Thursday 9 January 2014

Before we begin . . .



Each month you will receive enough fabric to make eight, 6 ½’’ blocks the same as ours. Instructions, tips and inspiration will be here on the blog and in the book you already have. We have started with easy blocks using squares and rectangles and have matched blocks using the same templates and colours.

Firstly decide if you are going to machine or hand stitch your blocks. We are machining ours.

For machine sewing trace and cut out your templates on the outside fabric cutting line and use a ¼’’ foot to piece together. Trace all templates on the right side of the fabric. You can also use our Quick Rotary Cutting method below.

For hand sewing cut out your templates on the inner seam line. Trace around the template on the wrong side of the fabric, this will be your stitching line, cut out with a ¼’’ seam allowance. Be aware that asymmetrical templates, like # 2, need to be reversed when traced on the wrong side of the fabric.

Preparing the Templates

The first month’s templates are all in the first template folder on the CD. Template 1 should measure 2 ½’’ square when printed. If you have ordered our fabric pack it will have this months templates pre printed for you.

Roughly cut the templates out and glue them to a sheet of, matt school project cardboard, from the newsagents. We find cereal box card too slippery when tracing around. Use template plastic if you wish.

For Quick Rotary Cutting Technique measure the straight edge of each template and write this size on the template.


Use this measurement to cut your fabric with a rotary cutter and ruler. All squares and rectangles can be cut this way. When using this technique for Triangles draw two lines from the rounded off corners until you get a matching point and use this point as your measurement.



Pairs of triangles can be cut as a square then crosscut on the diagonal. For squares consisting of two different coloured fabric triangles, as template #3 in week 3, don’t cut them into triangles until after sewing them together. ( I’ll show you how in week 3.) To cut asymmetrical shapes place your ruler over the cutting line and rotary cut, be careful to keep your fingers out the way.


Iron all your fabrics, well, before starting to trace and cut!

We’ll provide cutting instructions for the first few months.
Once you have all the pieces cut for your block, lay them out in their correct position and follow the construction diagram in the book and see our week by week guides as we go along.

Gently press with the iron each seam as you sew, this helps to stop any stretching of the small pieces. Then open up and press flat. This should keep your blocks neat. When joining rows press the seams in opposite directions, this keeps the joins flat. Try to press seams towards the darker colour. Your blocks should measure 6 ½’’ square.

Good luck and have fun!  Debby and Eve x

1 comment:

  1. Can't wait to get started :) have already cut out my blocks :) :)

    ReplyDelete