Starling Quilt Sew Along Week 2: Cut Fabric

Join the Starling quilt sew along to learn extra tips on sewing flying geese, square-in-square blocks and picking fabric! suzyquilts.com

Hey you! Are you ready to rock, roll, and cut? I sure am because I LOVE when cutting is simple and straight forward. In Week 2 of the Starling sew along we cut our fabric. And guess what! It's all squares!! Can you believe we can make so many different shapes and quilt blocks from just a bunch of squares?

I've got some tips AND video tutorials to help you along the way. Like always, if you have any questions simply ask them in the comments below or add them to the sew along discussion happening in the Suzy Quilts Patterns Facebook group.

Starling Quilt Sew Along Schedule

  • Week 1, March 31: Gather fabric
    Sponsor: Lamb & Loom - Starling Quilt Kit (Gemstone) + surprise backing
    IG LIVE - @suzyquilts: Monday, April 3 @ 2pm Central - We discussed fabric selection + Q&A.
  • Week 2, April 7: Cut fabric
    Sponsor: Global Fiber - Flowering Trees by Oana Befort fabric bundle
  • Week 3, April 14: Sew square-in-square units
    Sponsor: Art Gallery Fabrics - LOTS of FQs 🙂
  • Week 4, April 21: Sew flying geese units
    Sponsor: Thai Charm - throw size quilting
  • Week 5, April 28: Assemble blocks
    Sponsor: Sewing Arts Center - $100 gift card
    IG LIVE - @suzyquilts: Tuesday, May 2 @ 2pm Central - We will discuss block assembly + a demo on 3 different ways to pin a block to get your seams to align.
  • Week 6, May 5: Finish quilt top
    Sponsor: Trace Creek Quilting - throw sized quilting
Join the Starling quilt sew along to learn extra tips on sewing flying geese, square-in-square blocks and picking fabric! suzyquilts.com

Week 2 Assignment: Cut Fabric

I had a moment of conviction over the weekend while I was baking muffins. An Instagram toddler food influencer (yes, that is a thing) had convinced me that I could get my kids to eat vegetables if I hid them in muffins. Her carrot and zucchini muffin recipe was sure to be a hit, she said. It was incredible easy, she said — foolproof, even!

Here's the thing about attempting something that's been labeled as foolproof. When you mess it up, you feel pretty bad about yourself. And friends, if it's kitchen related, there's a 50/50 chance I'm going to mess it up.

So, with antsy toddlers pulling on my legs, I sliced into one of my carrot-zucchini-applesauce-raisin muffins and... they were totally raw in the middle! I guess all of that produce made things pretty wet. So, after completely cooling them for 15 minutes, I stuck them back in the oven for a second bake. I don't know the rules about baking then cooling then rebaking muffins, but I'm guessing it's frowned upon.

Trending patterns!

Anyway, after the second cooling, I applied enough cream cheese on top that both of my kids ate them. So...total win!

Why did I share this story about a 30-something-year old struggling to make toddler muffins? It's because as a quilter of over 20 years, it is tempting for me to say that cutting fabric for the Starling quilt is incredibly easy — maybe even foolproof! But you know what I know from the depths of my heart? When you're new or even just new-ish at something, it's not easy.

So if at any point you find yourself getting frustrated during this quilt-making process, just picture me in a kitchen bumbling through toddler muffins. Okay? Picture that until you smile a little. Cause we're here to have fun! Oh, and speaking of Instagram, I saw this right after I made those muffins and it made me feel better. 😉

You can't waste time.

Tip #1: Iron all of your fabric.

It's a basic tip for some basic cutting! Iron your fabric before you cut. If you're a starch person, this is the point in the quilting process when you should spray starch all over your fabric. I actually like to water down my starch to make it last longer (cause I'm cheap!)

Check out this post for my trick to ironing creases out of FQs, The Best Way To Prepare Fat Quarters For Quilting.

