We are midway through the foundation piecing class. This is a long tutorial, but there are a lot of steps and I want all of the parts to be clear. This would be a great tutorial for a video, but A) I don’t have a crew and B) I don’t do video.
This segment discusses more foundation piecing. In order to get to this point, you should have completed parts 1 and 2. All of the supplies are listed in Part 1
Remember our goal:
Next, we need to foundation piece the small strip called Section D.
Cut 4 pieces of fabric that coordinate with the fabrics of your block. The pieces should be about 2.5″x 1.75″, which is generous. You may be able to use scraps for these pieces. (Please ignore the messy cutting table)
As you did in Part 2, you will work on placing 2 fabrics on the line between D1 & D2 with about a quarter inch hanging over into D2 as a seam allowance. Note the printed part of the pattern (the lines on which you sew) are face down for this step.
I like to pin the first piece of fabric to my pattern. It helps keep the fabric from shifting as I work on the second piece of fabric. Note the printed part of the pattern (the lines on which you sew) are face up for this step.
Flip Section D back over and position the second piece of fabric over the first.
When you have both of your pieces placed like you like them, pin in place. I like to use thin pins. Your piece should now look like the above photo.
With the applique’ foot on your machine. Sew on the line between D1 & D2. Do not cross the perpendicular line at the top or bottom. Back stitch one stitch at the beginning and the end.
Once you have sewn on the line, your piece should look like the above photo.
Open up both pieces and make sure they cover D1 & D2. Once you are convinced that you have covered both D1 & D2 with your fabric and there is a 1/4″ seam allowance, press your piece. Press with the pattern on top. Note the pattern is face up and you can see the sewing lines. (Nota bene: if you have taped your pattern, use a press cloth so that you do not get melted tape on your iron)
Flip your Section D over again, so you are ready to trim.
Lay your pattern, with sewn fabric, pattern side up (fabric down) on your cutting mat. The inside part of the curve will be facing your body. You may want to flip Section D around if you are left handed.
Fold the longer piece of the pattern over to the left using the seam line as the fold line. This will expose the fabric that will be your seam allowance.
Line up your ruler’s 1/4″ mark on the seam/fold line and trim your seam allowance to 1/4″.
Trim seam allowance to 1/4″.
Go back to the ironing board and position your piece so the fabric is up, pattern side down and smooth the fabric towards D2, lightly finger pressing.
Take the piece to the iron and press carefully towards D2.
Place your next fabric with the longer part towards D2 and the future seam allowance closer to D3. Hold the whole piece up to the light to make sure your placement is correct.
Pin in place.
Get ready to sew on the line between D2 & D3.
Once sewn, your piece should look like the photo above.
Check to make sure your fabric covers pattern section D3. You do this by folding the fabric over and looking to see that you have about 1/4″ on all sides.
Now, get ready to trim. Put your piece on the cutting mat pattern side up.
Fold your pattern to the left again, like you did before.
Line up your ruler’s 1/4″ mark on the seam/fold line and trim your seam allowance to 1/4″.
See that bump in the photo above? You do not want that bump to show once you have pieced D4 on to the parts of Section D you have already pieced. Press again, this time towards D4. Avoid the bump by pressing!
Press towards D4. No ironing!
We are heading to the home stretch!
Position your last piece as you have done before. It is going to look at little weird and out of alignment, because you are working with a curve. Remember to position the fabric so it covers D5 plus 1/4″ seam allowance. Pay no attention to the edges of the other pieces, such as D4, that you have already sewn.
It is easier for me to see whether or not piece D5 was in the right position by pinning it. Note, I would pin it on the pattern side to sew, because then I can see where the pin is in relation to where my sewing machine foot and needle are. the pin in the photo is temporary.
Once you have the placement finalized, go ahead and sew.
Now you have to fold back the pattern one last time and prepare to trim the seam allowance.
Trim!
Now your piece is done. Fold back the D5 fabric and press. Place your ruler on the lines at the end of the pattern and trim a 1/4″ seam allowance. I know you can do this without photos.
Now you have to trim the curved parts of Section D
It is too difficult to sew the untrimmed Section D, so you will have to trim.
To trim, mark 1/4″ away from the dark line. The dots in the photo above mark 1/4″. I have trimmed the straight ends with a rotary cutter and I am ready to play “dot to dot” with my scissors. I am going to cut from dot to dot to create a 1/4″ seam allowance.
We are working on learning foundation piecing (also called paper piecing) using a pattern called New York Compass. If you are just finding this tutorial, go to part 1 to see the supply list and learn how to prepare your pieces.
I am using an aqua with white dots for my background and a red with white dots for my foreground. You should have already cut your rectangles for both foreground and background at 2.5″x6″. If not, do it now, as you will need them almost immediately.
The sections of Section C are marked in the order in which you should piece them. Start with C1. Odd numbers are the background and even numbers indicate you should use the foreground fabric.
You will be piecing from one side (C1) towards the middle to the other side (C17).
Set up your sewing machine with an applique’ foot or similar. You will not need your quarter inch foot for the foundation piecing part of the process.
Shorten the stitch length. If you can’t shorten the stitch length, remember to backstitch at the beginning and end of each line of stitching.
If you are a speed demon, and the option is available on your machine, slow down your machine a little bit. You will need to control the speed at the beginning and the end of the stitching lines.
Place your Section C pattern face down on a flat surface.
Cover piece C1 with one of the background rectangles you cut in Part 1. Place the fabric so there is at least 1/4″ of fabric around each piece. You get extra bonus points if you line one long straight edge with the straight line at the end of the pattern.
Now, hold these two pieces in one hand (optionally you can clip them together with a WonderClip) and hold the whole piece up to the light (facing a window or a lamp or on a light box). Take note of where the line is between C1 and C2.
Still holding your pieces up to the light, take one of your foreground rectangles and place one of its edges 1/4″ from the line between C1 and C2. This will be the seam allowance and that quarter inch should hang over the line into C2.
Put all the pieces carefully back down on your table.
Pin the two fabrics to the paper, keeping the pin away from the line between C1 and C2. You want enough space so the pin doesn’t interfere with the foot on your sewing machine. I like to pin on my cutting mat so I don’t damage the furniture.
Fold the foreground piece back to make sure that it covers C2. You will fold it on the line between C1 and C2. That will be your sewing line. You can move the pins to the front if you want to make for easier sewing.
Flip the whole thing over and take a look.
Once pinned, check again to make sure that you have at least 1/4″ all around C1 (background) and C2 (foreground).
Take your piece to the sewing machine and sew on the line between C1 and C2. Do not go over. Only sew on that line.
Back stitch at the beginning and the end. One backstitch is fine.
Remove the piece from under the presser foot and fold your foreground over to check and make sure it covered C2.
You can see the foreground fabric through the background, which is why you need to trim. Depending on the colors you use, this may not be the case, but you don’t want to build up so many layers that you cannot quilt through the piece.
Take Section C back to your cutting mat and place it so the paper part of the pattern is on top.
Fold the paper back on the seam line so the excess seam allowance is exposed. You are going to cut this off, so it is worthwhile to take a minute and make sure you are not cutting off the wrong part (the part you need to cover your background and spikes).
Line up your ruler with the 1/4″ line on the seam line and trim the excess seam allowance.
