Materials
- 50cm (⅝yd) small-scale print
fabric. Sharon used ‘Palampore A’
from Liberty of London’s English
Eccentrics collection of Tana lawns.
See Step 3 in Preparation - Fat eighth of a solid fabric to
coordinate with the print fabric - Pre-cut papers for English paper
piecing (optional). You will need 40
eight-point diamonds with edges 1in
long; 16 squares with edges 1in long;
and eight rectangles with edges 1in
x 2in - Template plastic, fine permanent-
marking pen and stiff paper (160–
220gsm) - Fabric-basting glue pen
- Size 10 or 11 milliners needle
- Fine thread in a neutral colour.
Sharon used Aurifil 80wt thread - Sandpaper board (optional)
- Fussy cutting mirror (optional)
- Acid-free glue
- Picture frame approximately 40cm
(16in) square - Custom cut mat board (optional)
- Rotary cutter, ruler and mat
- General sewing supplies
Preparation and cutting
1
Trace the petal shape from the
Pattern Sheet onto template plastic
with a fine-point permanent-marking
pen and cut it out on the inside edge
of the traced lines. Trace around the
shape 16 times on stiff paper and cut
the shapes out on the lines.2
If you’re not using pre-cut papers
for the diamonds, squares and
rectangles, repeat Step 1 to cut these
shapes from paper.3
The visual impact of this project is
achieved by fussy cutting a fabric
with a small-scale design. To mimic the
effect, you need to be able to be able
to cut shapes from exactly the same
part of the fabric: eight diamonds
for the very centre; eight squares
surrounding them; another eight
diamonds surrounding them; then,
two different groups of 12 diamonds
and two groups of eight petals for the
outer part of the project. Check that
you can cut the required number of
repeats from your fabric. Depending
on the pattern repeat and the size of
the motifs printed on the fabric, you
may need more fabric than indicated
in the Materials list.4
To fussy cut fabric, you will
need shapes cut from template
plastic, so even if you’re using pre-cutpapers for your stitching, trace the
diamond, square and petal shapes
from the Pattern Sheet onto template
plastic, leaving at least ½in between
them. Add a ¼in seam allowance
around each shape and cut them
out accurately on the outer line. To
audition a print fabric for fussy cutting,
lay the template on the fabric and
move it round — whatever lies insidethe inner line you’ve drawn on your
template is what will be visible in your
finished shape. (The rest is lost in the
seam allowance.)5
When you want to fussy cut
exactly the same motif for each
shape in a block, lay the fabric on a
sandpaper board if you have one to
help prevent it from moving. Lay the
template on a motif and use a fineThe print fabric that Sharon used — ‘Palampore A’ from
Liberty of London’s English Eccentrics collection.Diagram 1