Sarah Thomas of Sariditty has designed todays block and it is a combination of foundation piecing and applique. I really enjoy needle turn applique and the foundation piecing is fun, once I get started!
I decided to challenge myself to see if I could make the red/white striped fabric do something interesting. I have the stripes running parallel to the sides of the block, around the corner, diagonally and then parallel to the adjacent side of the block. This took a little trial and error.
Each half of the block is made up of 3 foundations. Once I had sewn on A1 and A2, or C1 and C2, I then just kept pinning and flipping the A3 or C3 pieces until the stripe was going in the right direction. I just pinned the fabric on the foundation stitching line and then flip it back and check. Once it was correct, I then sewed it in place.
If you look at this photo, you can see that I have drawn arrows on the foundations to indicate the stripe direction that I am aiming for. This helped enormously, because I could just line it up, without having to figure out what I was planning to do.
For the applique I used just one berry, where Sarah has 3. I just felt it was a bit crowded for my little 6" block, so one on each side was enough.
I always use Perfect Circles when appliquéing circles. They are Mylar and come in a packet of assorted sizes. I just match the Perfect Circle to the template size, as you can see here.
Then I cut the fabric circle ¼" bigger, all round, than the template.
Once they are cut, you sew a running stitch around the edge of the fabric circle, ⅛" from the edge.
Place the Perfect Circle template on the wrong side of the fabric circle.
I have centred the check for this berry, because it looks nice like that.
Then pull the ends of the running stitch and the fabric will gather over the template. Press well and spray starch to hold in place.
Once it is cooled down and dry, just loosen the gathers and remove the Perfect Circle.
Re-press your circle prior to stitching in place.
So this is the final block in the first section of Blockheads 5.
Next week I will have my free layout suggestion for you. A little hint...you will need some lovely Moda Toweling for this project! Of course.
Happy Sewing
Jenelle
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