Take your piece to your ironing surface and place it with the paper down. Press towards the foreground, so you get rid of as much of the “bump'” from the seam as you can. Press towards the middle of your pattern. You want the foreground fabric to be as flat as you can get it. Pressing is very important. It is possible that there will be a bump when you put the next piece over the previous one, if you don’t press well.
Your foreground piece should cover the line between C2 and C3 and give you a 1/4″ seam allowance.
Once you have pressed the foreground flat, you are ready to put on the next background piece.
Take one of your background rectangles and place one of its edges 1/4″ from the line between C2 and C3, smoothing (without stretching) the foreground piece you sewed, so it is as flat as possible. Again, this will be the seam allowance and that quarter inch should hang over the line into section C3. You may need to hold it up to the light again to position the piece correctly.
Once you have the correct placement, pin in place.
Once pinned, check again to make sure that you have at least 1/4″ all around C2 (background) .
Take your piece to the sewing machine and sew on the line between C2 and C3. Do not sew beyond the end of that line. Only sew on that line.
Repeat this process, alternating between foreground and background until you reach the other end of Section C. As you move down the pattern, your Section C will start to look like something you could put into a block.
Use your rotary cutting kit to trim the straight edges of Section C.
From the paper pattern side of Section C, I eyeball a 1/4″ and trim the curves with very sharp scissors. There are some serious layers here, so I am not fooling when I say sharp.
The finished Section C is a sight to behold. Even after making several of these sections, I amazed each time it comes out relatively normal.
Tips:
If you have to rip out stitches, rip them out from the fabric side, not the paper side.
Pay attention to putting the next piece on the foundation.
Frances talked about foundation piecing in one of her recent podcasts. I am nothing if not an accommodating 😉 teacher, so I thought we would tackle a foundation piecing pattern next. This is called New York Compass, a variation of the New York Beauty pattern. It is a little more complex than the patterns we have been working on, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and nudge Frances to step up. She has done curves, so I am confident she can do this one.
In part 1, we will prep everything.
Supplies:
Notebook for notes
Pen to take notes 😉
Sewing Machine
applique’ foot (preferably one with a mark showing where the needle will stitch)
1/4″ foot
thread
fabric
fabric scissors
paper scissors
foundation piecing paper like Toni’s Disappearing Paper or Carol Doak’s Foundation Paper
Print the pattern sheets (all 4). I only have 8.5″x11″ paper so the pattern comes out on 4 sheets. Use some kind of foundation piecing paper to print the pattern. Nota Bene: I keep a folder for all of my projects, so I like to print at least 2, if not 3 copies of the pattern. One I use to make the templates, one I will tape together and keep whole (you can use regular copy paper for this one) and one I will use for the foundations.
Trim off the margins and tape the parts together. Note, the tape will not play nicely with your iron when you press the foundation pieced parts so USE A PRESSING CLOTH. A scrap of fabric or ugly fabric work great. Guess how I found out?
Above is how the templates shake out: 3 regular plastic backed templates and two foundation templates.
Rough cut the parts of the pattern apart. You will have 5 parts. Two of them will be foundation piecing patterns and 3 of will need to be made into regular templates with template plastic.
I am going to refer to the skinny spikes piece as Section C. Section C is in the middle.
Make your templates. You must add a quarter of inch to your paper templates (not the ones that will be foundation pieced. If you don’t know how to make templates with template plastic, refer to my tutorial on Machine Applique’ Part 1. Make sure you put the plastic on the correct side (wrong side of fabric).
Cut rectangles for foundation piecing 2.5″x 6.5″. This is a generous rectangle. You aren’t going to save any fabric with this technique and you should worry more about coming up short, because ripping out stitches is a real pain.
There is one tricky part about these templates. You will need to add a 1/4″ to the curve. The way you do that is to: A) glue the paper template to the largest piece of template plastic you have (you may have to piece the template plastic). B) Take your ruler and start at the left end of the paper template. Line the ruler’s 1/4″ mark up with the dark outline on the paper template (you should still have a rough cut paper template before you glue the paper to template plastic). C) Make a mark with a template plastic friendly pen at the 1/4″. D) Move your ruler slightly to the right and make another mark at the 1/4″ point. E) Follow the curved line of the paper part of the template with your ruler until you reach the far right side of the ruler. F) Cut along the dots you have made in as smooth a motion as you can using your paper scissors. You should now have a quarter inch seam allowance along your template. Repeat for all curved templates.
Cut your fabrics. Nota Bene: When you cut the fabrics for Section C, cut rectangles for these spikes at 2.5″.
Check to make sure you have cut your rectangles large enough. Take your Section C and lay it face up. Cover the first section (labeled C1 on my pattern) to make sure your rectangle covers the entire section C1 plus 1/4″ seam allowance around all sides.
Now go to Part 2 to learn the actual foundation piecing.
Tips:
If you have to rip out stitches, rip them out from the fabric side, not the paper side.
Most quiltmakers are taught to press to the dark or in such a way as to enable nesting of seams. Generally this works pretty well for most projects.
Ruth McDowell talks a lot about the direction of the pressed seams. She uses the added bulk of the seam allowance to highlight sections of her quilts.
This technique came to mind when I was making a Drunkard’s Path block for the Sampler Class. I used to use the Drunkard’s Path as the block to learn curved piecing. It is a hard block, though and I want my students to be successful, so I chose the Dove this time. It went together so easily that I was glad I had chosen it.
Still, I may offer the Drunkard’s Path as an additional block in the Sampler Class, so I decided to make one in the colors of the Aqua-Red Sampler. This is where the pressing came to mind. I tried to press to the outside piece (the concave piece), so that I could next the seams, but the curved pie shape really wants to stand out, so I ended up pressing to the inside curve. We will see if it makes a difference in the way this piece stands out in the end.
I started a series of tutorials on sewing curves during my last Sampler Class, but I never finished the last two parts. The first part is about fabric and arrangement of pieces.
Supplies:
The Dove pattern
paper scissors
template plastic
glue stick
fabric (at least 2 different)
pen ( I like the Pigma Micron & the Pilot Ultra Fine Point)
Fabric scissors
pins
Sewing machine
quarter inch foot or other marking system
thread
Iron and ironing board
We will be using a quarter inch seam allowance. You will need to adjust the pattern if you are using a different seam allowance.
The Dove pattern is a baby version of the Drunkard’s Path. If you make this piece, the next logical curved piece would be a Drunkard’s path block.
This block, as well as the Drunkard’s Path block is made from two types of pieces: a concave ‘L’ and a pie shape. The pie shape forms the circle in the center and the concave ‘L’ can be considered the background. In this block, the pieces are somewhat larger than in the 12″ Drunkard’s Path I used in my previous class. This design also has a very strong focal point.
Take the The Dove pattern and rough cut the templates.
Use the glue stick to stick the paper templates to the template plastic. You won’t need heat resistant template plastic as we won’t be ironing over the templates. It is fine to use, though, if that is the only kind you have.
Rough cut out the templates you have glued to the plastic.
Carefully cut out the template on the seam allowance line, cutting off the rough cut paper and plastic.
Place your fabric wrong side up on a hard surface.
Place the templates wrong side up on your chosen fabric. Nota bene: If you are using symmetrical templates, then it doesn’t matter whether they are right side or wrong side up, but it is good to get in the habit of doing it the right way in case you use non-symmetrical templates in a future project.
Draw around the template with your marking implement of choice. You will need to hold your template firmly so it doesn’t shift. You can also rough cut out the fabric pieces if trying to cut precisely or carefully with a long length of fabric draped over the cutting table is too difficult.
