The Ys and wherefores!

 It never ceases to amaze me just how difficult it is to sew two pieces of fabric together with a straight seam. No matter how careful I am  to use a measured 1/4 inch seam, not to stretch the pieces when sewing on the bias, to press rather than iron it seems that the pieces still end up skew whiff . When I spend ages measuring each piece, making sure I've got the ruler lined up correctly and only cutting when I'm sure Ive got it right it is puzzling that when two pieces of fabric that are the same size when I cut them turn out to be different sizes when sewn together! But, I am improving and after making the blocks in my latest Craftsy Class,  quaintly called Piece Like a Pro, I have decided that perhaps I am not quite as rubbish at patchwork as I thought.

Donna Thomas, the class instructor,  is very good at explaining and demonstrating the techniques and I have learned a lot from the class. One criticism is the lack of written instructions especially illustrations of the blocks showing what they should look like. I discovered that some of my finished blocks didn't look like hers and when I checked,yes I had got pieces shown the wrong way round, back to front etc! A steep learning curve!

In one of the lessons Donna showed a lovely block which she calls Gentle Breeze. I tried to work out how it was put together, but failed miserably, so I contacted her and she told me it was a pattern she had designed a while ago but had stopped selling. She not only sent me the pattern, but free of charge and also included notes about how to adapt the pattern to cut the shapes with a rotary cutter rather than using templates. 

The pattern requires mastery of the y seam. This involves sewing three pieces of fabric together so that they lie flat a challenge indeed! So You Tube to the rescue with a video showing how it's done and several failed attempts I finally managed to make the block. 

And here it is! Not just lying fairly flat, but the middle is almost in the middle and apart from the horrible fabrics which I took out of the failed block pile, I'm very pleased with myself.

Then the challenge if to decide what fabric to use to make the quilt. Of course I do have a little bit of fabric in my stash, but of course, I don't have anything that would be suitable. Or do I?

Ages ago I bought some very pretty blue and cream fabric which has languished at the bottom of a long forgotten box. I decided to use it as it will split into dark and light and there will be enough to make a lap quilt.

So here is the first sorting of light and dark which I thought would work, and here is the first dark block which I now realise doesn't work!

Having got it together and deciding to overlook the fact that the middle isn't in the middle, I now think that I need to change the background fabric from dark to light to add some contrast and liven it up!

So here is the first light block with the dark background which I think works better!

As for the y seams! These are used to sew the triangles in place  and after some practise I think I have cracked it!

Of course it is all very much displacement activity because it is taking up time I should be spending on Art! But that's for another day!

Going against the grain!

I've  always been rubbish at traditional patchwork partly because I came to quilting via embroidery and didn't have much idea of the basics and partly because I try to go too quickly. What amazes me after a lifetime of dressmaking and sewing is just how hard it is to sew two pieces of fabric together. I measure twice or more times before I cut, I try to get my pieces cut accurately and they look right but sew them together and they aren't!

So being a Craftsy junky and also having an eye for a bargain, I saw a Craftsy class called "Piece like a 

Pro" with Donna Lynn Thomas and it was on sale! So I signed up! I'd never heard of her, but she's written several books and is very well known and is a very good teacher. In the class Donna shows how to make four very traditional blocks, but covers a lot of basics which I can use in my rather untraditional quilts.

Apparently it's all a matter of working with the grain of the fabric and understanding how squares, triangles and other shapes can be sewn together. So I've learned the difference between half and quarter square triangles, how to make a pressing plan so the seams will butt and the block will lie flat, how to line up and cut shapes with the straight grain and how to get an accurate 1/4 inch seam.

These little squares show what Donna calls the four patch pop! When the seams are manipulated so the middle lies flat! How cool is that!

And here is the block with almost matching points and on the back

Four patch pops galore!

I've also made this

Where the middle is almost in the middle and it's lying flat well flattish.

And this, where the points almost meet

Sadly sewing two pieces of fabric together so the edges line up, the seam is straight, all the points are aligned etc isn't ever going to be my strong poin and I ask myself if it really matters in terms of my "Art". Well I think it does matter in terms od disciplining myself to take more time planning my projects and thinking them through before launching myself bull at a gate fashion. Hence the pieces in these two blocks are supposed to have the same orientation but right at the beginning I sewed the first two triangles the opposite way round without realising! Never mind.

When it's done and quilted everyone will think I planned it that way! Who am I to argue!