We are sharing our TCJ String Quilt we made back in October 2024 and just finished in March of 2026! It's not always the fastest process but no matter what, this is a beautiful one. We wrote a one page tutorial for this string quilt and now I really want to make another one.
Alysson and I wanted to do something we hadn't ever done before, so we dove into this string quilt. I have seen these quilts over the years but for whatever reason wasn’t ever super inspired to create my own. Well that changed back in 2024! I really wanted to make something I’ve never done before and create just for the fun of it. Emily Dennis of Quilty Love has made a couple of string quilts over the years, and I used some of her tutorials as my starting point.
We decided to stick with the 8” finished block size and the 1.25” x 12.5” measurement for our middle strip. After that we did our own math to create two different string blocks.
Download the TCJ String Quilt Tutorial Here.
Let’s look at our fabric pull, my color inspiration, my two different blocks and where we are now! Also, I have a highlight saved on my Instagram where I walk you through my entire thought process for this quilt - the design, the color and how to sew a block.
I have a Color Board on Pinterest where I save lots and lots of inspiration images on color. They range from architecture, interiors, florals, art, designer palettes and more. And whenever I am looking for fresh inspiration on color, I go here.
When Alysson and I started searching through my saved pins, I kept coming back to this gorgeous art by Brooke. I love the depth of color, the moodiness of the mountains with the peaks having brighter light blues, the lightness of the sky, and the pops of gold and hot pink in the florals. We decided to pull our fabric based on these sections of the painting.
The stack of dusty robin’s egg blues, and the section of pinks and purples, are the highlights in our string quilt. Each of these sections were picked intentionally to have a moment of brightness, but overall the quilt will be dark and moody and have a lot of depth. It was fun to work in a darker color palette that feels a bit different for me.
Alysson made a test block and figured out our strip measurements. Although a lot of strip quilts are meant to be fully scrappy where you just grab a strip of fabric one at a time and build a block, I had to put more intention into this make. I prioritize color above all else, and because of this, I had to be sure I liked all the fabrics we were using before committing to making the quilt. So instead of using our scrap bins, I pulled all of this fabric from my personal stash. Some of these are FQs, 10” layer cakes, 4” x WOF, F8 or smaller, but I needed to see all the colors together before diving in.
I gave what is normally a very “go with the flow” quilt some more boundaries. I wanted to create two different blocks where the strips are all the same measurements so there would be some control to the chaos. One block has the strips going from the center out to the corners in a small to large width. The second block has the strips being more random in their width from the center out. By creating two intentionally different blocks, the overall design will have something the eye can recognize and rest on.
The top block is where the strips go from smaller to widest from the center out. The bottom block is where the strip widths vary from the center out. We also made two deliberate choices with color placement. Each center strip measures the same in every single block AND will be made using the collection of pinks and purples on the left of the image. Overall this will create a larger diamond that is a gorgeous pop of pink and purple like the sky in our inspiration image. Second, the second fabric in from the corners on each side of each block will be made from the robin’s egg blue fabrics. Because these strips are also different widths, when the blocks come together it will create a wonky diamond color and shape.
We finished our first week of working on this with about half of our blocks done. So you can start to see the evolution of the top with the pink large diamonds and small wonky dusty blue diamonds in the center.
Here is a step by step visual guide of how these blocks come together.
1. You start with drawing a line diagonally down the center of the newsprint paper and then draw a second line 5/8" to the right of that first line. This will be your guide for sewing the first seam. You will NOT sew more than one seam through the paper.
2. Lay your first center strip on top of the paper, right side up. Be sure you line up the right side of your strip on the second line. The center line on the paper becomes the exact center of your first strip. Then, lay your first strip for the right side on top of the center strip, RST. This will be the ONE seam you do sew through the paper on.
3. Now you will fold back the paper at the seam and press the seam towards the first strip. And you can see what it looks like when turned over from the front.