Cut the fabric out carefully using your fabric scissors, especially the curves. Cut the drawn line off the fabric. I used a rotary cutter for the 90 degree angles.
Check to make sure that the fabric you just cut out is the same size and shape as your templates. You can lay the template over your fabric to check.
Take a pie shape and a concave shape and fold them in half. Line up the edges carefully. The halfway point that you create will be used to make sure the pieces are sewn together evenly. You will want to make the marks so the patches nest. That means you fold the concave piece in half with right sides together and the pie shaped piece in half with the wrong sides together. Mark the halfway point with a pin or through finger pressing.
Nestle the pieces right sides together.
To do this, line up the middle mark where you have finger pressed to align the blocks accurately.
Line up the outside edges and place a pin close to the two outside edges.
Fill in the area between the middle pin and each outside pin with pins. Ease the area between the outside and middle pins into smoothness with your fingers, lining up the edges of the fabric as you do so. Place as many pins as you need between the middle pin and the outside pin. Make sure the fabric is flat and there are no pooches. You may have to ease a bit, but do it very gently so as not to stretch the pieces. If you have to stretch and tug and pull, there is something wrong and you should check to see if your templates match your fabric pieces.
Do the same with the second section between the middle and the other outside edge until you have used a lot of pins.
Sew Pie to Concave piece, removing pins before you sew over them. You may want to use the point of a pin to keep the edges of the fabric lined up until you sew over the area where the pin was. I also use a seam ripper as a stiletto to keep the two pieces in place after I remove the pins.
Press carefully.
Repeat for all of the quarter blocks.
Sew 2 quarter blocks together to make a half, then sew the other 2 quarter blocks together so you have two halves.
Press so that the center seams nest
Pin the two halves together, paying careful attention to the center.
We are making the Flower Wreath block. To find out how to make templates, including the ring, see Part 1 for making templates and Part 2 for making the ring and positioning the ring on the background.
Now we are going to stitch the ring. If you haven’t started, check the Supply List in part 1 and grab your 3″x5″ tearaway backed fabric. Your ring should be applied to the background and ready to stitch. If your ring is not fused and ready to stitch, go back to part 2.
I stitch in layers, so that the stitching is easier, there are fewer starts and stops and the piece looks more finished. Now that you are ready to stitch, it is time to choose your thread.
Choose thread
Whenever you choose thread, you must consider the stitch. If the stitch will be dense like a satin stitch, you should choose the color by looking at the thread wrapped around the whole spool. That will give you a better sense of the color the satin stitch will end up.
It you will be using a straight stitch, you should unreel a bit of the thread and look at one strand on your fabric. You may need to pool a little of the thread together – less dense than the whole spool and more dense than one strand.
Now set up your machine for zig zag stitching. You will need to choose a stitch density. I like a semi-open zig zag that is not too wide, because it uses less thread and looks more interesting. Dense satin stitching, however, can really highlight and outline each piece. I use the following settings on my machine:
Ring: width: 3.0, density: 0.45
Flowers: width: 3.0, density: 0.45
Leaves: width: 2.0, density: 0.5
Flower centers: width: 2.0, density: 0.5
Even if you haven’t chosen all the fabric, I like to get the ring stitched down first, so I can audition the other fabric without worrying about the ring. Yes, it is fused and shouldn’t go anywhere, but I still like it to be stitched down.
In order to choose the stitch density, you will need to test. Get the tearaway backed sample piece you have prepared and start testing with the width and densities I have provided above. Stitch lines of zig zag stitching 2-3″ long using a contrasting thread similar to the thread you will be using to stitch the ring. Adjust the width and density on your machine until you are pleased with the look.
Put the ring on the machine and start stitching. I always leave a long tail that I can pull to the back and tie shut later. My zig zag does not automatically tie the ends. If your machine is more advanced you may not have to tie a knot on the back. I don’t want my zig zag to come out if it gets snagged while being used, which is why I tie the ends.
I use my applique’ foot, which has a red arrow in the center to stitch out the zig zag. I place the tip of the red arrow on the raw edge of the ring and follow it around. You should stitch with needle down or use the hand wheel to put the needle down when you stop. If the center point on your foot gets off the raw edge of your ring, stop and readjust. Stop with the needle down on the outside of the ring’s curve whenever you need to readjust the needle to accommodate the curve. Turn the fabric to the left to get the center point of the foot back on the raw edge of your ring. The stitching will be slightly closer together on the inside of the shape, when the needle punches the fabric to the left, and more open on the outside of the shape or when the needle hits the background.
When you have done about half – 3/4s of the stitching on the ring, stop and pull the beginning thread to the back and tie it off, if you need to.
I tie the beginning off before I get to the end, because the beginning and ending threads can get tangled up and make it impossible to make small, neat knots. I have tied all four ends together in a pinch, but prefer to make the knots as small as possible.
I also use this technique also if I have to stop and pull the work out of the machine because of thread breakage or necessary bobbin refill.
I fold the work back (I only used my pincushion so I could photograph what I was doing. Normally, I just hold it with my wrist as pull the front through to the back and tie the ends together. I don’t take the work out of the machine unless there is a good reason – like a big knot, or thread breakage, etc.
Once your knot is tied, continue stitching to where you started. I don’t overlap much once I get to the beginning, perhaps only a stitch or two, because I don’t want the look to be too different.
I pull the work out of the machine and tie off the ending threads. You may not need to do this if your machine does it for you.
Now do the same thing, but on the inside to finish stitching down the ring. Once you have stitched both the inside and outside of the rings, your ring will be complete and you will be ready to place the leaves and flowers on the ring.
If you have not already done so, choose the rest of your fabrics. You will need fabric for the flowers (1-4 fabrics) and leaves (1-20 fabrics). If you have not cut out and fused the wreath to the background, please go back to part 2. The leaves can be the traditional green or you can use something else. If you use one color, you might want to mix up the prints to increase interest. You can also use different colors. Make the block your own.
I thought about making the leaves green to make them more realistic, but decided I was still of a mind to use a variety of turquoises and aquas and keep my quilt’s color scheme of aqua/turquoise with red consistent. I found more leaf fabrics in my scrap basket. It is important, with my limited color scheme, to make sure the viewer can see the individual leaves. For that, I will need to have enough contrast between the various aquas and turquoises. Remember, when choosing your fabrics, to make visual decisions visually. Put your potential fabrics on the background and step back to look at them. From my test piece (right) you can see that there are a variety of tones of aqua and turquoise. Some of them blend a bit into the background. I want movement and interest.
Once you have chosen all of your fabrics press the wrong sides, cheek to jowl, to one side of the fusible.
You are not going to be able to cover every inch of the fusible, which is why you have a pressing cloth or applique’ pressing sheet. If you press directly, the fusible that is not covered by fabric will end up on the bottom of your iron.
Cover this piece with a press cloth and press the fusible to the fabric following the directions on your fusible’s packaging.
Make all of your leaves and flowers. Flip the fusible so that paper side is up. You will be able to see your different fabrics through the paper. Place a template face DOWN on the appropriate fabric and trace with a writing implement. I use a Sewline pencil, but you can also use a pen, regular pencil or anything. I wouldn’t use a Sharpie even though I don’t think the paper will allow the marking to bleed through to the fabric.
