Thursday, January 13, 2011

Quilt Along: Step 2

After the left step you should be left with a bunch of paper squares with a strip of fabric glued across the diagonal.

Lay one of your strips over your constant strip right side down. Sew along the edge using a 1/4th" seam allowance.

REDUCE YOUR STITCH LENGTH!! I normally keep my machine at a 2 or 3. For paper piecing you should reduce it to somewhere between 1 and 2. You'll need to play around with your machine to see what works best for you. You want your stitches to be small enough to perforate the paper and make it easy to tear away yet if its too small the paper tears away on its own when you are sewing.


Finger press the seam open and repeat on the other side of the strip.


Press both sides open.



I'm a big fan of not pressing my seams but its necessary with this method. If you absolutely can not stand the thought of ironing at least make sure to hold your strips taunt when you apply the next strip.

Work your way out until you cover your entire square. It should look something like this:

Press your block a final time and then flip your square over and use your paper as a template for trimming up your block.


That's it! You completed your first block!

3 comments:

  1. Hmmm...I didn't think I wanted to join in on this quilt-a-long, but after seeing this post, I definitely want to start! LOL
    It doesn't seem as hard as I thought it was when I looked at the finished quilt.

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  2. It's actually not hard at all! Its one of the easiest quilts Ive done in a while! Try it!

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  3. First block?! How many more do I have to make?! ;) You are one talented woman mama!! Oh my goodness! I fond your blog through your etsy and WOW! That's all i can say about your work!

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