Tip #2: Pay attention to the cutting diagrams on page 3.

If you're making the throw quilt like me, you can completely ignore the #4 cutting diagram. Divide your FQs into three piles:

  1. 5 FQs will use diagram #1
  2. 4 FQs will use diagram #2
  3. 1 FQ will use diagram #3

Tip #3: Stack your fabric.

People, you MUST have a sharp blade on your rotary cutter for this tip to work. If your blade is sharp enough, you should be able to cut 4-5 layers of fabric at a time. So stack your piles on top of each other, measure carefully, then slice. You will be finished so fast you won't even believe it!

Tip #4: Watch this tutorial video!

Guess who loves you so much she decided to film a tutorial video on cutting? ME! I just thought that on the off chance cutting fabric for you feels like toddler baking for me, you might like a little extra hand holding.

Tip #5: Layer Cake cutting instructions are on the blog.

If you are using a Layer Cake to make your Starling quilt, use the cutting diagrams found in this post, Make the Starling Pattern with a Layer Cake. Measure your 10" squares so you really know what you're working with. 

Sometimes they are exactly 10" from pinked tip to pinked tip. Other times they are a teeny bit big. Just make a mental note that if your measurements include the pinking, you should include the pinking in your seam allowance. Here's a little illustration to show you what I'm talking about.

Seam allowance when edges are pinked for a layer cake

On the left you did not include the pinked edge in your measurement so you can either trim it off, or exclude it from your 1/4" seam. On the right, you needed to measure all the way to the pinked tip to get 10". That means you need to measure the same way when sewing your 1/4" seam. 

We'll cover this in more detail once we start sewing.

Week 2 Sponsor & Prize

This week Global Fiber is our sponsor. The prize isa Flowering Trees Bundle of organic poplin from Birch Fabrics. Oooh la la! We love Global Fiber so much that we have included them on our special partnership Discounts page.

How to Win

  • Post a pic to Instagram. The photo prompt for Instagram this week is to post a pic of your Starling progress. Use #StarlingQuiltSA in the caption.
  • You must have a public Instagram profile to participate.
  • Each photo posted is an entry and you can enter as many times as you want in a single week. Once the week is over, those posts do not count in the next week's giveaway. Every week we start fresh.
  • Your photo must be posted between Friday, April 7 and Friday, April 14. The winner will be picked randomly from all qualifying posts and announced at approximately 4:00 p.m. on the 14th. Good luck!

22 thoughts on “Starling Quilt Sew Along Week 2: Cut Fabric

  1. Kathleen Cason says:

    Do you have suggestions on how to divide the FQs in piles? I have a mix of wovens and solids. My brain has not figured out yet which colors will go where.

    • Laura Hopper says:

      Hi Kathleen! Here’s what our tech editor recommends: “It’s just random. Because you’re cutting some of each size unit from the different FQs, you’ll have plenty of variety to choose from in your layout no matter which colors you choose. In most cases, each FQ will be used to create some center units, some flying geese, and some corner squares, just in different amounts. If you’re really concerned, you can think about which colors you want most in each kind of unit: use Diagram 1 for colors you wan to appear in more center units, for example. But really, there’s no need to overthink it!”

  2. vwlepore says:

    I’ll just reply to myself! After re-reading the Ombre Starling directions (which is very specific about the cutting directions, Thank You!), it appears that even though I’m only using 9 FQs, I still get the same number of 10″, 6″ and 4 7/8″ squares. I’m going ombre, ’cause it looked easier.

  3. Nancy Knapp-Parisi says:

    Wondering about the color distribution for the Starling throw size, made with the Ruby Star Pixel fabric bundle…. how do I get the color distribution to look like the picture? Or do I just wing it, and mix all the FQ colors while cutting them?
    Thanks for your wonderful tutorials … and your suggestions. I have been quilting for almost 30 years and I love learning new tricks!

