Monthly Skill Builder Program – Eight Monthly Skills in 12 inch Blocks

The education program committee is presenting a series of monthly skill building lessons, designed to teach or refresh your repertoire.  Each month you will be challenged to complete a 12 1⁄2 inch unfinished block. At the conclusion of the year you will have 8 blocks completed. These can be put together into a wall hanging, made into a series of placemats, decorate a tote bag or whatever tickles your fancy. You could also make more blocks for a larger project. Additional skill ideas will be provided after month eight.

If you want to make a coordinated project – a suggestion of 8 different fabrics, each at least one FQ sized.  Additional one meter dedicated to sashing, borders and bindings should suffice. This project can also be scrap based – raid those bins you have been collecting!

Month 2:  Curved Piecing

Curved Piecing has been around FOREVER.  Many traditional blocks, such as Drunkards Path, Orange Peel, Double Wedding ring etc. are featured in antique quilts.  More recent quilts now include inset circles or even improvisational curves.  The concept is the same –concave and  convex curves sewn together to end up with a flat block. For traditional blocks templates are used to cut out the block components, while improvisational curves are free form.

For this month you are challenged to make a 12 ½  inch unfinished block incorporating curved piecing.   The design can use templates or not – it’s up to you.    The block will measure 12 ½ inch square, and when sewn into a quilt will measure 12 inches. Magic.

Send a picture of completed blocks to Ellen Lauersen  elauersen@telus.net

When using templates careful cutting and sewing should require little or no trimming to achieve your final size (my pro-tip: I always oversize and then trim – less stressful!).  Improvisational blocks are generally oversized and then trimmed to your desired size.   Some techniques use pins to hold in place, others glue basting and still more with no pins at all.  Find a method that works for you.  There are many curved templates available or make your own using template plastic if this is the route you want to go.

There are MANY resources available online to help you with this task – if you use any search engine and enter “quilt curved piecing” , look in the video tab and you will have several methods to try. 

Here are resources I particularly liked:

– Thequiltingedge.com   Marianne Haak’s website. Great tutorials on inset circles and improvisational curves

–  Search “easy curved piecing for the planet” – a nice video on Drunkards Path block showing templates and sewing.

Month 1: Precision – your 1⁄4 inch seam as a foundation skill

An often debated topic in quilt making. Does it matter? Well it depends.

For a quilt composed of many pieces and blocks – it is important for it to fit together.
Imagine a quilt row made up of 9 – 4 inch squares. If your seaming accuracy is off by 1/16th of an inch sometimes and accurate other times, one row of 9 blocks could grow by 1⁄2 inch compared to another. Multiply this into an elaborate block and you get the picture.

For this month you are challenged to make a 12 inch (finished) block with multiple seams in each row. The design can be as straight forward as 36 – 2 1⁄2” squares pieced together, 6 rows with 6 blocks in each. You can also choose your own block – for this exercise best to stay with squares and rectangles only. The sewn block will measure 12 1⁄2 inch square, and when sewn into a quilt will measure 12 inches. Magic.

As you go – carefully check your accuracy, adjust your needle position or mark your seam allowance line on your throat plate. Choose a method that works for you AND your tools – not necessary to add more tools. Remember that each combination of fabric and thread will yield different results – key is to check your accuracy for each project. The goal is to achieve an accurate measurement on the right side of the block between the two seams.

There are MANY resources available online to help you with this task – if you search on the internet enter “quilt 1⁄4 inch seaming” , look in the video tab and you will have several methods to try.

Here is one I particularly liked: Quilting 101: Perfecting your 1⁄4 inch seam by Cindy Bee on youTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6NrEgqBx8