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ESSENTIAL GUIDE lsewing pieced curves
I
n ourexplorationofcurvedpiecingwehavelookedat basicsewingtechniques
andalsohowtodrawtemplates.Inthisissue,wewillgoa stepfurtherand
demonstratehowyoucancreatemorecomplexresults.Manywell-known
blocksthathavea reputationforbeingdi culthaveacquiredthisreputationas
theyaremadewithsectionsthatarepiecedbeforethecurvedshapesarecutout
andcombinedtogether.Thispreliminarypiecingis thefinalareawewillpractise
inourexplorationofcurvedpiecing.Wewillstartwithsomesimplee ectsthat
areeasytoachieve,andthenworktowardse ectssuchascurvedFlyingGeese
units.Theprinciplesofthismonth’sEssentialGuidewillhelpyoumake‘tricky’
blocks,suchasthoseshowninFig 1. Wewillalsolookat thepracticalityof
reversingtemplatestocreatemirrorimagedesigns.Usingreflectionsymmetryin
thiswaycanfurtherexpandyourblockrepertoire. We will look at symmetry in its
various forms in a future Essential Guide.
PIECED CURVED SHAPES
Fig 1
ThisstunningquiltcalledNewYorkBeautyBrigade,
byJoAvery,appearedin Issue 13 ofToday’sQuilter.
It featuresstrikingNewYorkBeautyblocks,which
havea centralcurvedsectionmadeupofpieced
triangles created with Foundation paper piecing
Grandmother’s Fan
Somecomplex
blocks using curves
New York Beauty
Double Wedding Ring
Pickle Dish
Curved Flying Geese