This block has a step by step tutorial that demonstrates how to make the block above but before I go ahead, if you’re new to foundation piecing maybe you want to start with some other simpler blocks. If not, just scroll down until you find the tutorial for this block.
Learning foundation piecing
Start with easy and simple blocks like this one:
Scrappy heart potholder tutorial: this was my first encounter with this technique. Easy but confusing. Then build a bit more of complexity into it but not too much. Keep it simple.
After these exercises, I embarked into a far more challenging paper foundation piecing: a Dear Jane quilt.
How to do foundation paper piecing
You can learn the principles of foundation piecing on this 2 minute video. These principles can be applied to any foundation piecing blocks no matter how complex they are.
Print the template. You will need to print the pdf 4 times. Cut roughly the pieces like below. I don’t cut all the way down to the line because I like to trim the paper and fabric together at the end. I coloured in the pieces beforehand so I wouldn’t not make any mistakes. Also you can also experiment with colour placement. For instance I decided to highlight the star in the centre giving it a 3D look whereas on the pdf pattern the focus is not so much on the centre star but the surrounding pieces. If you’re not quite sure about colours, a safe bet is using complementary colours. In brief, in a colour wheel complementary colours are opposites.
Now cut your fabric. To cut the fabric measure the widest part of the area to cover and the height, including seam allowances. Add 1/4 in for good measure. I came up with the following:
Piece 1 – 3in x 6 1/2 in – cut 4 pieces in colour 1 and 4 pieces in colour 2. This is for the star in the centre.
Piece 2 – 2in x 5 1/4 in – cut 8 pieces
Piece 3 – 2 x 5 1/4 in – cut 8 pieces
Piece 4 – 2 x 5 3/4 in – cut 8 pieces
Piece 5 – 2 1/4 x 7 in – cut 8 pieces (if you’re careful placing this piece you may be able to use one piece to cover 2 triangles)
Now fold along each line as per picture below.
The easiest way to do this is to use a thin piece of cardboard as your guide. The fold will help you to trim off excess fabric at each step.
So let’s start. Three things to remember:
all pieces are placed at the back of the paper
all pieces are stitched from the front of the paper
the first piece of fabric you place goes right side up and all the others go wrong side up
First piece Place the piece on the back of the paper, right side of the fabric up, making sure the whole surface of piece 1 is covered including the seam allowance. Pin so the piece doesn’t move.
Turn around.
Now fold the paper along fold 1. This is what the folds are for! You could do this as you go but it’s a lot easier to do all the folds before you start. So we’re going to trim off excess fabric.
Place your ruler as per picture leaving 1/4 in seam allowance.
Cut excess fabric and unfold. Turn over. Piece number 2 Now, take the next rectangle and place it on top of piece number 1 as per picture with right sides of the fabric facing together. Make sure the edges are aligned and that when turned over the piece will cover all of area 2 including seam allowances. Pin.
Turn piece over and stitch along the line between 1 and 2.
First two pieces are stitched together.
Turn over and voilà!
Now piece number 2 needs trimming. Turn piece over.
And fold the paper back on fold 2.
Again, place the ruler leaving 1/4 in seam allowance as per picture.
Trim off excess fabric.
And piece 2 is done! Piece number 3 Place the piece on top of piece 2 right sides facing together and pin.
Turn over and stitch along the line.
Turn over and fold paper back.
Trim off excess fabric.
Piece number 4 Let’s do it again. Place piece 4 aligned with piece 3, wrong side of fabric 3 up. Pin.
Stitch along the line.
Turn piece over and fold paper back.
Trim off excess fabric.
Piece number 5 You can see with piece number 5 the fabric is placed with wrong side up.
Stitch along the line.
Trim off fabric around the three edges on the dashed line.
First piece out of 8 is done.
Stitch all pieces together to make this 12 1/4 in block.
I’ll be making this block into a pot holder. It makes a very nice gift for any occasion.
