Mazes

I have pieced a maze for the castle quilt, but I didn't like it.  There wasn't enough contrast between the colors of the walls.  So, I redid it.  MUCH BETTER!  Take a look:

First Maze 

Second Maze

I think the problem laid in the patterns of the fabric design, which tended to blur the edges of the walls.  Also, with the first maze, the pattern was a 6" pattern, finishing off to a 5 1/2 inch sq.  Too big!  This is what I get for not measuring the pattern after it was printed!  I ripped apart some of the pieces and cut them down (notice the front walls are shorter....)  A lot of work, and I still won't use the block!  Here's a tip!  To shrink a 6" block pattern to a 5 1/2" block pattern, shrink it by 91% !!  I experimented with that a little after doing the math, and 92% was a little too big, but 91% was the key!  I'll remember to check the size of the patterns from now on!  Lesson learned!

Paper Piecing Tutorial

This is for you, Dianne!  :)

Here is why paper piecing is so nice!  Take a look at these two sections of my "Birthday Block" Quilt Guild quilt.

The quilt pattern I am using for "sashing" would need 80 long skinny rectangles where you have to cut off the corners at a 45 degree angle and sew on a 2.5 inch triangle.  Later you will sew two of these sections (as in the top half of the picture) together to form a sort of squished hexagon,  You hope your triangles aren't gonna turn out too small or lopsided, and you hope the points don't get squared off when you sew them to the blocks.  You COULD make larger triangles, but then you'd have the extra step of squaring the strips ( x 80!)

OR!

You can make a paper piece pattern (which is what I did), and combine the two strips into one piece with 4 corners.  Your paper piece will give you PERFECT points, with PERFECT quarter inch seam allowances AND you only need 40 of them.  And there's not a seam down the center of the white.  I think it's a no-brainer!  No wonder I love paper piecing!  Down at the bottom of this tutorial, you will see my quilt-in-progress using these paper pieced "blocks" as the sashing.  It looks good too!

So, let's start.  Here is the paper piece pattern that I designed to make life easier for me.  It is 4.5 x 10.5 and will finish to 4 x 10.  You will need to make one paper pattern for every block.  I copied off 40 of them.

Here is what I need.  40 pattern papers, 40 large (white) rectangles, 160 triangles, and a postcard.  The "postcard" can be any cardstock weight paper.  A birthday card, a cereal box, etc.  A rotary cutter too, of course, and a cutting mat, and pins, and a sewing machine.  Your fabric will need to be at least a quarter inch larger than the section it will cover.  In paper piecing, larger is better.  The directions (for the strips) said to use a 2.5 inch square, cut diagonally in half.  I used a  3.25" square cut in half.  Better to have some "wiggle room" in paper piecing!  My white "squished hexagon" needed to be at least 10.5 x 4.5. (including the corners).   I cut my white fabric rectangles into 5.25 x 11.25" rectangles.

Sew the sections in order.

All paper piecing patterns are numbered to show you the order in which to add the pieces.  This is very important because each new piece added covers and sews over seam allowances and raw edges of the previous pieces.  If you do the pieces out of order, it'll be a mess!  Sometimes, if 2 pieces don't over lap, the order is not as important.  In my simple pattern, the diagonal corners don't overlap, so it doesn't matter which you do first.  In fact, since NONE of them overlap, you could do any corner at any time for this pattern.  Generally though, follow the numbers, and sew in order.  In my pattern, the #1 piece MUST be added first.  Since it is so large, and since I made my fabric rectangle larger than the paper, I just put the fabric on the mat and the paper on top of it.  The important thing to remember is that the BACK OF THE FABRIC GOES AGAINST THE BACK OF THE PAPER.  For the FIRST PIECE ONLY, when you hold the paper against the fabric, you should have the pattern showing on one side, and the pretty side of the fabric showing on the other.  After that, ALL other pieces will go "right sides together" when added.

Pins keep the fabric from shifting.

Because this is a larger piece, I add pins to help hold it.  After I sew a couple of lines, I can remove the pins.  The flat headed "flower pins" (yes, that is what they are really called!) are nice for this because you can put a postcard or ruler over them and everything still lies nice and flat.





Alright!  Ready to make the first cut?  First we need to cut off the white corners so we can add the orange ones.  Place your postcard against the line between sections 1 and 2.  (I did not number my sections, just choose any corner!)  Fold the paper over the postcard.

Now, put the quarter inch line of your ruler on the fold.  That quarter inch is the seam allowance you will need for your next piece.  Cut off the white corner along the edge of your ruler.

Next, flip your pattern piece to the back side.  Take your next piece and align the raw edges together and you are ready to sew!  As usual, be sure that your fabrics are RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER.

