Wednesday, April 02, 2008


How to Foundation Piece a Quilt Block


from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Many people have done "Quilting"... but are put off by the labor-intensive cutting and fitting process that makes a quilt block. "Paper Piecing" or "Foundation" quilting takes all the hassle out of cutting and sewing your quilt block. You can even use oddly shaped pieces of fabric scraps without extra cutting.
Here's how those expert quilters sew those acute angles with absolute precision every time. And it's so easy that it's practically "Quilt by number"!

Steps


  1. Select your pattern and photocopy or print enough of them to make your quilt. You will need one copy per block.
  2. Select your fabrics.
  3. Launder all of your fabrics. Washing them first means that the worst shrinkage, running, fading, etc. takes places before they're stitched.
  4. Iron the fabrics smooth if necessary.
  5. Cut rectangles or squares in sizes which will cover the shapes in your pattern blocks. These can actually be ripped/torn in strips and then cut for speed and ease.
  6. Notice that the pattern pieces are numbered in the order in which you should sew the pieces.
  7. Place the cloth for piece #1 on the BACK side of the paper with the back/wrong side of the cloth towards the paper.
  8. Hold the paper up to a light to verify that the fabric is oriented so that it covers all of the area of piece one with at least a quarter inch of overlap in all directions.
  9. Place the cloth for piece #2 (white) with its right/front side facing the right/front side of piece #1 (red) and its seam edge aligned with the seam line and overlapping by a minimum of a quarter inch.
  10. Pin the two fabrics in place on the paper.
  11. Flip the paper to the front/printed side.
  12. Machine stitch the seam line from the printed side.
  13. Trim the seam allowances to 1/4 inch.
  14. Unpin the fabrics and flip piece #2 over the seam and pin it in place over its alloted area on the block.
  15. Hold up the paper block pattern to the light to check that piece #2 will cover its alloted area.
  16. Place the cloth for piece #3 with its right/front side facing the right/front side of piece #2... and its seam edge aligned with the seam line and overlapping by a minimum of a quarter inch (6 mm).
  17. Pin the two fabrics in place on the paper.
  18. Flip the paper to the front/printed side and use back light to check the placement.
  19. Machine stitch the seam line from the printed side.
  20. Trim the seam allowances to 1/4 inch (6 mm).
  21. Unpin the fabrics and flip piece #3 over the seam and pin it in place over its alloted area on the block.
  22. Repeat the process of placing, pinning, checking then sewing and trimming for each successively numbered piece.
  23. Machine baste around the perimeter of your block when complete.
  24. Trim all edges to a quarter inch (6 mm) seam "allowance".
  25. Tear away the paper "backing".
  26. Voilà! You've got a perfectly sewn quilt block, with perfectly measured "seam allowances" and perfect corners - even in those hard-to-manage acute angles!


Tips


  • Shorter stitch length makes tearing the paper easier later. 1-1.5 mm works well.
  • Free block patterns can be found in many places on the internet. Just search for "Free Foundation Quilting Blocks". The variety and selection are astounding.
  • You can merely cut the fabric into long strips of sufficient width to cover the pattern pieces of that cover... and sew and cut them "as you go" to conserve cloth.
  • Any shape or size of scrap can be used, so long as it has one straight edge to be sewn. Because of this, you can utilize even the smallest scraps with little waste.


Warnings


  • Scissors and needles are sharp. Handle with appropriate care.
  • Be sure to line up material in correct direction, lining it up with arrow in pattern (parallel with selvage of material).


Things You'll Need


  • A Paper pattern (and a lot of copies of it)
  • Fabrics - generally cotton scraps will do for your first attempt
  • Scissors
  • Sewing Machine w/matching thread etc.


Related wikiHows




Sources and Citations





Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Foundation Piece a Quilt Block. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

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