I seem to have a soft spot for Christmas tree craft. I have done 5 types of Christmas trees using different techniques in the past three or four years.
One of my favourites is the Patchwork tree softie. This tree softie is made with the smallest of scraps and is super easy to make. You can even make a little forest in different sizes!
The easiest and quickest by far is possibly the Christmas tree softie. I recommend you use the Patchwork tree softie pattern instead of the one provided as the patchwork tree sits a lot better.
There’s a third tree softie I made last year using embroidery as the main technique. It is the Embroidered Christmas tree softie. I like the effect of using long and short stitch in a gradient.
Finally, if you prefer a no sew project I have made two trees this way using head pins and polystyrene cones.
The Snowed top Christmas tree was my first of this kind. Unfortunately I don’t have a pattern for this tree as it belongs in a book I contributed this project for.
And finally there is the No sew Christmas tree ornament that I made as I got into fabric manipulation (see my 41 fabric manipulations I have used in the making of 2 textured quilts). It uses fabric scraps, ribbon and sequins pinned to a polystyrene cone.
I hope you enjoy making these. And if you do please share a photo in my Flickr group.
These are called quilted Christmas ornaments and you can make them in different ways. My post shows you the simplest way to make a quilted Christmas ball.
I am not very experienced with foundation piecing but last time I made some foundation piecing blocks I quite enjoyed the process and discovered a handful of its benefits, one of them being that your blocks look perfect or almost. With that in mind I thought that foundation piecing would also be a good way to make rather small blocks with little fuss and have them look really good.
Having finished my Farmer’s wife quilt sampler recently I thought I would just reduce some nice blocks to about 5 inches square and try them out. So I went to the Yahoo! FWQS group where you can get all the foundation piecing templates for this quilt under Files, got the template for Windmill and Waste not, reduced them to about 5 inch squares and put them into a page for you to download.
For this project you need small fabric scraps big enough to cover each individual piece and have at least 1/4 in around each of them, including the outer edges. For the pincushion use polyfill or batting scraps.
How to do foundation paper piecing
You can learn the principles of foundation piecing on this 2 minute video. These principles can be applied to any foundation piecing blocks no matter how complex they are.
And here is the regular printed tutorial:
Cut your template leaving 1/4 inch around the edges.
Then fold along the printed lines. Use a piece of plastic or thin cardboard to help you.
Now cut the pieces. To waste as little fabric as possible measure each piece on the largest sides as well as the length. You will end up with squares or rectangles. Sometimes like in this case you can cut a square and then use it in both triangles. My squares, pink and orange, were around 3 1/2 inches square. Then I cut both squares on the diagonal.
The process is always the same. Start with your piece number 1.
Place it on the wrong side making sure that you have 1/4 inch seam allowance all around.
Pin the piece.
Now trim the piece. To do that, fold along the line you pressed earlier and then cut leaving 1/4 inch allowance.
Now the stitching starts between piece 1 and 2.
Align both pieces, right sides together, and pin together and to the paper.
Turn paper around and stitch between piece 1 and 2 along the line.
Time to trim piece 2.
Turn over and fold the paper between piece 2 and 3.
Trim leaving 1/4 inch allowance.
Add piece 3 aligning your piece with the previous trimmed piece.
And so on. The process is the same. Trim, add next piece, align, stitch, trim, and so on.
You place on the back of the paper and stitch following the lines on the front.
Once you have both pieces, stitch them together using a 1/4 inch allowance.
And there you have it, a 5 inch block.
Press well.
Pincushion
After making the block what to do with it. I always do something with my samples, be a potholder, a pincushion, even a quilt! At 5 inch square I chose a pincushion design I can donate for a good cause or give as a gift.
Cut the back of the pincushion using the block.
Stitch around all sides leaving a 1 inch opening to turn inside out.
Trim the corners.
Fill the pincushion with polyfill or some batting scraps.