4. You will now do the same thing as Steps 2 - 3 EXCEPT YOU DO NOT SEW THROUGH THE PAPER. You keep the paper folded back. And you try to center the new strip vertically onto the last sewn strip. You can use the paper for reference but again do not sew through it. And one more, press the new seam toward the outer most strip. You will continue this process until you've finished the first half of strips.
5. Now you can see what one half of a block looks like and you start over again on Steps 1 - 4 until you've finished the second half of strips.
6. Once you are done, you can flip the whole block over and see how all the fabrics hang off, past the edges of the square. You will lay your ruler on top and using the paper as a guide, trim off the excess.
7. Once the block is trimmed, it's time to gently rip off the newsprint paper and you have a finished block!
TADA! Your strip quilt block is finished. These are really easy and I hope these visuals helped. Also, as a reminder, I do have a Instagram Highlight saved where I take you along this make and show you how I actually sew a single block.
Okay, this is where Alysson and I left off after one week of working on this quilt. When we came back in on Monday, I decided to add 8 more blocks to our quilt (one row) so that the large diamonds would be complete in the final quilt. Here is where we resumed on Monday morning.
I loved the colors and the darkness, but the small pops of yellow and gold felt off. I still wanted them to be included, but I realized they needed a bigger stage for them to sparkle but not distract. So, we went ahead and made 10 tonal all-light blocks to test our idea out, and we added a few all-dark tonal blocks to help balance the blocks.
I really liked how the bright tonal blocks complimented all the dark fabrics. Also, it made the variety of the prints, tones and values more cohesive. At this point we had 53 out of 80 blocks made. I decided to add in 7 more dark tonal blocks to get to 60 out of 80. Once those were done and laid out, we went back to make 10 more random blocks (a real mixture of colors). At 70 blocks, we removed all of them from the wall and put them back up with our final layout in mind. We distributed one light block per row, and left holes in each row for the final 10 blocks we still needed to make. This allowed us to really see what was missing - a lighter block, a darker block ,or a random block.
This is a screen grab from an Instagram story. I have a highlight saved called “String Quilt” where you can follow along with this make behind the scenes. You also can see my process of sewing one entire block together.
The post it notes in those final missing blocks are labeled A or B block ,and if we wanted it to be light, dark or random.
You can see that every 2 rows create a large diamond (the pink and purple strips) and every 4 blocks create the the inner diamond (the teal blues). We added the 10th row to get 5 full pink diamonds throughout the quilt from top to bottom. We ended up with (40) Block A and (40) Block B string blocks.
Once all of the blocks were finished, we pinned and sewed them into rows. Once all the rows were complete, Alysson pressed each row opposite directions, so the block seams would nest. And again, we pinned and sewed it all together! This quilt is all on the bias so the shifting is REAL. But using pins is a huge help and the great thing about using 2 different blocks is that not a single seam within the blocks has to match up!
I really love the sparkle this quilt has - from the fabrics we used and from the combinations of values in light and dark fabrics. I am thrilled with the small wonky diamonds that the dusty teal blue fabrics create, and the larger diamonds in their pinks and purples. They add just enough consistency to bring a little order to the chaos.
The quilt is in an 8 x 10 layout and measures 64” x 80”. We used a lot of woven and linen fabrics in this, and it already has a beautiful texture and weight to it.
This winter I collected all of our unfinished quilts and realized I had over 12 tops not quilted. I decided to start slowly sending some tops off for quilting and I decided this one had to be first because it was our oldest one unfinished. I sent this off to Wild Phil Quilting and I chose the Swoosh pantograph. The texture is so good.
I bound the quilt in several different pinks and peaches to compliment the large diamonds of pinks in the quilt itself.
I backed the quilt in Moda Bella Cyclamen which is this warmer purple and I think it is a great mid tone to match the moodiness of the top.
You can download the FREE TCJ String Quilt Tutorial at this link.