Once you have traced all pieces**, cut them out right inside the drawn line. You should have 20 leaves, 4 flowers and 4 center flowers.
Take all of your pieces and arrange them the pleasing way. Arrange them into the position you want them to end up once they are fused. You are doing this to look at the effect. Once you are pleased with the arrangement, take a photo or sketch out placement.
You will need to stitch the flowers first, then the leaves and finally the flower centers. The flowers and leaves are on the same layer, so you can stitch them in any order. Anything that will be covered by another piece will need to be stitched before you fuse the covering piece.
Place the flowers on the ring using the press marks you used to place the ring on the background (or fold the background in quarters and finger press again). Place them symmetrically along the ring, or in a pleasing way to your eye.
Fuse them into place and get ready to stitch. You can also reference the machine applique’ tutorial for more information. Again, pay attention to where the layers of the design are placed. If there are leaves that you want to place under the wreath, you will need to satin stitch them before you fuse the wreath down entirely. For the flowers, you will need to satin stitch down any parts of the design that will be covered by another piece of fused fabric, such as the centers. The design will look better if you satin stitch a layer and then fuse the next piece down.
Place the interfacing under the background. You could use a machine basting stitch to stitch the interfacing temporarily to the background, but pinning works fine, too. You will need to zig zag with the interfacing under the background.
Satin stitch all the other pieces down using the thread you chose. When you stitch, the middle of the stitch will cover the outside raw edge of each piece. I line up the red arrow on my foot (see photo) with the sharp edge of that raw edge. The pieces you will satin stitch have curves, thus you will need to manipulate the stitch so it is smooth. This means that you will need to stitch with needle down.
Stop with the needle down on the outside of the curve for the leaves and flower petals. For the inside point between the flower petals stop above that point on the inside. If you do not have a machine that automatically stops with the needle down, then you can use the hand wheel to move the needle into the downward position when you stop. Do this carefully without moving the fabric. Once the needle is down you will need to assess the way to turn the fabric. Always turn the fabric very slightly to ensure a smooth curve. You may only need to take one stitch before adjusting the fabric again in order to get around the curve smoothly. For the outside curves, generally, you need to turn the fabric to the left to make a smooth curve. (Updated 10/30/2012: My engineer SIL says: You turn it clockwise for outside curves and counter clockwise for inside curves.) The stitching will be closer together on the inside of the shape and more open on the outside of the shape when you move in this direction. For the inside point of the flower, between the petals, you will need to take a slight adjustment of the background to the right. For the pointy ends of the leaves, stop the needle on the outside of the leaf near the point and adjust the fabric to the right very, very slightly. Take one stitch, stop on the outside of the point again. Adjust very slightly to the right. Your goal should be to get the needle into the same hole on the inside of the leaf until the arrow or line on your machine’s foot is in line with the raw edge of the other side of the leaf. When you move the fabric always keep the needle down. Before starting, take a few of the shapes, e.g. a leaf and a flower, make some test pieces and do a test on junk fabric so you get the feel of the procedure. This is not something you should work on when you are pressed for time.
Once you are finished with the flowers, change your thread and adjust the width and density of your stitch, if desired.
Arrange the leaves in a pleasing manner. I placed 5 at a time on the background and stitched them down.
Arrange and stitch all of the leaves. My photo shows only 10 sewn leaves.
Place the centers on the flowers and stitch them down. Follow all the directions above for tying off and moving the needle to create a smooth curve.
Once you have stitched all the pieces, rip off the tearaway. I use a seam ripper to get the ripping started on pieces that are surrounded by stitching.
Once you are finished with the entire stitching and tearaway ripping, trim the background down to 12.5″
**Nota bene: These pieces have no right direction. You can trace them any way and apply them anyway and they will look fine. Pay attention if you are cutting out letters or another motif that has a special direction. Put the right side down on the paper backed fusible and trace the motif backwards.
We are making the Flower Wreath block. To find out how to make templates, including the ring see Part 1.
Choose your fabrics. You will need fabric for the flowers (1-4 fabrics), leaves (1-20 fabrics) and the wreath (1 fabric). The leaves can be the traditional green or you can use something else. If you use one color, you might want to mix up the prints to increase interest. You can also use different colors. Make the block your own.
I am going to try and use a variety of turquoises and aquas to keep my color scheme in the aqua/turquoise with red range. I have a few of the leaf fabrics picked out from my scrap basket, but need to find more. It is important, with my limited color scheme to make sure the viewer can see the individual leaves.
The ring is the biggest pain to deal with so I deal with it first before I even really think much about fabrics for the other parts. I decided to use one of the Pat Bravo Pure Elements solids in the turquoise range, but more on the green side. I haven’t used it in this quilt before. I picked it to highlight the leaves a little more.
Now you need to make sure that your fusible will cover your fabric.
I used a package of Steam-a-Seam 2 Lite, but there are many fusibles that will work just fine for this project. Use what you know how to use or what you have on hand.
Tear the paper carefully off of one side of the fusible (or follow directions for your fusible) and stick it to the fabric, smoothing it carefully so there are no puckers or bubbles. The fusible is sticky so you can stick to the fabric and reposition it until you are happy.
Since the pieces I had were 8.5″x11″, I needed to cover an extra piece (bottom of the photo above) that was wider than the 8.5″ width of the fusible. I cut a piece from the fusible (white part in photo above) and re-positioned it to cover the part of the fabric I need for the size of the template.
Once you are happy, fuse the 2 sided fusible (should have the paper left on one side) to your ring fabric. Follow the directions on the package or website. You may want to cover your ironing board and the piece with junk fabric or an applique’ pressing sheet to keep your iron and ironing surface clean.
Turn your fusible backed fabric so that the paper left on the fabric is face up, as in the photo above. Place your ring template face down on the paper and trace around it with a pencil.
Cut out the ring carefully on the line. I used an X-acto knife to start the center. I did use a pair of fabric scissors, but not my Gingher scissors. It is kind of hard to know what to do, because you are cutting both fabric and paper and you need a nice sharp edge. I use a pair of my mid-range scissors and hope for the best. They still seem sharp even after a bit of this type of cutting.
Fold the ring into quarters and finger press lightly. Again you will be lining up the folds to center the ring.
Retrieve your background. Fold the background into quarters and finger press, so you can see the folds.
Remove paper from the ring.
Line up the folds of the ring on the folds of the background. If they are all in alignment, there should be a ring fold snuggled with a background fold evenly. If you want to check, measure from the edge to the ring. You do need an absolutely square block for this to work.
Press the ring onto the background so it sticks.
Carefully bring background with the ring stuck to it to the iron. Check to see that your ring is still in place. According to your fusible directions, press the ring into place.
Your ring should now be firmly ironed on to the center of the background.
Leave this piece on the ironing board temporarily.
Get the tearaway you purchased (or had) and cut two pieces of tearaway stabilizer a little bit larger than your background. Place your background on top of the tearaway and pin it to the background. This will provide stability and prevent the piece from puckering when you zig zag stitch the pieces.
You are now ready to machine applique’ your first part of the block. See part 3 for machine stitching the block.
Frances and I are back in action with the Sampler class. I am excited, but nervous because I haven’t done this in awhile. The next class is about fusible machine applique’.
