Try this speedy technique to save time when machine-stitching shapes
CHAIN PIECING
Often in patchwork, you’ll come across
a project where you have a lot of
identical shapes that you need to join
up – if you’re making a basic patchwork
piece with squares or rectangles, for
example, like the one in our beginner’s
cushion project on page 37. Piecing them
all together one at a time on your sewing
machine can take time, but there is a way
to do it more quickly!
Chain piecing is a handy method that
will speed up your piecing in no time, and
it’s really simple too. With chain piecing,
you pair up shapes and then feed them
through your machine one pair at a time,
without cutting the thread in between.Once you’ve stitched up a full chain
of units, you just snip away the thread
between each pair and ta-da! You’ve
whipped up a whole batch of pieced
pairs without having to fiddle around
and waste time cutting your thread each
time. How’s that for a cunning
time-saving technique?STEP ONE
Cut a batch of fabric squares, then group
them into pairs. Place the first pair on
your sewing machine and sew them together,
leaving a seam along one side.STEP TWO
Don’t cut the thread, but instead lift
your machine’s presser foot, then position
the next two pieces to be sewn on the
machine, lower the foot and continue.STEP three
Continue sewing pairs, then adding
another, and another, until you have a
whole string of sewn pairs. Simply cut
the units apart when you’re finished.
Now press the seams and start piecing the
pairs together to form rows or blocks.STEP FOUR
You can chain piece many different shapes
in this way, not just squares and
rectangles, but we’ve used squares in this
step-by-step guide to get you started. Why
not try strip piecing other blocks, like
Half-square Triangles? (See page 8 3).