Strips and Strata Goose Chase

Strips and Strata Goose Chase Tutorial

The quilt I am sharing with you today is a variation of a design created by Mary Groesbeck, owner of Womancave Design.

In a recent Tech Know Quilter's Masters class we focused on creating quilting designs that could be pieced by sewing fabric strips into strata. 

Strata refers to a technique where multiple strips of fabrics are sewn together to create a larger piece of fabric.  This "strata" can then be cut into various shapes, like squares or triangles to be used in quilt blocks.  It's essentially strip piecing, but with the added step of cross-cutting the sewn strips to create unique designs.

The design I am sharing today, could be completed with strata sewn from only four fabrics.

Strata Blocks

For this quilt there are five blocks -- all created in Easy Draw.  To identify the strata units, look for the strips in blacks and greys.  Note that the strips for the strata are the same for each block

3 Strata Sections for Main Block in Quilt

Here are the EasyDraw blocks drafted in the video.

Strata Geese 14" x 8"

Rail Fence Strata 4" x 4"

Strata Corner 4" x 4"

Diagonal Corners Strata 8" x 8"

Border Center 8" x 8"

Stratified Quilt

On the Quilt Worktable, select New Quilt>Horizontal.

On the Layout table set the number of blocks at 4 Horizontal and 6 Vertical.

Set the size of blocks at 14 (Width) and 8 (Height).

Layout Tab

On the Borders tab, set up 3 borders.
Border #1 - Tile Square with 14 Horizontal blocks in border.  Note that all blocks for this border will have a finished size of 4" x 4".
Border #2 - Corner Square with a size of 8".
Border #3 - Mitered with a size of .5".

Quilt Layout with 3 Borders

Use Control (PC users) or Command (MAC Users) to set the Strata Geese 14 x 8 block in the quilt.
​
Use Flip and click on each block in the second and fourth columns to create mirror images.

Quilt Center

Place the Strata Corner and Rail Fence 4 x 4 blocks in the Tile Square Border.
​
Rotate the blocks as necessary.

Hint:  To rotate all the blocks on one side at once use Alt (PC users) or Options (Mac users) while clicking on a block on the side.

Place the diagonal corner 8 x 8 block in Border #2 (Corner Squares).

Layer 1 Border Blocks Added

• For the remaining blocks in Border #2, go to Layer 2.
• Drag the Strata Geese block on Layer 2.
• Select the block with the Adjust tool.
• Under the Quilt Grid Set-up:  Turn on Snap Block Position to Grid.  Set the Grid Snap Increments at 2".
• Copy and Paste the block.
• As you place the blocks note that some will need to be flipped.  Others will need to be flipped and rotated.
• ​Also drag and place the Border Center block.

Since the quilt center is not square, the side borders needed to be slightly different than the top and bottom border.

Quilt Grid Set-Up Settings

Blocks on Layer 2

Here is the final quilt from the video.

Strips and Strata Goose Chase Quilt

Mary Groesbeck's Quilts

Here are three different colorations of Mary's design.  For my quilt, I used her main block along with the rail fence block.  I slightly altered the outside border blocks. 

​As you can see, I used her coloration #2.  The black and grey fabrics are from  Achromatic Dance by Riley Blake.   This was included in Stash 2024 Download 03 from Electric Quilt.  The teal is a Moda Grunge.

Mary Groesbeck Coloration 1

Mary Groesbeck Coloration 2

Mary Groesbeck Coloration 3

Piecing the Strips and Strata Goose Chase Quilt

For piecing this block, I would change the blocks to be the strata segments.  I drafted these in PolyDraw as it helped my better visualize the strata segments that needed to be cut.

PolyDraw 10 x 10 Strata 1

PolyDraw 10 x 10 Strata 2

PolyDraw 10 x 10 Strata 3

PolyDraw 10 x 10 Strata 4

PolyDraw 8 x 8 Strata 5

PolyDraw 8 x 4 Strata 6

PolyDraw 8 x 4 Strata 7

Strata 12 x 4 Strata 8

PolyDraw 4 x 4 Strata 9

If you are up for a challenge, redraw the quilt, using the PolyDraw blocks in place of the non-square blocks from the tutorial.  It is a bit like putting together a puzzle.  It will all fit together -- with a bit of work.

Here are some suggestions for cutting the sub-cuts from your strip sets

Pieced Strip Sets

Sub-Cuts using a Triangle Ruler

I would love to see what you decide to do with the design.  Share you pictures in the Learning EQ Facebook group.

Learning EQ Facebook Group Strips and Strata Goose Chase Post

Tech Know Quilter Showcase

Check out some additional quilts by Tech Know Quilter members.  There are a number of Strips and Strata quilts in this showcase.

Julie Pedersen I took the Masters Strips and Strata class. This was a fun set of lessons! I could play all day with these concepts. Here is one of my creations. I did 3 for this challenge.

Julie Pedersen Quilt #2

Julie Pedersen This is a simpler quilt in which I used some of the strata fabric we created for the border and binding.

Edith Craig I used Special Effects 15 and used the strata blocks that we drafted in the month. I then used an auto-border to complete the effect.

Edith Craig And here is version 2 with a different border treatment.

Dotty Smalley In the class for "Strips and Strata" we explored ways to make strata into "fabric" and used Serendipity to merge blocks. I designed this pinwheel block for a Mystery Quilt our club is doing and thought it would look good in this layout from the class. I also used the strata idea for my "fabric". Fun for sure.

Terry McCaskey Inspired by a recent trip to VA Beach, I re colored and designed our lesson 7 Strips & Strata blocks and incorporated our scrappy fabric images to make this quilt called "Beach Umbrellas."

Jeannie Schultz I designed this quilt using fabric I imported from the Riley Blake site and used the block border technique Kari taught, plus how to use layer 2 to place my large center piece. It's going to be a present for my daughter and her new husband, who both enjoyed Pride and Prejudice.

Julie Pedersen This was created using techniques that we worked on in the Masters GeoFusion class.

Zdenka Nemethova In June I enjoyed 2 Masters classes: Geofusion and Strips & Strata. Love them both

Rachel Chandler I completed the foundation class this month I am so happy to have learned so much. I have a quilt in mind to make in the future from a picture I took while traveling and now have the tools to start! I so enjoyed this class. Thanks, Kari for the lessons. I am presently working on a quilt for a friend whose niece is getting married. He asked for something to showcase pictures of the Bride and Groom. Because of these classes, I was able to redraw these foundation pieced blocks from the EQ8 library to compliment the quilt

Rachel Chandler Here is the quilt I designed. The middle white square will hold an embroidered square with the wedding date and the couple's names

Are you interested in learning move about Tech Know Quilters?  Send me a note.  I would love to provide your more information on the program.

Happy quilting.

​Kari

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