Today’s Quilter – September 2019

69

ESSENTIAL GUIDE lsewing pieced curves

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BASIC PIECING

We’llstartwithsomebasicpiecing,
whereoneof thecurvedunitsis
piecedbeforetheshapeis cutout
witha template.Thisis a greatway
to createa blockthatlooksmore
complicatedthanit actuallyis,
andalsoallowsyouto usea variety
of dierentfabrics.Anyof the
templatessuppliedwiththefirstpart
of curvedpiecing(Issue50)can
beusedto createtheseeects.For
thesampleshownbelow,a simple
chequerboardpatternof squareswas
created,withpartB of thetemplate
beingusedto cutthequartercircle.
A templatewitha largerquadrant
wasusedfortheotherunitin the
block.Fig 2 showsthebasicprocess.
Youcouldalsopieceusingother
simpleunits,suchashalf-square
trianglesandstrippiecing(seeFig
3 ). Thepiecedunitcouldbethe
concaveshaperatherthantheconvex
one.Experimentwithstripedfabrics,
cuttingthemat a 45-degreeangleto
the stripe can create radiant eects.

TECHNICALTIP

Tocreatesimilareects

withoutallthepiecing,

‘cheater’fabricswith

printedpatchworksquares

orstripscanbeusedtocut

the curves from.

PlanningFit

Youmaywantto planthepiecingsothatthescaleof thepieces

suitstheoverallscaleof thetemplate,orevenfitsthetemplate

exactly.ForthedesigninFig 2 , I wantedfoursquaresacrossthe

widthof thetemplate.Thetemplatewas5in(includingtheseam

allowance),soeachsquarehadto be 1 in finished(cutat 1in

to includetheseamallowances).Dueto thecurve,someof the

squares would be incomplete once the shape was cut.

B

Fig 4 Preliminary size planning

5 inches

Fig (^2) Piecing some patchwork before cutting
Fig 3 Different piecing effects to try
B B
A
Right, Thissamplehastwodifferentunits,withfour
curvedseamsin total.A complexlookis createdby
chequerboard piecing before using the convex template
B
A