Today’s Quilter – September 2019

73

ESSENTIALGUIDE lsewingpiecedcurves

Joinusatwww.todaysquilter.com

I’mtryingtomakeblockswithcurves,butI havetroublemaking the edges

meetupneatlyonsomeshapes.Istherea ruletofollow?

Tr ythis...I tendto dividecurvesintotwobasictypes  those with a 90-degree edge

(ormore or less) a nd t hose t hat come to a poi nt.

1

Wheretheedgeis roughly90-degrees,I matchupthe edges (seeFig 11 ).

This sort of edge occurs with simple quadrants.

2

Whereoneedgecomestoa point,thepointhastobeoset.Sewingthecurved

rectangularblockdescribedonpage 70 is a goodexample.It is madeupofthree

shapes,A,B andC.WhensewingA andB togetheryouwillneedtoosetthepoints

ofshapeA asshowninFig 12. Anothermethodis topinhorizontallyalongthe

proposedseaminfromtherawedge(insteadofat a rightangletotheseam),asthis

willallowyoutoopenuptheproposed seam before you sew, so you can check the

edges of it are properly aligned.

CREATIVE PIECING WITH CURVES –

TROUBLESHOOTING

Someiconic blocksaremadebypre-piecingthe patchwork.

Here are answers to some questions about piecedcurvedshapes.

Aboutthedesigner

LindaClementsis a leadingtechnicalquiltingexpert,

editorandwriterwho,for 25 years,hasworkedon

manyfabricandcrafttitlesfor F&W Media and other

leadingcraftpublishers.

AmongthemanyquilterswhohavetrustedLindato

ensuretheirbooksarebothaccurateandreaderfriendly,

areLynneEdwardsMBE,SusanBriscoeandPam&

NickyLintott.Linda’sownbook,TheQuilter’sBible, is

themust-haveguidetopatchwork,quiltingandappliqué,

and includes everything she has learnt working with the

industry’sbestdesigners.ForTo d ay’sQ u i l t e r, Lindais

workingwiththeteamtoselectpracticalandcreative

techniquestohelpyoubuilduponyourquiltingandsewing

skills.Shewillthengoindepth,exploringthemethods,

takingthemfromthebasicpremisetotheirfulltechnical

andcreativepotential.Youcancutoutandkeepthis

section to build your own bespoke technical handbook.

ESSENTIALGUIDENEXTISSUE:

MAKINGPICTORIALPATCHWORK

Havefunlearninghowtomakepictureblocks

Fig 11 Curves with straight edges

Fig 12 Curve with a pointed edge (or edges)

A

B

A

B

Pointededgesofshape

A need to be offset

Back view, once sewn

Alignthe

straight

edgesat

the sides

Fig 13 Blocks in groups

Whenlookingfornew

blockstomake,I findit

hardtovisualisethem

ina design.Doyou have

youanytips?

Tr ythis...I lovethat

momentof puttinga block

togetherto seeif thedesign

‘works’.Ratherthanuse

uptimeandfabricmaking

severalblocks,I makea block

drawingandthencopyor

photocopyit to puttogether

a FourorNine-patch

arrangement.Someblocks

areonlyseenin theirfull

glory this way(Fig 13 ).

PickleDish

four-patch

Double

Wedding

Ring

four-patch