Supply List:
Notebook for notes
Pen to take notes 😉
Mechanical Pencil
Fabric (at least 4 different, preferably more greens to create variety in the leaves; scraps work well)
Fabric Scissors
Paper scissors
Small ruler
Glue stick
Template plastic
Dinner plate or compass
Fusible web, such as Misty Fuse or Steam-a-Seam 2 or Steam-a-Seam Lite
Applique’ pressing sheet
Tear away stabilizer (the size of your background)
Iron
Ironing surface
3″x5″ piece of fabric backed with 2 layers of tearaway stabilizer
Cut a piece of fabric for the background .5″ to 1″ bigger than the finished size of the block. If you have a regular background fabric, use that, if not use a coordinating fabric. I took a look at my current blocks to help me decide what background I wanted to choose. This is a coordinated scrappy quilt, but I also wanted to find a background that would work well with the applique pieces that I was planning to put on top of it.
After cutting out a background, you need to put it aside for the time being. You will need it after you make the templates and the ring.
Cut out all the templates from the paper. Leave a little of the paper around the edges. Feel free to adjust the design of the flowers or leaves, if you want the shapes to be a little different.
In the photo above, you can see all of them templates rough cut out, except the circles. The circles print from EQ7 on two sheets of paper. You will need to rough cut the two pieces for each circle and then tape them together. In order to tape the pieces together, hold each piece for one circle in a hand up to the light and match them up you. Before you hold them up, have the tape ready just to tack the pieces together. You can use a light box for this procedure also.
Fold circles in quarters to make a line down the centers. This will help you line them up to make the ring for the wreath.
I never did this before and had to figure it out, but it works pretty well.
Using the folds, layer the circles together so you can see the black line of the upper circle. Draw a line around the smaller circle using the smaller circle as a template. You will be drawing on the larger circle. Use a soft implement (pencil or roller ball pen) that doesn’t skip to draw the circle. Once you have drawn the circle, you can put the smaller circle away with your other templates. I use a zipper bag for all of the pieces and parts.
Fold up the larger circle. Check the width of the ring of the wreath using a small ruler to make sure it is even. Once you are happy with the line. Cut along the line without opening the circle.
Once you have cut out the ring, open up the ring.
Now you are ready to make the templates. Grab all of your patterns, your template plastic and your glue stick.
Glue the paper templates to the template plastic.
The only tricky part is for the ring. I avoid the folds in the pattern and only put the template plastic on the parts of the ring where the fold isn’t. Why? Because I want to be able to fold this piece and put it in a zipper bag. Also, by adding the template plastic in quarters you save template plastic and you can use smaller pieces. Finally, you don’t end up with a circle of leftover template plastic.
Trim the templates to the line on the pattern.
Depending on the kind of template plastic you have, your templates will look something like the photo above.
Part 2 will talk about choosing fabrics etc.
You can find more detail about machine appliqueing directional motifs, such as letters in a separate tutorial.
Today we are making a Nine Patch. This is usually the first block I teach when I teach beginning quiltmakers in a Sampler Class context. You will need:
Supply list:
rotary cutter
rotary cutting ruler large enough to cut 4.5″ squares
rotary cutting ruler
fabric (2-3 different)
Optional: Mary Ellen’s Best Press (or similar)
Optional: pins
sharp trimmers or scissors
thread for piecing
sewing machine
Iron
ironing surface
I have marked the rows and patch with letters and numbers so I can more easily refer to them for you.
Step 1: Cut fabric. You need 9 squares 4.5″x4.5″ each. I like to use a different fabric in the center of the nine patch block. It adds interest, especially to a 12″ finished size.
This block is actually the first block I teach in the sampler series. This particular Nine patch will be in the quilt I am making with Frances. You have seen it in different photos on the blog.
Step 2 (above): After you cut the squares, move them around to make sure you have the placement of the fabrics in the right place.
Step 3: Prepare to start sewing.
start, usually in the upper left hand corner 9row 1 patch A and row 2 patch D), everything else being equal. In general, if I don’t start in the upper left hand corner for other blocks, I start by sewing smaller units/patches into larger patches.
Step 4: Place fabrics right sides together and place into machine. I have my quarter inch foot on my machine and I sew 2 patches together to make a unit that will fit into the upper left hand corner of the block.
The edges of the patches are lines up so that the bottom fabric is not showing when I sew. Fabrics are right sides together.
You can certainly take the sewn patches out of the machine, but this is a good time to talk about chain piecing. I have other bits and pieces handy so that I can keep sewing, so I will put them through the machine after the patches for the block on which I am working. In the above photo, you can see scrap pieces for a journal cover. I find it is much easier to work on sewing scraps together rather than another block. For my journal covers, I sew pieces together any which way. I don’t have to worry about putting the right patch in the right place or not cutting off triangle corners. This method gives my brain space to concentrate on the block at hand.
Once you have done some blocks and know how you work, you can certainly put the next group of pieces for your current block through the machine after the first set. Also, if you feel confident, then go ahead and put the next set through the machine.
Step 5: After you have put your second group of patches, or your scraps, through the machine, cut off the sewn patches apart from your second group of sewn pieces. I usually just put one set of chain piecing through my machine after my set of patches for my current block, especially if I have a lot of fiddly placement. I would rather unsew one set of patchwork if I make a mistake than many.
Step 6: Trim threads.
I dislike a bunch of long threads hanging off the back of my finished blocks. The best way I have found to deal with that is to trim as I go along. Trimming threads is a personal preference. I find it makes my blocks look a bit better and there is less of a chance of anything getting caught in my machine as I sew further along in the project.
Step 7: Bring your 2 sewn squares over to your ironing board and press the threads on the seam allowance from the back with the patchwork closed. You have not yet opened your piecing to look at it from the front.
I have no idea if this step really sets the seams. Fons & Porter do this and since there doesn’t seem to be any harm in it, I started to do it as well. If you skip this step, your patchwork will not fall apart.
Step 8: Open your patchwork so that the seam allowance is pointing towards the patch that will be in the very upper left hand corner.
Step 9: Point the seam allowance, referenced above, away from you.
You could also point it to the side (either right or left depending on which is comfortable based on the hand with which you press). Above is the way I do it, which probably depends on the size of my ironing board and habit.
Step 10: Swoop your iron carefully from the patch without the seam allowance to the patch which is laying on top of the seam allowance. In my case I am swooping carefully from the red towards the aqua dot.
Step 11: Place sewn patches on in their spot on the design wall (or design floor or design table).
You will notice that they are quite a bit smaller (1/2″ to be exact) than your other cut pieces. No panicking is necessary. The patches are smaller because you have used 1/2″ of fabric for the seam allowance. You are on track, if your block looks like the two pictures above.
Step 12: Take the center patches (from row 1 patch B and row 2 patch E) and sew them together. Again, you will place your right sides together before you sew.
Step 13: Follow steps 3-11 for these patches and the right hand patches (row 1 patch C and row 2 patch F).
Step 14: Above we pressed towards row 1. After sewing row 1&2, patches B&E, you will press the seam allowance towards row 2. Patch E will be on top of your seam allowance.
Step 15: Place your pressed patch on the Design Wall. You have used up another 1/2″ of fabric.
After you have sewed all the patches for rows 1&2 together, you will need to sew the patches for row 3.
Step 16: Sew row 3 patch G to patch D. Yes, patch D is already sewn to patch A. Don’t press yet.
Step 17: Follow the directions in Step 16 for patch H and patch I. Wait to press.
Step 18: Press patch G towards patch G.
