Chaining Celtic Chevrons

Today I decided to get a few more pieces sewn for my Celtic Solstice quilt. It's one of those bazillion pieces projects that I have decided to whittle away between other projects. I cut a bunch out on Sunday, but had just left the pieces in a pile next to my machine while I was stitching my Freemotion Practice piece on Monday and Tuesday. Since it's a relief to have a "finished" piece this week, I thought I earned a day of chain piecing.

You can see the six chevrons I already have pieced, and the many squares and rectangles ready to go. I need to print more teal/background "tri-recs" units using Inklingo for the 54-40 or Fight blocks...so for now, I'm piecing things for the alternate blocks.

There are a couple of ways you can chain piece. I like to make pairs, so that I'll have a finished unit. You can see that means sewing diagonals in alternate directions. Also, that's not random tape on my sewing machine. I use the masking tape to guide the tip of the square so that I can use it to sew a straight diagonal without marking. The gray tape marks my quarter inch seam; I mostly use that guide for strips.

After I sew all the squares onto the rectangles, I use my scissors to trim away the extra triangle, and leave a quarter inch seam. Then I press the seams in opposite directions...

...so that when I sew them together the seams will butt against each other. It makes piecing much more exact.

Then I sewed the floral squares at the other end of the rectangles, making sure the diagonals are parallel to the previous end. I cut off the extra triangle, pressed, and then sewed together matching pairs to make chevron units.

Now I have 50...only 50 more to go!

It seems to waste a pile of fabric, but that's the price for speed. Some industrious quilters use these scraps to fill dog beds, but I am not particularly good about doing anything other than tossing them.

Off to cut my next project...