Sunday, May 17, 2020
Hello, Friends!
We're back to paper piecing this week, with two 12" finished Kaleidoscope blocks. This one is a little more involved, but if you follow the same steps you'll be fine.
To get the dimensional effect in this block, the "rear" parts of the star points should be slightly darker than its larger partner in front. The diagrams below show this nicely. Because there are two different foundation units, placement can be a little confusing because the white bubble print is sewn to unit A, and the lemon yellow piece is sewn in unit B. You can see from my block at the bottom, the illusion doesn't work as well when they're in the wrong spots...
You will need 8 copies of the foundation to make the two blocks. As before, print actual size, don't fit to page. Download the foundation
Cutting for one 12" finished block. This week I list the positions where the fabric will be used.
CUTTING:
| Coordinating Fabric 1 (background) A1, B1 |
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| Cut one 6" strip | Cut eight 3 1/2" x 6" rectangles |
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Coordinating Fabric 2 & 3 ("rear" star points) A2, B2 |
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| Cut one 2" strip of each | Cut four 2" x 3 1/2" rectangles of each |
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Coordinating Fabric 4 & 5 ("front" star blades) A3, B3 |
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| Cut one 5 1/2" strip of each | Cut four 3 1/4" x 5 1/2" rectangles of each |
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Focus Fabric (corners) A4, B4 |
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Cut one 5" strip |
Cut two 5" squares |
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Cut each square once on the diagonal to yield 4 triangles |
PIECING:
Trim away excess paper from four A and B units, cutting 1/8" outside the dotted line. Position the 3 1/2" x 6" background rectangle on Unit B as shown.
Fold back the paper between B1 and B2 and trim using the add-a-quarter ruler. I have drawn the sewing lines out into the seam allowances to show that your stitching will extend into the area where B3 will go. Position B2 as shown, with the excess extending over the edge on the right. Stitch and press B2 open.
Release the stitching from the paper where it extends into B3, fold the paper and trim. Position B3 as shown, making sure the left corner extends just to the edge of the paper and the excess extends to the right.
Press B3 open, and trim the units on the dotted cutting line. Make 4 B units. Repeat the steps to make 4 A units.
Pair a unit A to unit B as shown. I like to baste the units together at key points to make sure my points line up correctly. I increase my stitch length to 3.0 since it is much easier to pull out large stitches.
I like to baste the units together at key points to make sure my points line up correctly. I increase my stitch length to 3.0 since it is much easier to pull out large stitches.
Once everything is lined up nicely, I sew the seam with the normal shorter stitch length.
Remove the paper in the seam allowance by folding back and forth. Leave the remaining paper in place. Press seams open.
Sew unit A/B pairs together to create two block halves. Press seams open
Sew the halves together and press the center seam open.
Here is where we are after this week's blocks.