  

You can pin the new piece if it is large, or just hold it in place to sew it.  Flip the piece so that you can see the pattern, and sew on the line between the 2 pieces of fabric, starting and stopping a few stitches from the sewing line.  You will sew over these stitches later with another piece or block to secure them.  

 

For paper piecing, you will want to use a very small stitch.  This is so the paper is perforated so that it can be removed easily.  If you are sewing a piece with lots of seams really close together, or you want to be sure things are aligned well before you sew, you can sew with a very large stitch to sort of baste it in place first. If it looks ok, then re-sew with the small stitches.  You want to get it right the first time if possible because those little stitches are hard to rip out. Here is an example of "normal" quilt stitches, and the tinier "paper piecing" stitches.

After sewing, check to make sure all the area you wanted to cover IS actually covered!  You can hold your piece up to a light, or a window to see through the paper and see where your fabric is on the other side. Sometimes the fabric might shift as you sew and you end up with a part not covered.  If it's in the seam allowance, I usually leave it if  the space uncovered is less than an eighth of an inch.  If it's more than that, or if it's part of the actual block that is not covered, sadly, you should rip it out and re-sew.

This corner is completely covered.

 If all is well, iron the seam.

You can now repeat this process for each of the other pieces: 

1.  Postcard on the line

2.  Fold paper over the postcard.

3.  Put ruler with quarter inch line on the fold.

4.  Cut with rotary cutter along edge of ruler.

5.  Flip over, align raw edge of next piece to raw edge of previous (just cut) piece, right sides together .

6.  (Pin if necessary.) Sew.

7.  Check against the light.

8. Iron

 

When all the new pieces have been added, flip the block over to the front side (side with the pattern) to trim it to size.  DON'T CUT OFF THE SEAM ALLOWANCE!!  (I have done this and it renders the block useless!)

All done!

  Here's how they look so far in my quilt:

I hope I didn't confuse you!  I wanted to show you the PROCESS.  Here are links to a couple of other tutorials that might help too.

Tutorial 1

The girl in this short (9 min) video sews first and then trims.  Paper piecing can be done either way.  Trim first (as I do) then sew, or sew first, then trim.  Actually I do it both ways in more complicated blocks.

For a longer (38 min), more comprehensive tutorial, try this one:

Tutorial 2

It shows how to make a fairly complicated block.

Leaky Cauldron

Here is my next block:  The Leaky Cauldron.  You have to envision the quarter-inch seams in the upper left hand corner and at the top of the wrought iron scroll.  Looks goofy right now, but after I add the framing strips, it'll be perfect!  :)

The Leaky Cauldron

Three More

Here are three more blocks for the castle quilt:

Azkaban

Cupboard under the Stairs

Hagrid

First Three Blocks

I have been playing with the paper piecing for the Castle Quilt. I LOVE PAPER PIECING!  I like that these blocks will have all different backgrounds.  I don't have to worry about how much fabric I'll need, or if I might run out.  Also, they will have small frames around them as well,  And I like that too.  I want to keep my eyes out for brick, stone, or castle-y looking fabric, so when I get that far, I can be ready!  And maybe fabric that looks like green grass, and/or clouds/sky. This will be a fun project!  I have 3 blocks done.  Here they are:

Botts Every Flavor Jelly Beans

The Mandrake

Professor Lupine--the Werewolf

One thing I have to be a little more careful on, and that is IRONING!  As you can see in the Jelly Bean block, the 3rd red strip on the bottom section is wider at the top than on the bottom.  This was an ironing mistake, not a sewing mistake.  I did not press the seam correctly when I was sewing, and sewed the next piece to the poorly pressed part.  It's not that major of a mistake and I tried to correct it, but it still is noticeable.  I have to pay more attention to these details!

New Harry Potter Quilt

I found a NEW Harry Potter paper piecing quilt. I was going to make a 2nd HP quilt, but now I might do this one instead.  It is a castle instead of a bookcase.  The blocks are smaller, 5 /12" instead of 10" and wayyyyy more intricate.  And there are 45 of them instead of 30.  Actually, there are way more than that, so I can pic and choose.  Lots of choices. Some are the same as in the HP bookcase, just smaller. Plus there are words and castle parts.  It'll be a lot more work!  Something to tinker with here and there, and maybe in a couple years, I'll have it finished!  Here's a picture!

You can see a larger version here, and all the block patterns; Castle Quilt.

Front and Back

I have finished piecing the Ringed Kaleidoscope quilt.  I had a lot of fabric left over, 8 large sections that were pinned for cutting triangles for more kaleidoscopes.  I decided to use that to make a pieced back.  It's a novelty fabric, and the pieces left over were @ 18 x 16, so not long enough for a border of a different quilt, but still quite large.  It worked out perfectly, I think.  Here is the finished quilt top, and back!

Quilt Front

Quilt Back