Thursday, October 27, 2011

Drunkard's Path Quilt Along: Sewing your blocks


Well, kids- it's finally time to sew!

Take that bucket-o-pieces you cut up last week....


....and start stitching them together! Feel free to review my instructions for sewing curves over here. But I have a confession to make....I modified my method to a way I found easier/faster. And, of course, I did it to get rid of those pins, lol! Here is what I did (much more like Kate's method, really!):

1. Line the pieces up as shown, with top edges aligned- right sides facing.

2. Sew using a 1/4 inch seam, with the edge of the presser foot following the edge of the bottom outer curve piece and using your fingers to pull the upper inner curve piece to the right to line up with the lower piece as you sew.

3. Middle notches should still line up.

4. In the last centimeter/half inch or so, you may need to stop (needle down) and lift your presser foot to help arrange last bit of fabric so the bottom edges are also square as they were at the top.

5. Press towards darker fabric- done!

Repeat 324 times for a lap quilt, or about 168 times for a baby quilt (phew!). Get busy, people! This is the most labour-intensive step of this quilt along, so we are allowing 12 days to complete it. Meet you back here on November 8 to arrange them into patterns and blocks!

Happy sewing!

4 comments:

Katie B said...

Yay for extra time! I'm behind...

bethanndodd said...

I will be trying the new method today...thanks for sharing! I had better get busy too, 325 blocks...yikes!!!

Kathy said...

In disbelief I tried YOUR method today. IT WORKS, IT WORKS! Goodbye pins! Even though I sew slowly (which I have to sew pinned curves slowly anyways) it is much faster than the three pin method. Thank you so much for suggesting this. This is one of the main reasons that I love qa's so much--I just learn from the rest of the group as we go along. Thanks! Let the chain piecing being.

Kate S. said...

Woohoo for pinless curve sewing!! Now I just have to find time to sew all of these up...