Paper Piecing Diagonals: Using freezer paper templates

As promised, a little technique for making diagonals easier when paper piecing.   We've all had that moment when we have joined a piece of fabric to a diagonal seam on a paper piecing project only to open it out and find that it is too small despite using a massive piece of fabric!  A way round this is to make a quick freezer paper template of the pattern piece. This technique also works for adding specific sections of fabric/fussy cutting.  I think Cindy first suggested this method to me for which I am profoundly grateful!   To see how this works I am using Chic from the 'Get Your Geek On' pattern set, there are diagonals galore!

 As foundation paper piecing means that you work from the back of the finished block, it can get confusing where there are diagonal seams and you have to check each piece of fabric to make sure that when opened out that there is sufficient coverage.  So instead of cutting chunks of fabric in the hope they will fit, instead, trace the paper pattern roughly onto freezer paper.  Remember to transfer the letter and number labels from the pattern and straight grain line arrows help too.

Cut out freezer paper pieces, and iron to the reverese of the desired fabric, in this case a background print.  Leaving the freezer paper on the fabric, cut out leaving a 1/2" seam allowance all round.  This generous amount gives you a little wiggle room.

Place on to your foundation pattern and sew as you usually would, it helps to leave the freezer paper on to identify the pieces as you go.

You can see how the fabric for piece A3 is ample size and opens out to cover the area and the 1/4" seam allowance with a little extra left over.

 This technique saves time overall as you shouldn't need to unpick and pieces because they are too small and to be honest I do this every time with diagonals- even if it is just making a quick freezer paper template for a single piece.  I hope that helps!

Get Your Geek On

Geekiness: a subject close to our hearts and yours I am guessing so it seemed the perfect theme for a new pattern set.  We are both glasses wearers- Penny full time, Kerry part-time and they are a key geek association so we present to you, 'Get Your Geek On'.

Inspired by international rock stars, international quilting stars (Ms Heather Bostic) and Kerry's mum's 1960s wardrobe-we like to search far and wide for our inspiration!  You can find our new pattern in our shop, on Craftsy and on Etsy.  And for this week only- the price is $5 instead of $6.50 for any of you Fat Quarterly subscribers who already have the Retro Sunnies pattern that was released there first.

Blog post is coming up this week with hints cutting fabric for diagonals when paper piecing, meanwhile, 'Get Your Geek On!'

New pattern set is a-coming

Penny and I are just putting the final tweaks on a new pattern set which we hope to release on Monday, meanwhile, a little timely reminder of an old pattern set: Back to School

Find it in our shop, on Craftsy and on Etsy and you can read the original post here with a pencil case tutorial link too.

New Etsy Shop

Just in case any of you prefer to buy your Sew-Ichigo patterns via Etsy, we have just opened a new Etsy shop selling a selection of our favourite pattern sets.  You can also find individual patterns on sale here and on Craftsy.   Penny tweaked out blog header to make a shop banner.

You can find: Kitchen Classics, Back to School and Parisienne Cafe already for instant download at Etsy.

We've been claimed!

Doing a little housekeeping today and because of the demise of google reader, we've claimed our sew-ichigo on bloglovin'.   You can find the link over there on the right sidebar.  It looks like this!

And if you haven't used bloglovin' much, you're in for a sweet surprise!  It's super easy to use, clean, and I love reading the blogs I follow with it for those reasons!

Happy Monday!

Parisienne Cafe Set

Yay!  Penny and I are over the moon to present our newest pattern set, Parisienne Cafe.  It's in the Sew-Ichigo shop now and being added to our Craftsy shop too.

For those of you who have bought our patterns before you will notice a change.  The patterns are present as a single unit for you to cut up into sections.  The cutting lines are marked with a thick blue line and a scissors icon.  This gives you additional flexibility if you want to size the block up and down and it makes the pattern more accurate.  It also means that there will be no paper in the seams which I found a lot easier when sewing the blocks together.  The patterns are for foundation piecing but can also be traced or printed on to freezer paper if you prefer to piece that wasy.

Are you ready for some close ups?

Starting with 'Espresso Cups'  The easiest pattern in the set.  Make one, make 4, whatever you like!  It's such a fast pattern you can easily make multiples and use different prints and colours.

Followed by 'Coffee Grinder', this is an advanced beginner- lots of straight seams but some small pieces.  The 'Cafe' label was made stamping a piece of fabric before adding it to the block.  It is the first piece in that section which makes it easier to place precisely- I used a little dab Sewline fabric glue stick to get it exactly where I wanted it.  We have a stamping tutorial here.

The 'Tea pot' pattern is another advanced beginner pattern and such an elegant shape!  The main fabric is again the first piece of fabric you will add so you can centre motifs and fussy cut patterns to make the most of the slender shape.

And finally, the 'French Press/Cafetiere'.  This is an intermediate pattern, mainly because of the size of the pieces.  The hardest bit is the feet- but then I always find diagonals need a bit of extra attention!  The block is sized at 5 1/4" x 7 3/4" and then strips are added at the sides and top for background and at the base for the 'table' it is sitting on.  This makes it easy to make the sizing match common quilt block sizing- 10" square, 12 1/2" square and so on.

We hope you enjoy our new designs, available as a pack in our shop right now!  Look out on our blogs for a chance to win a pattern set too!

Strawberry Fields

It is not often that I think of making a whole quilt of paper pieced blocks, it takes a lot of dedication.  That didn't put Penny off, using the Sew-Ichigo Strawberry block along with a little help from nineteen other quilters...

Read all about it here...