Step 19: Press H towards patch E
Step 20: Press patch I towards patch I
Step 21: Lay the column with patches B, E and H on top of the column with A, D, and G. Make sure that your seams look like the photo above – nested into each other, not resting on top of each other.
The reason to pay attention to pressing is that you can ‘nest’ the seams when you go to start sewing the rows. Nesting seams is when the seam allowances are pressed in opposite directions so that they rest against each other.
Step 22: With the column with patches B, E and H on the bottom, sew the column with A, D, and G to the column with patches B, E and H on the right side.
I did use some pins at the seam allowances.
Step 23: Set seam between the left and middle columns.
Step 24: Press seam allowance between the left and middle columns in whatever direction suits you.
Step 25: Lay left column (with patches C, F and I) on top of the middle column.
It looks like the top row, but really is the right column. I just have it turned so the right column is on top.
Step 26: Pin at seam allowances, if desired.
Step 27: Sew left column (with patches C, F and I) to the middle column.
Step 28: Set seam between right and middle column.
Step 29: Press seam between right and middle column.
Step 30: Congratulate yourself! You have successfully completed your Nine Patch!!!
Nota bene: I may update this tutorial or make clarifications, changes as necessary
This is a tutorial on making a LeMoyne Star. This block is also called an Eight Pointed Star. This is one of the ways that I make it. There are many methods and I encourage you to try different techniques.
Alex Anderson has a great tutorial on one of the Quilt Show episodes on making a Split LeMoyne Star.
Before you do anything else, print the rotary cutting instructions below (first item under supplies). All the sizes, etc are there.
These directions use a quarter inch seam allowance.
You will be creating Y seams.
Chain piecing is not part of this tutorial.
Respect the bias.
Do not sew into the seam allowance.
Cutting
Cut a 3″x23″ strips. That should be long enough for 4 diamonds (parallelograms). Cutting a 3″ strip across the width of a half yard of fabric will generate a strip that is long enough. You will need two and using 2 different fabrics looks good.
As shown (left), line your ruler up so the 45 degree angle on your ruler is along the bottom of the strip.The side of the ruler should be lined up right in the corner of your strip.
The idea is to cut off the end of the strip, so you have the correct angle of one pointy end of the diamond. I did try my diamond ruler, but none of the lines were quite the right size, so I couldn’t use it for this particular block.
I used the two rulers to make sure that the diamond were accurate. The first ruler, on the left, should be even with the far left [soon to be] diamond point so that it would measure 4.25″ along the bottom edge. I used that measurement to line up the 45 degree angle of the second ruler so I could cut the angle in the right place. I butted the second ruler up against the first ruler (carefully) so everything was in alignment. The second ruler (on the right) must have a 45 degree angle that intersects with a corner or this trick won’t work.
I removed the left ruler before I started cutting, as it was easier to cut with just one ruler on the mat. I was careful not to jostle the ruler in the 45 degree angle position. Line your ruler up exactly as shown in the photo. You don’t have to have exactly the rulers I have. You can use any rulers with the correct lines.
I found that the method really does work. You will need to repeat the step above 8 times to get 8 diamonds. After the first diamond, it will be easier, since you can use the 2d cut for each diamond as the first cut for the next diamond.
Aside from having to watch out for ruler jostling, I was really pleased with how easy this was and well these diamonds came out. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t have wanted to cut the 300+ diamonds for FOTY 2010 using this method, but for a LeMoyne Star, it works very well.
I cut all the diamonds at once from two strips of two different fabrics. My fabrics are:
background: Lil Plain Jane
red diamonds: Moda Bliss #55021
aqua dot diamonds: Moda Bliss #55023
Cut the squares and triangles according to the cutting directions on the PDF in the supply list. The triangles are quarter square triangles, which means that you cut the triangles so the straight of the grain will be along the hypotenuse (the long side of the traingle).
If you have some reason for not being able to cut the side triangles as shown, be careful sewing the block together and then stay stitch the outside of the block once you are finished.
Once your pieces are cut, lay them out or adhere them to your design wall, so you know what you have.
I like to keep them where I can see them because it helps me know where I am. As I sew, I put the sewn elements of the block back up on the design wall.
Once you have cut all the diamonds, you will need to mark them. You need to mark 1/4″ away from the seam line, because if you want this block to come out right, you cannot sew into the seam allowance. The biggest rule I have for making the LeMoyne/8 pointed star block is NOT to sew into the seam allowance. There are exceptions, but I am not going into those now.
Put your diamonds face down on a writing surface and prepare to mark. As you can see from the photo, I used my cutting mat as the hard surface. You can use a table or whatever else works for your work area. I used the Sewline pencil to make the marks. Pilot SCUF pens, a mechanical pencil, etc also work.
Get ready to mark the seam allowance on all of your pieces (squares, triangles, diamonds).
I like using the Perfect Piecer ruler by Jinny Beyer for marking weird angles, because I only have to move the ruler once to mark the ‘corner.’
With the Perfect Piecer (they aren’t giving me free stuff, BTW!), you put the ruler in the ‘corner’ as shown in the photo. Where I have placed the circle is a hole. Note it is a small hole, so a regular No.2 pencil usually won’t work. Stick your Sewline (or other fabric marking implement with a very thin point) in there and make a dot. Voilà!
You will need to use two different parts of
the Perfect Piecer ruler to make the marks on all four ‘corners’. There is no angle for the sides of the diamonds, so just use the straight edge (as I describe below). You don’t need to know the angles, if angles make you crazy. Just match up the shape of the ruler with your cut piece.
You can certainly use any kind of ruler. Take your regular ruler and line up the 1/4″ line with the cut edge. Make a line around where you think the quarter inch would be. Make it longer, so you don’t have to go back and do it over. Move the ruler to the opposite cut edge of the diamond and cross your first line with a new line. It makes an X. I have done this numerous time and there is no problem using an X instead of the Perfect Piecer dot.
In case you were wondering what the marks look like, the photo (red diamond with blue circles, left) shows examples.
The upper left hand mark inside the blue circle is the mark made with a Perfect Piecer and the Sewline pencil.
The lower right hand mark is made using a regular rotary cutting ruler and the Sewline pencil. Either mark works, as I said. You will use these marks to stop and start your seam lines. NO sewing into the seam allowance!
You will need to mark the squares and the triangles, too. You can use the Perfect Piecer to mark those pieces as well.
At this point, you might want to use some Mary Ellen’s Best Press to stiffen your pieces since you will be sewing along a lot of bias edges. You can either spray it on all of your pieces all at once, or as you are getting ready to sew. If you don’t want to use Mary Ellen’s Best Press or spray starch, no problem. Just keep in mind that you are working with bias edges, so work with them carefully. You don’t need to be afraid of bias edges. Just work slowly and carefully. Respect the Bias! 😉
Sew Segments Together
Now you are ready to sew!
First, position one of your side triangles over the diamond as shown, right sides together. You are lining up the diamond with the left non-hypotenuse side of the side triangle.
Line up the marks you have made on the diamond with the marks you made on the triangles.
I used pins, but only stuck them through vertically one time to keep them in place until I got to the sewing machine.
You can give the pieces a little press to stick them together, too, if you want.
Next you sew from mark to mark. Stay out of the seam allowance! You can back stitch, if you want, but stay out of the seam allowance. Start sewing at one mark and stop at the second mark. Easy!