    • Suzy Williams says:

      I’m so happy to hear that, Nancy! Yes, winging it is exactly what you do 🙂 This part is random. Once it’s time to lay the quilt out and sew the top together, you can move pieces around based on what you think looks the best.

  4. Kathleen Cason says:

    Starling Quilt SA: The cutting instructions have you cut FQ according to different cutting diagrams. Do we just pick colors at random? For example, I’m making the throw. It says to cut 5 FQ using diagram #1, 4 with #2 and 1 with #3. (I hope this makes sense!) A number of others on the Facebook page would also like some help with this. We’re stalled on cutting as a result. Thanks

    • Laura Hopper says:

      Hi Kathleen! Just a note that I replied to your previous comment with information from our tech editor, who also replied to your question in the Facebook group 🙂 Have a great time cutting your fabric!

      • Colleen Brown says:

        Hi Laura,
        Would love to see the answer posted here as well. I am a Facebook holdout. Thanks in advance for the extra effort.
        Colleen

        • Jessica Schunke says:

          It’s just random. Because you’re cutting some of each size unit from the different FQs, you’ll have plenty of variety to choose from in your layout no matter which colors you choose. In most cases, each FQ will be used to create some center units, some flying geese, and some corner squares, just in different amounts. If you’re really concerned, you can think about which colors you want most in each kind of unit: use Diagram 1 for colors you want to appear in more center units, for example. But really, there’s no need to overthink it!

  5. Kari says:

    Super newbie and almost embarrassed to ask this question.
    On the cutting video, Suzy placed her ruler for the first cut…what is she lining up too?
    My FQ has the selvage and 3 cut edges. What do I line my ruler up to in order to make the first “clean” cut.

    • Suzy Williams says:

      GREAT question and my bad for not saying this in the video. I was loosely lining it up with the selvage. With FQs you just want to try to cut on grain as much as possible. When you cut fabric you usually want to place your ruler (and your weight) over the fabric so it doesn’t shift. To get that first clean edge I used to cut toward myself so I could do this (check out the cutting video in this post to see what I mean – https://suzyquilts.com/adventureland-quilt-sew-along-week-2-cut-fabric/). Now, to get that first clean edge cut, I butt up a second ruler so I don’t have to do that. Let me know if you’re still scratching your head in confusion and I can try to explain better. 😉 Don’t feel embarrassed to ask a question!

  6. JoAnn Freda says:

    Loving all the tips and tutorials. I thought the tutorial on how to cut squares might be too basic but was kind of blown away by the 2 ruler method. Brilliant! Also, I used your technique for preparing fat quarters and it worked perfectly. I now have a stack of nice smooth fabric ready for cutting. However, I’m afraid to start cutting as there were so many concerns raised about the measurement for Starling in the FB forum for Suzy Quilts. Several people said a correction was issued. I bought and downloaded my pattern on March 18th. Are the measurements for a throw (and other sizes) correct at that point? Thank you for all your great designs and tutorials.

    • Suzy Williams says:

      I’m so glad you found these tips helpful! There was never a correction issued because the initial pattern was correct. There was, however, a change in cutting to create more wiggle room when sewing the flying geese. Originally the flying geese were constructed with a no-waste method, so what you sewed was the finished size. However, after getting some early feedback from beginner sewers, we decided that to be more inclusive to beginners, accounting for sewing discrepancies and adding extra margin for error would help. Since you purchased it on March 18, you have the updated pattern with more wiggle room. The only reason you would use the no-waste flying geese version from the original pattern is if you are using a Layer Cake. You can find those cutting instructions in this blog post.

      • JoAnn Freda says:

        Thanks for the clarification Suzy! I took the plunge and cut out all my squares. Hoping to get a square-in-square unit done in time to post and qualify for the giveaway drawing. So glad I discovered Sew Alongs through you. I thought it was just about seeing what other quilters were doing but it’s so much more!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *