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Kaleidoscopic Stars!
Many quilters are intimidated by border prints. If you understand a few basic concepts they are
much easier to incorporate into your designs.
First, determine whether the border you wish to use is symmetrical or directional. Symmetrical prints
have mirror images, that is, they are the same on either side of a center point as if mirrored.
Directional prints seem to travel in one direction (example, all stems on flowers going to the right).
Directional prints are more difficult to miter or kaleidoscope. Though not impossible to
use, they will never give as clean an effect as symmetrical prints.
Each diamond in an 8-pointed star needs to be cut from exactly the same place on the border print. Use
fairly transparent template plastic and place on the right side of the fabric to view various possibilities.
I do not find mirrors useful in this process and have always been successful without them.
By drawing vertical and horizontal lines on the diamond template (lengthwise and crosswise), I line up the
lengthwise line through the center of the motif. The crosswise line should be off center for the most design possibilities.
If it is exactly in the center in both directions you will only get one kaleidoscope
design as both halves of the diamond are the same.
Here is a diamond I've cut from a symmetrical border print.
These are three different effects using the same diamonds :
It is easy to create totally different star designs by changing the placement of the diamonds on the
border print. Be aware, however, that this "fussy cutting" will result in a swiss cheese effect on
your fabric and will require more yardage than strip piecing. I used 13 yards of border print in "Timepiece"
and had only a piece about 12" x 24" that didn't have a hole cut in it. I think that's a little too close for
comfort! None of us wants to run out of fabric after putting so much work into a quilt.
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©2001 Candy Goff