Welcome to our Zen Chic Block of the Month sew along SPOTTED MORE PAPER. Who doesn’t love a good sew along? It’s so much fun to connect with likeminded people and to share your knowledge and inspiration with others. And it’s an excellent way to improve your sewing skills. If you are still on the fence about joining our SPOTTED MORE PAPER sew along - don’t worry, it’s not to late.
Before we get started I want to give you some general tips on cutting your fabrics.
Cut your fabrics on the go
It is not necessary to cut the fabrics for all the blocks in advance, you can always cut on the go. But make sure to leverage the fabric. E.g. if you cut a triangle shape out, place the next triangle to be cut nearby, so that you don’t waste too much fabric (see diagram above).
Cut fabrics for half square triangle and hour glass units slightly larger
As an experienced quilter you might be used to efficient piecing techniques for making half square triangles such as layering two squares right sides together and making an identical pair of half square triangles. However - these blocks get their charm from a very scrappy look: nearly every piece in a block has its own color or low volume print. Therefore I’d recommend to cut single triangle shapes and join those to make a half square triangle unit. To get the most accurate result cut pieces slightly larger -add about 1/8” - and trim the finished units off to the desired size later. Though the pattern has to give you the mathematical correct size, it points out the measurements of those pieces, which should be cut 1/8” larger, in red letters (see screenshot of the pattern instructions below).
In this example cut pieces (B) slightly larger: instead of cutting 2 7/8” triangles, cut at least 3” triangles and trim them off to the correct size once your unit is finished. A BlocLoc ruler is a great tool to get perfect results.
Take care of the grain line
The pattern takes care of the grain line, means when you cut triangles for an hourglass unit or a large triangle for a flying geese unit, you want to have the long edge in straight grain, not bias. The measurements of these triangles come in width and height.
Organize cut pieces in block bags
When you cut your triangles, it makes sense to cut a square from a certain fabric and split it diagonally in halves. You can use one half e.g. in block 1 and the other half in block 4 or so. It helps to save you time and fabric. Tip: Organize all your pieces in clear plastic bags per block.
And, if you haven’t so far…
Trim off your slightly oversized half square triangles to a perfect size.
Organize your fabrics in clear bags. Use a bag of all needed pieces per block.
Get the Block of the Month Quilt Pattern
This is a PDF-pattern and not a brochure! Store the file to your desktop computer. I can’t recommend mobile devices for saving the file. (Keep in mind: The download expires after 1 week or 3 attempts)