Pencils Down Tutorial

For those who have purchased School's In Session quilt pattern, i thought it would be nice to do a step by step pencil tip tutorial!

Aren't those the best looking pencils ever?  I used Renee Nanneman's Harvest Moon  #8850-OY Smoke Yellow for the pencil.  It's so perfect!  The rest of the fabrics were pulled from my scrap drawer.

 So now for those pencil tips....
I offer great little diagrams inside the pattern, but if i can help you by taking it one step further and add pictures, well... you know...they are worth a 1000 words!  

Step One~~Marking 

1. Sew together 2 rectangles, one representing the wood and the other the lead pencil tip.

2. Fold this unit in half to determine the center and mark the center of the pencil led fabric.

3. Add a second and third mark 1/4" on either side of the center line.

4. The 4th mark will be drawn on the wood fabric, 1/4" in from the edge.  Repeat this marking on the opposite side.

5. Draw a diagonal line from the 1/4" off center mark to the 1/4" side marking.  Repeat of the opposite side.

Notice the 1/4" line on the ruler is directly over the center mark and through the bottom corner.  See the arrows below. Then draw the line...shown in the photo above.

Step Two~~Background Fabric

1. There are 2 background rectangles, each cut on the diagonal but from opposite corners.  You will need one triangle from each to create a mirror image.

Step Three~~Creating the Pencil Tip

1. Place the triangle unit right sides together with the pencil led/wood section, lining up the triangle edge with the drawn line from Step One.

Note! The tips of the triangle will extend quite a bit beyond the top and bottom of the pencil led/wood section.  Make sure you test the triangle position so when it is sewn, there will be more than 1/4" above and below...see 4th photo down.

2. Sew 1/4" in from the edge of the triangle and be sure to sew all the way down to catch the corner underneath.

 It will look like this...

3. Press seam 

 4. Line up the second triangle with the drawn line and sew into place.

Your pencil tip background will look a bit wonky!

Step Four~~Trimming the Pencil Tip

1.  Trim the right side of the pencil tip by placing the 1-1/4" line of the ruler through the center of the led tip AND line up the bottom with a straight ruler line....see arrows in photo

 2. Trim the left side in the same manner as in Step 1.

3. Place the 1/4" ruler line next to the pencil tip AND line up a straight line across the pencil's side (see arrows).  Trim.  This creates a seam allowance above the tip.

 4.  Place a straight line on the pencil tip edge AND on the side of the unit.  Trim off excess wood area to square up this unit according to pattern.

 Here it is!

You may want to trim away some of the excess behind the background fabric

This concludes the Pencil Tip Tutorial!  Hope you found it helpful!

School's in Session pattern includes this larger apple quilt with pencils surrounding each corner~~as well as the small pencil hanging! 
Perfect Teacher gift!!   You'll find it in my Etsy Shop
                   
Learn, Share, Quilt!
~karen

PS...Follow along on Instagram too!  @laughyourselfintostitches