MAKE PLASTIC TEMPLATES FOR YOUR DESIGN TO FUSSY CUT YOUR FAVOURITE PRINTS PERFECTLY!

2019-02-20 - Louisa Goult Fabric addict Louisa spends her days designing quilts and turning them into pre-cut kits and patterns sewmotion.com sewmotion

YOU WILL NEED

■ Six (6) fat quarters in co-ordinating prints

■ Background fabric: one (1) fat quarter

■ Batting: one (1) 20in square

■ Lining fabric: one (1) 20in square

■ Felt: one (1) 16in square

■ Embroidery thread

■ Template plastic

■ 16in embroidery hoop

■ Ten (10) copies each of the EPP templates A, B, C and D

■ Five (5) copies each of the EPP templates E, F, G and H

FINISHED SIZE

■ 16in diameter

NOTES

■ EPP = English Paper Piecing.

■ Templates don’t include seam allowances.

■ For templates, see p89.

■ Louisa used Mary Ellen’s Best Press starch and a Sewline glue pen to make her embroidery hoop.

■ If you are fussy-cutting some of your shapes, you may wish to make plastic templates to help you to see where to cut out each one.

■ Fabrics supplied by Sewmotion (sewmotion.com)

FABRICS USED

■ Print fabrics are from the Road

Trip collection by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics.

■ Background fabric is a teal blender from the Linen Texture collection by Makower.

CUTTING OUT

Trace the templates onto template plastic. Add a in seam allowance around the outer edge and cut along this line. For the paper templates, cut ten each from Templates A– D and five each from Templates E– H.

Use the plastic templates to position each shape on top of an interesting motif in each fabric (Fig A). Draw around the plastic template and cut out with scissors. Use this technique for all fussy-cut shapes (Fig B). For the shapes

that don’t need fussy-cutting, simply dab a little glue on the wrong side of the paper and stick down onto the wrong side of the fabric (Fig C). Then cut around leaving an approx. in seam allowance.

Use this technique for all your remaining shapes (Fig D). You will need to cut the following from each shape:

■ Template A, B, C and D: cut ten (10).

■ Template E, F, G and H: cut five (5).

PREPARING YOUR EPP SEGMENTS

Baste the fabric pieces around the paper templates. Use a dab of glue to centre the paper piece on the reverse of the fabric. Run glue along the edge of the paper and press over the seam allowance. For inner curves, snip the fabric within the seam allowance to about two threads from the paper’s edge, before gluing in place (Fig E). For outer curves, gently pull the fabric down into place to create a smooth curve with no sharp points. Repeat this basting for all shapes (Figs F and G).

SEWING YOUR CENTRE RING

Place a Template E and a Template G piece face down with curved edges adjacent to each other. With knotted thread, bring your needle up through the seam allowance of Template G, sew a couple stitches to secure, then sew across to the point on Template E (Fig H). Sew a couple of stitches over these two seam allowances to secure, bringing the thread through the loop of the last stitch to knot. Don’t break the thread, just unthread your needle.

Rethread your needle with a second length, knot the end and move to the other end of the curve, connecting the two points as before. Keeping the pieces flat, sew a flat whip stitch along the seam to attach the two shapes (Fig I). Repeat with Template H on the other side of E.

Rethread your needle with the length you left at the beginning and place a Template F adjacent to your sewn unit. Connect these points with a couple of stitches, knot and break thread (Fig J).

Secure your thread at the bottom point of Template G, checking from the front that the points meet. Sew across seam allowances connecting the shapes. Sew these units together using a flat whip stitch (Fig K). Repeat stages 5– 8 to attach your segments, joining up your last two to complete the round.

SEWING YOUR OUTER RING

Sew a Template B to the left side of Template D (Fig L). To attach Template C, bring the thread up through the point along the left edge and connect this to the top of Shape D (Fig M), sew a couple of stitches to secure then sew the seam, connecting Shapes B and C. Knot and break thread. Connect the last two points of Shapes C and D and complete the seam (Fig N).

To connect your last shape, bring the thread up through the point between Shapes C and D and connect this to the bottom point of Shape A (Fig O). Secure, knot and break thread. Finally connect the top points of Shapes A and C and sew down the seam (Fig P). Repeat steps 9–10 to attach your shapes, joining up your last two to complete the round. You now have two complete rings (Fig Q) 11

Spray your sewn unit with a gentle fabric starch and press with a dry, hot iron. Carefully pull back the seam allowances and remove the papers.

APPLIQUÉ

Fold your background fabric lengthwise and gently press, open out and repeat, folding the fabric widthwise to mark the centre. Start with your centre ring – as there is an odd number of each shape there is no obvious centre line, so fold across the width lining up the edges of the centre hole (Fig R) and finger press crease marks at the inside edge. Now unfold and refold down the length, lining up these first crease marks. Again finger

press the fold at the inner edge. Use these marks to centre the round onto the background fabric (Fig S). Pin in place.

Starting along the inner edge, appliqué the round to the background fabric using a tiny slip stitch (Fig T). Then appliqué the outer edge. Make sure to tuck any dog ears underneath as you sew.

Lay your outer ring onto your panel, use a ruler to make sure the gap between this and the centre ring is even all the way around (Fig U). Pin in place and stitch down as before.

QUILTING

Gently press the panel top. Make a quilt sandwich by placing the lining down, then the batting on top, then the panel right side up. Baste together using your preferred method.

Quilt as desired. Louisa hand quilted ¼in inside the edge of each shape, then added quilted parallel lines of stitching around the inner and outer edges of each round. Louisa used an Aurifil 28wt thread in off-white.

MAKING UP THE HOOP

Centre the inner ring of your hoop on top of the back of your panel (Fig V), then gently turn them over without moving them out of line. Push the larger hoop ring down on top and your flower should be nicely centred. Turn it over again and carefully trim away the backing fabric and batting, but not the background fabric.

Trim the background fabric, leaving about 1in excess around the edge (Fig W). Cut a length of embroidery thread or similar strong thread longer than the circumference of the hoop and sew a small running stitch around the excess of background fabric, leaving a long length at both ends. Pull these ends to gather the fabric and tie a tight knot to secure (Fig X).

Cut a circle of felt 15½in diameter and slip stitch on top of your gathered background fabric to hide and neaten the back of your hoop.