October 7, 2013

Paper piecing with a Pivot

This is  block #37 from The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book.
I am going to make this block using the paper piecing method.

To begin, mark on the paper your fabric choices and then cut the units apart beyond the dotted seam allowance line.
You can see how much care i take in this step...
not much.  lol
Notice there are Unit letters and numbers.  The mirror image pieces are considered the same Unit letter even if they are not labeled.
 Next take a playing card, line it up on the solid line between each number..
ie #1 & #2
 score and fold 
 #1 is face up and #2 is folded over.  Place your fabric choice for #1 right side down (this would be my blue fabric) and place your fabric choice for #2 right side up (which is my gold fabric).
The fabrics should be positioned right sides together.
Make sure your fabric pieces are large enough to cover the corresponding # on the paper.
In this picture, i would move the blue fabric and paper to the right just a bit so the folded over #2 is not hanging off the gold fabric
Once it's positioned, open the fold without moving your fabric and stitch along the solid line.  **shorten your stitch length to a tighter stitch, then stitch the two fabrics together.
 this is how it will look. 
Repeat for the unit's mirror image.
 Flip over the stitched piece and trim along the dotted lines


 Repeat this process for the next unit in the block and it's mirror image.


 There are 2 single triangle units F.  Place the paper unit on your fabric choice and cut out along the dotted line.  
 Lay out your block.  At this point, i take off the paper carefully without tearing out the stitches.  That is why it's important to shorten the stitch length.
 Place the loose triangles over the blue and gold units and stitch. 

 Stitch the white 'flower bud' together matching the intersection where the white and blue meet.
 Stitch the sides together with the center 'bud'.
 To do this....
 first draw lines 1/4" in from the edge on the blue and gold unit.  This becomes your stitching line and a visual for matching intersections.  Pin at the top and the middle.
 With the needle position down, stitch from the top to the middle intersection and stop.  Do not lift the needle.  At this point, lift the presser foot and pivot...lining up the bottom half of the fabrics and stitch to the end. 
 Press and repeat on the other side
 Stitch the above unit with the large basket triangle piece.  Paper piece the side rectangles with the small basket triangles and stitch to the flower unit.  Complete the block with the final triangle and trim to 6-1/2"

1 comment:

  1. I've never tried paper piecing but it's something I've always wanted to try but never have the time. Thanks for showing us how it's done. You make it look so easy.

    ReplyDelete

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