Purpleheart Ori"Jenn"als

www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

"String Block Steering Wheel Cover"

the Tutorial

Fits most standard size 15" - 17" steering wheels.

CAUTION: NOT TO BE USED WHILE DRIVING
© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com
All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
Supplies:

** 10 - 12 fabrics cut into various lengths & widths

(I've cut mine anywhere from 12-18" long
by 1-3 1/2" wide)

** 1 piece of 1/4" wide elastic cut 28" long

** 4 - 9" x 9" pieces of muslin

** 1 piece of 52" x 5" fabric

(Or 1 piece cut 41 1/2" x 5"
sewn together with 1 piece
cut 10 1/2" x 5")

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
**NOTE: All seams are to be sewn at 1/4".

Making String Blocks

There are a lot of good tutorials out on the web on how to make String Blocks using various
techniques. Here are a few simple steps on how to make these blocks using a muslin
foundation backing and then into a cute steering wheel cover.

STEP 1: Pick your center strip and lay it diagonally

across one of your 9" x 9" muslin blocks making
sure it overhangs on each end.

STEP 2: Pick your next strip and lay it right sides

together on top of your center strip, matching the
raw edges, as shown in this picture. Always make
sure it overhangs the muslin block on each end.
The overhanging parts will be trimmed off later.

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
STEP 3: Sew 1/4" through both strips as shown
here.

STEP 4: Press open towards the strip you just

attached.

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
 STEP 5: Select another strip and lay it over the
strip you just attached in the same manner as you
did in Step 2. Sew through all layers using a 1/4"
seam.

I folded back the zebra stripe fabric just so you

could see the placement of it over the pink paisley.

Continue this step until you have sewn fabric strips

to cover one entire side of the muslin.

Then flip your muslin foundation block around and

repeat steps 2-5 until the entire block is covered
with strips of fabrics or STRINGS.

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
STEP 6: Flip your foundation block over and trim
off excess strings squaring it back up with the
original muslin block. You may have to trim some of
the muslin piece too to get it back perfectly square.

Mine are squared up to about 8 3/4" x 8 3/4". The

muslin tends to stretch a bit when sewing on the
strings so I always cut my foundation pieces a bit
larger to compensate for this.

Repeat STEPS 1-6 to make 3 more blocks.

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
 STEP 7: Choose an eye-catching layout. I chose
the X pattern because it maximizes the use of all
strings in each block.

As you can see, by placing them in a diamond

pattern, you lose some of those yummy fabrics in
each corner.

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
----
STEP 8: After you've selected a pleasing layout, flip

--------
the top block on the right over the one on the left,
right sides together, and sew together down the
right side using a 1/4" seam. Press open towards
the block that was on the top.

I forgot to flip mine back to the X layout before

taking these pictures, but no worries. Once I sewed
each of my 2 block sets together, I just took the
bottom set and placed it over the top set to make
the X layout.

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
 STEP 9: Butting up the seam
allowances, sew each of the 2
unit blocks together to create
one 4 block unit.

Press open towards the top block sections.

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
 STEP 10: Using the attached template (separate
.jpeg file), lay it over each block, butting it up
against the seam allowance on each side, and mark
1/4" away for seam allowance. This will be your
cutting line. The template DOES NOT include seam
allowance.

Repeat this process in each of the 3 remaining

blocks.

STEP 11: Cut along your drawn line to reveal your

circle string block steering wheel cover center. Your
circle should be about 16 1/2" round.

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
STEP 12: Sew your two casing pieces of
fabric together along each of the 5" sides
right sides together creating one long
circular piece. Once all ends are sewn
together, your finished piece should be a
51" circle.

STEP 13: On one side of your circular piece, turn

up a hem 1/4" 2 times and press into place. Once
sewn closed, this will create the casing for your
elastic that will hold the steering wheel cover in
place. NOTE: If your fabric has a directional print,
make sure you are turning up the bottom side of the
fabric.

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
 STEP 14: Stitch just to the right of the top fold on
the casing piece leaving a 1/2" to 1" opening. This
is where you will insert your elastic later.

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
STEP 15: Pin the casing piece to the cover center
piece right sides together. I like to pin with the
cover center on top and the casing piece on the
bottom, but you do whatever is comfortable to you.

STEP 16: Sew 1/4" around the entire cover center

attaching the casing piece. You may want to serge
or zig zag the seam allowances here to prevent
fraying. My serger is under the weather right now
so I'll go back and do that later.

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
 STEP 17: Using a safety pin attached to
one end of your elastic, thread it through
the casing opening. Safety pin down the
other end so it doesn't slip through.

STEP 18: Once you've threaded the elastic all the way
around, layer each end on top of one other and stitch together.
For picture purposes only, I've pulled the top piece over in the
picture to show you the bottom elastic, but you will line them
on top of one another and stitch through both to secure.

STEP 19: Stitch closed the 1/2" - 1" opening

where you inserted your elastic. Ease elastic evenly
throughout the casing.

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.
 STEP 20: Attach to any steering wheel and ENJOY!!

© 2010 by Jennifer of www.purpleheartorijennals.blogspot.com

All rights reserved. This tutorial is intended for personal use by home sewers and may not be republished or distributed without the
permission of the author.