that meant the some of the neighbouring blocks had high contrast, some low. 

I'm normally a very "matchy-matchy" quilter; my nightmare is a pattern that says "randomly sew one piece A to one piece B". But what if the fabrics match?! Or clash?! Or there isn't enough contrast?! I don't think I'm ever going to manage to sew a scrappy project because my quilts and fabrics have to be planned out to the n-th degree. This was a real problem in the Mister DJ quilt where I was meant to randomly sew strips together. I confess I didn't but it still came out great. 

Happily it's not just me that had a problem with choosing things at random. Apparently humans are pre-programmed to find patterns and create order and can't therefore make truly random choices. Even when we think we are making random choices, we're actually still broadly following a pattern.

The fact that Leah's quilt now has two neighbouring pink blocks and a few clashing colour combinations is actually great - for once I've actually been random! Although technically I suppose I'm still following Leah's pattern so I'm not really being random after all. Drat.

Moda Building Blocks pattern by Simply Solids

Along with lots of other quilters I'm currently piecing together the Moda Building Blocks pattern. One of my favourite shops, Simply Solids are running the pattern as a block of the month club using Kona by Robert Kaufman solids. They've cleverly matched all the tones and hues of the original pattern to produce an almost identical finished quilt.

So far we've pieced the HUGE 36" blocks, a 30", 24" and 18" blocks and we're now working our way through the 12" blocks. Still to come are some 6" blocks with tiny pieces. Yay!

Here's some pics of the larger blocks...

And some of the smaller ones...

Apart from one flying goose unit where I lost point and will probably redo, I'm fairly happy with them so far even though some of the techniques were not my usual style. For instance - I'm a "stitch and flip" flying goose girl. I know it wastes some fabric but I liked not having to sew those bias seams. Ditto for half square triangles where I like to create them two at a time by sewing down the middle of squares and then cutting them apart.

There's none of that in his pattern where all the triangles are cut on the bias and then carefully pieced together. I've talked before about why I love BOM projects and this is a good example of why. I would have stuck to my tried and tested methods if this project hadn't forced me to try something different. And now I have a new skill to show for all my hard (yeah right!) work.

Let's see whether I'm so sanguine after sewing those 3/4" seams in the 6" blocks!

First loves and first quilts

My first quilt was a Lemoyne Star, hand pieced with white satin and bronze crinkled polyester. Yes, crazy I know. The poor choice of block (for a beginner anyway) and fabric just shows how naive I was. I still haven't finished piecing it to this day and it sits, all alone, in a little box in the corner of my lounge. Poor thing, I must finish it at some point.

My second quilt was a brown and orange disappearing nine patch monstrosity (I nicked named it "Thing") which I machine pieced on my old Brother. I purposefully chose cheap and ugly fabric so that I would be disappointed if I ruined it. I tried to free motion quilt on the Brother but, despite what everyone tells you, it just wasn't possible on a machine which couldn't drop its feed dogs and had a very flimsy foot and ankle. After two broken needles and almost an eye injury, I ended up doing wobbly straight line quilting with a walking foot. But I didn't care about clashing fabric, mismatched seams or wonky lines - I was in love with quilting.

My third quilt was a simple window box design using a jelly roll and a charm pack of Town Square Quilts by Kathy Schmitz for Moda was straight forward sashing. The finished top was so beautiful that I didn't want to sully it with my feeble attempts at quilting so sent my little quilt top away to be quilted by someone else. And here it is in all its glory.

When I received the finished quilt I was delighted with the work but felt that I had somehow abandoned my little project. I'd bought, planned, cut and pieced it but had somehow let it down at the final hurdle. It didn't feel like my quilt anymore. The fact that the quilting was so perfect and finished the quilt so completely somehow made things worse. I was determined from that moment to find a way to quilt my own pieced tops. As a result, I bought Naomi, my Janome, and together we have pieced and quilted many quilts, play mats, candle cozies and more. 

So it wasn't my first quilt or even my first machine that got me hooked. But without that Lemoyne star and the very basic Brother, I wouldn't have Dresden plates, double wedding rings and Naomi.

Old blocks, new shoes

A couple of days ago I wrote about changing the pattern for the Craftsy 2014 block of the month. I had it all planned out and only had to sewing in some sashing to finish the new layout. I had it all planned out. It was going to look something like this...

But somewhere between starting the sashing and finishing sewing the final parts of the quilt together, I changed my mind again. I didn't feel that the quilt was balanced enough and would need a lot of border to bring it into balance. So at the last moment, I changed my mind again. Yes I know, that's at least the third time right?!

So, the final design looks like this. 

 Overall it feels more balanced and has the added bonus of no longer needed borders. Win-win!

Blocks of the month (Or "Block of the months"?)

Yesterday I trimmed up my individual blocks for the Leah Day Building Blocks Quiltalong. I had become seriously behind schedule and so ended up quilting all my blocks in the two weeks over Christmas and New Years. By the beginning of January I was done but was thoroughly sick of that quilt! So I put it to one side and worked on other projects until yesterday.

Don't the blocks look better all nearly trimmed?! 

Although my bin did end up looking like an A level textile student's final project...

Leah made her quilt two tone using blue and grey solids. I decided to use white as one solid and then switch between solid colours for each different block. The blocks are backed in a mixture of black and white geometric prints to give some contrast.

Now all I have to do is bind the blocks into a quilt. But that's for another day.

I like block of the month projects because I am, at heart, a lazy quilter. I practice one technique until I'm fairly good at it and then stick to the tried and tested. Block of the month projects force me out of my comfort zone and make me try new techniques and styles. I'm far too conformist (and cheap!) to sign up for a project and then miss bits out. Those circles in Leah's project were fairly rough to start with but by the end they turned out fairly well!

