Strip-Pieced Comfort, Garden Style: How a Sensational Strips Cuddle Kit Comes Together
Some quilt kits ask you to cut dozens of pieces before you sew a single seam. A Sensational Strips kit takes the opposite approach: the strips arrive pre-cut, so you open the package and start sewing. The English Garden edition from Shannon Fabrics builds a generous throw from those ready-to-sew strips, with a garden-inspired mood made for a couch, a reading chair, or the foot of a bed. Here is what the kit includes, who it suits, and how to get a smooth finish from strip piecing and plush Cuddle fabric.
What You Make: A Full-Size Throw
The finished quilt measures approximately 58" by 73". That is a true throw size — long enough to stretch out under from shoulders to toes, and wide enough to share across a sofa or drape over a twin bed as a topper. It is also a practical size to make: large enough to feel substantial and gift-worthy, small enough to manage comfortably under a home sewing machine when it comes time to quilt and bind.
Because the design is built from strips, the look is clean and modern: long bands of Cuddle fabric run the length of the quilt, showing off the soft texture of the fabric itself. The English Garden theme makes this one an easy fit for spring and summer decorating, a garden lover's gift, or a cheerful layer in a guest room.
What Is Included in the Kit
The kit includes pre-cut fabric strips for the quilt top, fabric for the binding, and a pattern. The pre-cut strips are the real time-saver: the most tedious and error-prone part of a strip quilt — cutting long, consistent strips — is already done for you, and done accurately, so your bands line up evenly from end to end.
Note what the listing does not mention: backing fabric is not listed among the included components, so plan to choose a backing separately — an opportunity to match your room or your recipient. Follow the included pattern on finishing layers rather than assuming a traditional three-layer construction.
Skill Level and Time
Strip piecing is one of the friendliest constructions in quilting, and this kit suits a confident beginner. The skills are fundamental: sewing long, straight seams, keeping a consistent seam allowance, pressing, layering, simple quilting, and binding. There are no points to match, no templates, and no small pieces to keep in order.
Most makers can piece the top in a single sewing session and finish the quilting and binding in another, so a relaxed weekend is a realistic start-to-finish timeline.
Tips for Success With Strips and Cuddle Fabric
Alternate your sewing direction. Long strip seams can bow if every seam is sewn the same way. Sew one seam top to bottom, the next bottom to top, and the finished top will lie noticeably flatter.
Pin more than you think you need. Cuddle fabric is plush and has some give, so strips can creep as they feed through the machine. Pins or clips placed every few inches, plus a walking foot if you have one, keep the layers traveling together.
Keep seams consistent. With strips, a wandering seam allowance shows up as wavy bands. Slow down on the long seams, guide rather than push the fabric, and let the feed dogs do the work.
Shake and tidy as you go. Cut Cuddle fabric sheds fine fibers at the edges. A quick shake of each strip over a bin before sewing, and a lint roller nearby, keep your work area much cleaner.
Press gently. Use a light hand and low heat on plush fabric, and test on a scrap first — the goal is to settle the seams, not flatten the pile.
Pre-cut strips, binding, and a pattern in one package, finishing in a weekend at a useful 58" by 73" — the English Garden kit is a low-stress way to put a soft, garden-fresh throw into service.
Shop the Sensational Strips Cuddle Kit - English Garden at Linda's Electric Quilters.
