Curved piecing part 1

Thank you so much for the interest shown in how I'm tackling my curved piecing for the quilt shown on the previous post. The pattern is in the Quilt Romance book from Kaffe Fassett and is shown on the cover.

I can show you how I go about it but keep in mind, there are other ways. This is mainly for those of you who haven't tackled paper foundation piecing or curved piecing. My hope is that if it interests you, you'll have a go.

I'll divide the information up into two posts so that it's not so photo heavy.

I photocopy my templates, cut them out roughly leaving a margin, and glue stick them to firm cardboard or template plastic. The plastic we get is quite thick so works fine. I then glue sandpaper to the bottom of the templates and wait for it to dry before cutting them out exactly on the lines. The advantage of the sandpaper is that it really sticks to the fabric and doesn't shift around, much safer for the fingers.

It's really a good idea to use the smaller rotary cutter to cut around curves. The other tool I find invaluable is my rotating cutting board for moving the cutter around templates. A small mat that you can turn works well too.

I photocopied my paper pieces for the arcs on normal photocopy paper and cut them out. All the fabric shapes for this quilt are cut from strips, easy peasy so far.

One reason quilters get confused with paper foundation piecing (PFP) is that they try to think too much about how it works. My advice is don't think about it, just do it step by step.

There are two types of arcs in this pattern, ones that have light fabrics on the ends and ones that have dark fabrics on the ends. Here we go with one that has lights on the ends.

Step 1

Choose the two fabrics and place them right sides together.

The uppermost fabric is the one that will end up as the first one on the arc. In this case the light fabric.

Place the PF (paper foundation) on top of the strips with 1/4" seam allowance to the right of the first sewing line.

Lower the stitch length on your machine, 1.5 on my Bernina. Sew on the dotted line.

Step 2

Turn the PF over and open up the two fabrics. Press with a dry iron. I keep my ironing board at a low level beside the machine table.

Step 3

Hold the PF with the writing facing you. Fold the PF back on the next dotted line and trim the fabric you just sewed on, 1/4" beyond the fold.

Step 4

Open up the paper and on the fabric side, place the next strip even with the one you just trimmed. Make sure that the strip of  fabric is showing beyond the top and bottom of the PF.

Keeping the fabrics in place with your fingers, flip the whole lot over and sew on the next dotted line.

Keep repeating these steps, alternating the light and dark fabrics.

These arcs go really fast after the first couple when you should be starting to get a rythym going.

Once you have the fabrics sewn on the whole arc, trim evenly with the paper.

I remove the papers at this stage and don't sew the arc to any other block parts with the paper still in. It makes it difficult to sew and remove the papers afterwards. I have had no problems doing it this way.

To tear the paper off, hold your finger over the begining so as not to pull out any of the stitches and tear away and down.

If you're having trouble with the tearing, try folding the paper back at the stitch line each time before tearing.

It seems like a lot to take in but I wanted to show you as many detailed photos as possible. I only started  this project a week ago and I have done all 72 arcs plus pieced half the top together and just have to assemble the parts for the second half.

Still with me? Good because I wanted to let you know about a new blog. I'd love it if you could go over for a visit and give my daughter a big blog welcome. She has a love of bright colours and makes some wonderful things when she has the time. With four kiddos, that's the hard part so I know she'll appreciate the encouragement. You can find her at Sew Stitched Up.

See you for part 2 in a few days,

Janet