An Aside: You are probably wondering about the lemon fabric. I press fabric on my ironing board and if I am pressing a lot of pieces, then I will put a larger piece of fabric so that I can get more bang for my buck. As I press the smaller pieces the larger piece gets pressed as well.
You can press now. If you do, press carefully (remember the bias, respect the bias) towards the diamond. If you don’t want to press until later, that is ok, too. I usually create the entire segment (2 diamonds, one triangle) before I press.
Now you have your first piece. YAY!
Not hard or scary, right?
Repeat this step for all of the diamonds that will be in the same position as my aqua with white dot diamonds.
The next step is to sew the second diamond on to the segment (above: aqua with white dot & Lil Plain Jane fabrics) you have just made. You will be doing an inset seam. An inset seam is also called a Y seam. A lot of people hear this and panic. It isn’t difficult, but you can’t chain piece them and you have to pay attention. This method is similar to sewing hexagons together. Y seams really expand your quilt block piecing repertoire.
As you can see I have lined the red diamond up with the segment I sewed and am ready to line up the pieces, pin and sew.
First, line up the marks on the triangle and the diamond.
I just used vertical pins to make sure that everything was lined up before I sewed. I put a pin in the middle of seam line right before I sewed just to hold everything together.
You will be sewing in two stages. I like to sew the triangle to the second diamond before I sew the two diamonds together.
Next, place the group of 3 patches (2 diamonds and a triangle) under the needle, lining up the marks so that the needle misses the seam allowance and goes straight into the first mark.
Sew from mark to mark. The triangle and the second diamond will now be sewed together.
Second, line up the new diamond with the diamond you have already sewed to the triangle.
Match up the marks on the top and sides of the diamond. Right sides should be together.
Put the top of the 2 diamonds into the machine. You will start sewing at the mark, which is 1/4″ in from the top of the diamond. Sew between the two marks, avoiding the seam allowance.
Sew down to the mark at the bottom of the diamond. If the pressed seam allowance looks like it will go under the needle, move it out of the way with your finger, the tip of some sharp scissors or a stiletto.
Stop at the second mark.
Remove the piece from the machine.
Once you have sewed the the three patches together, you will have one full segment completed.
Next, press the 3 seam allowances into a swirl. This is similar to what you do with hexagons. As a guide, use the first seam that you pressed after sewing the first diamond to your triangle.
The reason I suggest the ‘Swirl’ is that it reduces bulk later. This particular pressing point isn’t as important in terms of bulk as the center, which has a crazy number of layers, once finished. Consistency is good, though.
Repeat to make four of the above segments.
Sew Quarters into Halves
Line up the square to the [red] diamond, matching the marks.
Arrange your pieces like I have done.
Line up the marks in the square with the marks on the outside side of the bottom (in the picture it is red) diamond.
Press, if you like. Pin, if you like. Go back to the sewing machine and sew from mark to mark.
Repeat this step for all four segments.
If you just look at the next photo, you might have a heart attack. Please don’t. Add the square is not hard. The key is to NOT sew into the seam allowance.
Once you have two segments sewn to two squares, prepare to sew the two quarters together.
An Aside: You can actually sew into the seam allowance on any seam that will end up on the outside of the block. If this thought is going to make your head explode, then just remember my mantra: don’t sew into the seam allowance and you will be fine.
Sew the [red] diamond to the aqua diamond on the bottom. Stay out of the seam allowance and sew mark to mark.
It looks weird once you have sewn the diamonds together, but it will work out.
Line up the square with the [aqua] diamond and sew from mark to mark.
Two Halves of Block
Finally, we are ready to sew the two halves together. You should have pressed in such a way that you can nestle the diamonds together using your pressed opposing seams.
Match up the marks with pins. I used really thin ones this time. I normally use the kind shown in the center detail photo, but switched to thinner ones as I worked on this step, because my normal pins weren’t giving me the results I needed for this tricky piecing. Note that I don’t pin right in the center. I pin well where I am not going to sew and may put another vertical pin in the center temporarily. There are so many layers in the center that it doesn’t always make sense to pin there. Do what works for you.
Line up your piece carefully.
Hold on to your pinned halves tightly.
Sew over the center only. Start about an inch from one side of the center and stop about an inch after the center.
Sewing only a couple of inches makes it much easier to rip out, which I had to do. You might think that this will be a piece of cake, which it might be for you. It can be tricky also, because of the many layers of fabric that you are sewing through. My sewing machine did not want to go straight over that center section, which is why I had to rip out the first time.
Take the piece out of your machine, open it and see if you were able to match the center.
Once you have the center matched to your satisfaction, sew from the edge of one diamond across the entire center to the edge of the opposite diamond. Remember the mantra? Refrain from sewing into the seam allowance.
Once you have sewn the squares to the last sides of the last diamonds, pressing becomes very important. I have indicated with the circles how your pressing should look. If you need to re-press, spray the piece with water and that will make it easier.
By creating a swirl during the pressing of the center, you will reduce bulk for your quilting step. You will thank yourself if you quilt your own quilts. Your quilter will thank you, if you have someone quilt your quilts.
Once you have sewn the squares to the last sides of the last diamonds and pressed the piece, you should have a gorgeous block and feel very proud of yourself.
I worked on the LeMoyne Star today. I had some work, which languished while I was out of town,so I had to do that as well, but it was great to get back to sewing a bit.
The LeMoyne Star has some tricks, but is not very difficult to piece. I took pictures as I pieced it and will work on a tutorial for a future post. The key trick is to NEVER sew into the seam allowances. I did sew into the seam allowances along the outside edge towards the end of the process, but otherwise, I stopped shy of the seam allowance, or moved it out of the way as I was sewing. My stilletto came in handy. Choosing fabrics was a key piece of the process and took longer than I expected. The ‘make visual decisions visually’ adage worked well, though, because what I thought would look good didn’t look good at all. Below are some of the choices I considered:
Above are all of the blocks I have made for the class so far. Don’t they look nice? They are hogging up space on my design wall, so I will need to take them down, but I am pleased with how they are coming out.
I had to be mean teacher to Frances. Do you know how hard it is to be mean to Frances? She is such a nice person and has such a lovely podcast that I found it difficult. I had to do it, though, because our class wasn’t progressing and we need to move on.
The irony is that when I spoke to her I hadn’t sewn (sewed?) down the middle circle for my DP either! I confessed and she was gracious about it. My problem is 1) I can’t decide the size of the circle I want to applique’ and 2) I can’t decide on the fabric. The 2 go hand-in-hand, I think. I thought I had figured out what I want with the lovely Little Plain Jane flowers from Michael Miller. As Lorraine Torrence says “make visual decisions visually,” so I cut one out, pinned it on (see above) and looked it. No go. I think the size of the Little Plain Jane flowers from Michael Miller is a little too big, but it might look ok in a different fabric. The fabric just wasn’t working for me in this context. I love it, don’t get me wrong, but not for the center of my Dresden Plate.
My next thought was to find another red that has a bit more white in the design and see if that works.
In different ways, I liked all of the choices, but I finally decided on the Mingle circle and appliqued that on.
Just a note about the applique’. Hand applique’ is not my strong suit. Still, I firmly believe that a quiltmaker should learn all different techniques so s/he can select the appropriate technique when making quilts. I know that Frances struggled with the hand applique’, but at least she knows how to do it. This was the hardest lesson yet, because it really requires looking at someone actually doing the applique’. Frances is a trooper for trying.