I try to sign up for at least one BOM a year, usually the Craftsy one at least because it's free. This year I'm also doing the Moda Building Blocks run by Simply Solids, the Snapshots and Gravity projects, both by Fat Quarter Shop. So far I've kept up but it's only February.

What is the plural of "block of the month" anyway?

Avoid getting the elbow aka how to cut perfectly straight strips from yardage

One of the big issues that I struggled with for a while was cutting straight strips of fabric from yardage. I always struggled with the bulk of the fabric and would end up with 44" long Z shaped strips. What a waste of fabric.

Eventually (and many yards later) I've perfected a technique that works for me and I've set it out below (along with some very basic pictures).

1. Get your tools ready. You're going to need a ruler that's at least 12" long and at least 4" wide (the wider the better). Your also going to need a clean cutting mat (no pins or lint please - running over a pin with your rotary cutter is a bad idea as I've discovered) and a rotary cutter with a sharp blade. If you can't remember when you changed the blade last you probably need to. And yes, that's a Fons and Porter Klutz Glove in the picture which is now wear when cutting. My New Years present to myself was cutting off the end of my left thumb. Ouch.

2. Check your pattern and work out how much yardage you need to cut right now. Not total, but just for now. Trying to cut 1.5" strips from a piece of fabric 4 yards long is a nightmare - you'll have yards of bulky fabric to deal with and if your workspace is anything like mine, it'll probably end up hanging off the end of your cutting table. This weight will drag your fabric down, causing you to miscut. If possible, try to sub cut your yardage into more manageable pieces, for instance yard wide pieces. If you're just cutting 20 4" squares now, you don't need more than a fat quarter.

3. Tear your fabric into smaller pieces. This is terrifying the first time you do it but it's worth it to avoid dealing with all that bulk. Make a small snip in the selvedge along the cross grain line (ie cutting into the fabric perpendicular to the selvedge) and firmly grip the fabric either side of the tear.

With firm, steady pressure pull the two edges of the tear apart. What a fab noise! You'll probably have to reposition your hands at least once and repeat to tear a whole width of fabric.

Don't worry about ending up with wonky pieces - the tear will follow the grain line. Once you have finished tearing, trim off any loose threads and tidy up any puckered edges by smoothing them out.

4. Iron. I hate ironing. Seriously, I buy no-iron clothes for a reason. But when it comes to yardage, I always iron. If you buy your yardage from a bolt, the folds are randomly put in by the machine operator at the factory and there is no guarantee that he (or she) evenly fed the fabric onto the bolt. If your fabric was posted to you, the shop will have folded the fabric so it fits neatly into their packaging. To ensure you get a clean cut you're going to need to remove those misleading folds or the fabric will always want to lay in that position again. If you're going to starch your fabric, now is the time to do that too. I iron rather than press at this point as there is no bias to worry about and, let's be honest, pressing yards of fabric takes too long.

5. Fold your fabric once. For me, this is the most important part of this whole process to get right. I have a small cutting mat so I fold my yardage twice so that it fits on my mat. Firstly, pick the fabric up along one selvedge, holding a corner in each hand between your index and middle finger. Hold the fabric taut between your two hands.  

Then pick up the parallel corner (ie the other corner on the same side) and hold this corner between my thumb and index finger.  Again, hold the fabric taut.

You should be holding the fabric in front of you in a U shape with the bottom of the U handing down.

Line the two selvedge edges up using your fingers so that they are even and parallel. If you only have none or only one selvedge (because you have a half yard or fat quarter) line up the top and bottom of the fabric.  Does the fabric hang straight down from your hands or is there a twist, crease or bubble in it? 
If it hangs straights, great! Lay it down on your cutting mat exactly as you are holding it. If the fabric doesn't hang straight, the grain lines aren't parallel and it's not a happy bunny. If you cut your fabric like this, you would end up with wonky pieces.

To line up the grain lines, slide the front piece of fabric a little to to the right, ensuring that the selvedges (or top and bottom of the fabric) stay perfectly parallel.

You're not moving the front piece of fabric up or down, just over to the right. Does the bottom now hang straight? If not, try moving it over to the left. Keep wiggling the front fabric until it hangs evenly, always ensuring that the selvdges are still parallel. Once your fabric hangs straight, lay in carefully down on your cutting mat.

6. Fold your fabric again. This step is optional but if you've got a small cutting mat like me, you can't fit 22" of fabric onto your mat safely (I've tried, there was blood...). Being careful not to change the way the fabric lays, bring the bottom fold up so that it lays parallel to the selvdge but ends just under the selvdge. This will save you some fabric when you cut off the selvdges. The selvedges and the single fold should now be at the top of your mat, the double fold at the bottom closest to you.

7. Check you are still square. Gently run your finger down the double fold closest to you. If your fabric is square, the double fold should feel the same the whole way across the fabric and you shouldn't feel any gaps or edges in the fold. If you do, you need to repeat the above.

8. Even up the edge. I'm right handed and have never mastered the art of cutting left handed so I trim up the right hand side of my fabric first. I use my whole ruler to line up along the bottom of the fabric to my left to ensure everything is square.

Then I trim off the left hand edge and check the bit of fabric I've just cut off. Is it straight? Is it all in one piece? If not, I retrim.

Once this edge is trimmed and straight, I hold the edge carefully but firmly with both hands and flip the whole fabric over so that now te cut edge is on my left.

9. I now cut the strips I need from the left hand side of the fabric. Every 3 pieces or so, I check to ensure that the cut strips are straight and, if necessary, I retrim the edge to square it up again.

You should now have perfectly square and straight pieces!