The next block is the Dresden Plate, which we are making using templates. If you would like to see a wide variety of Dresden Plates, you can do a Flickr search to see what others are doing.
Supply list:
pen
heat resistant template plastic
Glue stick
paper scissors
Pilot SCUF black thin point pen or Pigma Micron or Sewline pencil
magazine subscription postcard or small piece of scrap card stock
pins
12.5″x12.5″ or larger square rotary cutting ruler
fabric
Mary Ellen’s Best Press (or similar)
stiletto or similar (popsicle stick might work)
sharp fabric scissors
thread for piecing
sewing machine
basic sewing kit
1. Select your petal fabrics. You can use 2 or many. You want to be able to see the work you have put into this block. Above are all of my options. I didn’t end up using all of them.
2. Print 3 copies of Dresden Plate Templates pattern. Two you will cut out and one you will keep for future reference.
3. From one pattern sheet rough cut around the petal and the circle including the seam allowance.
4. From one pattern sheet rough cut around the circle template and the petal template excluding the seam allowance. On the petal, cut off the thick black line. For the circle, leave the thick black line on the template.
Optional: Write ‘Dresden Plate” on each piece (or some way of identifying why you made these templates for later). Make a notation on the circle with no seam allowance so you don’t it mixed up with the other circle.
5. Glue circle and petal templates to template plastic
6. Carefully cut templates out of template plastic just outside of thin outside line.
7. Extend the straight line into the seam allowance with a ruler and a very sharp pencil or pen.
8. Right where the curve starts to move away from the straight line of the template, draw a line between those two points.
9. At the intersection, poke the corner of the petals to mark sewing start and stop points. I used a pin and then enlarged the holes with a seam ripper.
Optional: Spray rectangles of petal fabric with Mary Ellen’s Best Press to control the bias.
10. Trace around the petal template face down on the wrong side of the fabric. Hold the template tight down on the fabric with your fingers near where your pencil or pen is moving around the template.
Note: test to make sure that your quarter inch seam line covers the mark you made. If it doesn’t use a pencil.
11. Use at least 2 different fabrics to trace 16 petals. You can use many more. You want to be able to see the work you have put into this block. If you use two, alternate them.
12. Trace a circle using the template with the seam allowance. Cut out the fabric circle with a generous seam allowance (more than 1/4″).
13. Cut fabrics using very sharp fabric scissors OR cut straight lines with rotary cutter and curved seams with fabric scissors.
14. Choose your background fabric by laying the petals on the possible background fabrics, approximating the shape of the Dresden plate.
15. Cut a 13.5″x13.5″ background piece. Your Dresden Plate will be appliqued to this piece. Make sure it is square by using a 15″x15″or larger square ruler. You want to cut a larger block, because the sewing of the block may make it shrink up. You will trim the background piece once your block has been completed. Set this aside for now.
16. Line up two petals, right sides together.
17. Pin pieces together by lining up the holes you made when you traced around the template.
18. Sew from point to point, back stitching at each end. DO NOT sew into the seam allowance.
19. Press seams open.
20. Sew petals together in groups of 2, then sew the groups of twos to each other to make groups of 4, etc.
21. Sew between points, back stitching at each end. DO NOT sew into the seam allowance.
22. Sew all petals to each other, back stitching at each end, making a ring.
23. Press all seams open.
24. Trim threads.
25. Lay petal ring face down on your ironing board.
26. Lay the petal template without the seam allowance (which must be made from heat resistant template plastic or cardboard. Don’t use something that will melt) on the back face up.
You probably won’t be able to get the seam allowances flat, but press enough so the fabric knows where the curve is. It will help you when you go to stitch it down.
27. Press the curve into the outer edge of each petal. Use the stiletto to hold down the edge and iron right over the stiletto tip and the template. This is the miserable step, so intersperse some chocolate or some other sewing. Lay aside.
28. Take your cut piece of background fabric. Fold it in half and press lightly.
29. Fold your background fabric in half again (in quarters) and press lightly.
30. Open and you should be able to see the cross you have pressed into your background piece.
31. Take your plate of petals and line up 4 of the seam allowances with the pressed cross on your background fabric. This will center the plate on the background. Make sure you pay attention to the vertical as well as the horizontal.
32. Pin in place
33. Use thread that matches the plate or is neutral for hand applique’ or a blanket stitch to sew plate to background. You can also machine applique’ the plate to the background. We will cover that technique in another lesson, but there are many other tutorials available.
34. Pin curved edges of plate as you move around the plate to applique’.
35.Know the thread so the knot does not pop through the background.
36. Bring the thread up from the back through the fold of the plate (where you pressed the seam allowance).
37. Tug gently and put the needle into the background, just catching it, and pull the needle tight through the fold of the plate again.
38. Go around the entire plate in this manner, using the needle to tuck in the seam allowance so it has a smooth round shape.
39. Trace the circle template without the seam allowance onto the magazine subscription card.
40. Cut out the magazine subscription card circle, being sure to cut off the pencil/pen line.
41. Take the circle fabric you have cut and wrap it around the magazine subscription card circle.
42. Using any thread, take a running stitch in the seam allowance of the circle fabric and tighten it, keeping the magazine subscription card circle flat. If the magazine subscription card does not have enough body, you can also use the circle template without the seam allowance.
43. Press the drawn up circle well, so it is flat and a perfect circle. You will need to tug on the thread to draw the circle up as you press the first time. Once the fabric knows it needs be pressed you can pull the thread tight and make a knot.
44. Pin the circle to the center of the block, covering the raw edges of the center petals.
45. Applique’ using the same directions you used to applique’ the plate.
46. Trim block to 12.5″x12.5″. You might want to wait until you start assembling the quilt.
The green, turquoise, black and pink sample Dresden Plate was made for the class I taught in 2006/2007. I did this one a little differently. I machine stitched the plate to the background and the circle to the center.
As you can see, I also fussy cut fabrics to take advantage of larger spaces in the quilt block.
In the solid Dresden Plate, I placed like fabrics into groups of two for a slightly different look. The center circle was a good showcase for a bit of hand quilting.
I may add some more photos to illustrate steps better and will link to this tutorial from the Artquiltmaker Info–>AQ Tutorials link under the header (see above).
I store my templates in a ziploc bag with a picture of the block or a label with the name and size of the block on it.
We have been on a bit of an unintentional hiatus, because I was out of town for 10 days, she had some things to take care of and went to the beach, the Young Man graduated and, generally, life got in the way of quiltmaking. I needed to get in gear for as much sewing as humanly possible this weekend, so I started in on the Dutchman’s Puzzle on Thursday night.
Doing one block doesn’t take very long. I thought I would just getting the cutting done, but I was able to piece the whole block together. I had enough time even after I sewed the four major sections together wrong and had to rip them out! Being more of a morning person, I don’t sew well at night (make lots of mistakes) and usually just hand sew bindings or something. I am glad I didn’t do worse damage!
Now I have a nice round 6 blocks. This reminds of the goals of the first ever quilt class I took. The goal was to make a 6 block sampler. The blocks are different, but this group of blocks provides me with some fond memories.
I also was able to look at the piece from a color and fabric stand point. I am not liking the Card Trick. I need to decide if I will make a new one or include the light background fabric in a couple of other blocks.
I can also see that I need to include the Big Plain Jane fabric, and a few other fabrics, in at least one more block. I am pondering whether or not there is a block scheduled that will showcase it.
All in all, I really like the way this is coming out.