Artisania

Okay, for those of you who want to learn paper piecing, but are as stumped as I was when I first tried to learn, here is a step by step tutorial to help you figure it out.

This is what we’re making:

It’s a fancy mushroom, to go with the patterns I’ll be posting in the next 2 tutorials.

Click here to download your pattern:

Print out 3 – One to cut your pieces from, one to sew, one to follow as your guide.

First, cut out your pieces. Make sure your fabric is right side down, as the finished block will be the opposite of the pattern (doesn’t matter for this particular pattern though)

ALSO – add at least 1/4″ seam allowance around every piece. Better still make it a 1/2″ just to be on the safe side. (I’m lazy when cutting, I often just eyeball it so having the extra wiggle room saves my butt from having to cut another piece. This is where all of those beautiful scrap pieces of fabric that are too small to do any substantial project come into play Yippie!

oh yeah, a little side note: I really wanted to use that dark brown fabric, but only had itty bits of it. So I sewed them together to make a piece large enough for the stem of the mushroom. This stuff never gets noticed in pieced pieces.

Alright, now take your pattern and lay it face down on the table:

Take piece #1 and lay it on top of the pattern, right side up:

Right, ok so how the heck can I tell if it’s in the right spot?

The dang pattern’s upside down….

Ah ha!

So, now we tack that first piece down. You can either pin it to the paper, or sew it on. For this first piece ONLY, sew a line a little ways into the section for piece #2, but still catching the fabric. Oh, you need to flip the whole thing over, so your fabric is laying under the pattern, which is now right side up and in your sewing machine.

BIG NOTE: set your stitch length a bit shorter than usual to help perforate the paper so it tears out easily. Except when working a complex pattern with a bunch of small pieces. You really don’t want those bits of paper falling out before you’re ready.

ok, sew:

Here’s how this step looks when you’re done:

Now, take piece #2, and lay it right side down on top of piece #1, and line up the seam allowance above the stitching line on the pattern… Um..what??

Ok, take a look see:

Hold it up to the light if you need to. For complex patterns with small pieces I usually pin my pieces down so they don’t shift when I flip the pattern over to sew.

Now sew the line between piece #1 and piece #2:

NOTE: Be really accurate, sew exactly on the line, start and stop exactly where the line does. This will help keep the finished block looking like it supposed to. Trust me, I learned the exceedingly frustrating way.

Flip and press your seam. Now I switched the iron over to my left hand so I could take the picture with my right. THIS IRON PLACEMENT IS WRONG. Always start on the base fabric, and slide the iron over onto the new piece. This keeps the seams ironed nicely and your pieces fitting properly over the pattern.

Ok, so now where are we… ah right, place piece number 3 face down on top of piece number two lining up the edges. Hmm, need to check the placement?

Flip ‘er over and sew the line between #2 and #3:

Then flip it over again, and press your seam..the proper way not this weird way:

Okay, getting the idea? So now line up piece #4:

Don’t forget to put that sucker FACE DOWN. I’ve mucked that part up sooo many times. The seam ripper is my friend.

Stitching piece #4 here:

Hey, were nearly done!

Ok, so now I’m sure you can do piece #5 on your own. *wildly cheering you on*

But just in case, here’s piece #6 going down (which is essentially the same as #5):

….and getting sewn:

Press that puppy and look! The sewings all done

So, while you have those lovely straight edges of your pattern still attached, trim your seams to keep a good 1/4″ seam allowance.

Now comes the fun part, tearing out the paper! Now it sometimes helps to crease the paper first and tear slowly. Some people also spray the paper lightly with a water bottle. You really don’t want to tear out your beautiful stitching as well.

And whaddaya know, you’re all done. Easy as pie!

So I finished up the last corner:

And I think I like this arrangement the best:

Next is sewing it all together and figuring out a border to add as it’s going to end up measuring @ 11″, an inch and a half shy. Hrm…

I’m also preparing my paper piecing tutorials for posting shortly. I’ve got 4 all together. All loaded with nice big photos to help you through. There will be one beginners pattern, two multi-pieced patterns, how to line up your wonky triangle seams, and finally sewing multiple inset curves like the ones I just finished in the New york beauty blocks.

I love how this one is turning out. My favorite part is the juxtaposition of the fun bright prints contained within such an art-deco inspired structure. It creates such a neat balance which I’m always striving for in my crafting.

So I’ve had my eye on these patterns for a good long while now. Ula Lenz is a quilt designer from Germany who has published some fabulous pattern books and has a great collection of free paper pieced patterns on her website. I highly recommend browsing through her site, especially the gallery of quilts and blocks!

I originally had a completely different pattern in mind for the green snail fabric swap pack , but then I had a change of heart and decided to take the plunge into the New York Beauty patterns, with inset curves and all. However, since each corner block is 8″ in the original pattern, I had to shrink them all by 50% in order to make a complete circle within a 12.5″ quilt block. Did I mention that I like challenges?

So far so good if I do say so myself…

They all still need a bit of trimming…

I had to to some piecing of the snail fabric as unfortunately the adorable snails were muddying up the pieces. I may still applique one of the snails in the very centre of the completed square. This block was especially challenging as the innermost curves were so sharp and the pieces so tiny. I’m hoping I can still find a way to press out the wonkiness.

And all together:

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With any luck I’ll be able to finish up the last corner tonight while the baby fabric is in the dryer.

I think I’m going to join swaps more often. Look at the pretty fabrics that have arrived in the mail the past 2 days.

Ooh my mind is going a mile a minute. All the possibilities….

Okay, let me begin by saying that sewing is my down time, my escape, my mode of relaxation. Even though something may be extra challenging, I still enjoy every minute of it. I love coming up with new ideas to try out, designing quilt layouts and blocks, seeing my vision come together, and I especially love laying out the finished project and admiring my handiwork.

Never before had I experienced downright anxiety over a project. I mean it’s the boss’ wife. This quilt is going to reflect upon my husband, and speak volumes of his class and taste. And I know virtually nothing about her! I met her once, at last year’s Christmas party. She looks about 25, and they are incredibly well off. I do know that they’re expecting a little boy who’s due at the end of August.

My first idea was to re-create Eric Carle’s “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” . Lightly textured white background, with the caterpillar sitting on top of a nice red apple:

The colors are off here, but you get the idea. We were going to wrap the quilt up with the large board book and it was going to be great!

So after hours of choosing exact color matches in fabric, handwashing all the excess dye out of a half dozen different fabrics, drafting the pattern, cutting out the pieces….I laid the caterpillar out on the background and the darn thing looked scary! I thought that I was overreacting and brought Vince (the hubby) in to take a look. He said that it was going to give the kid a heart attack. &$*(#@!

So he thought of going with a Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit theme and we bought this fabric online.

The front:

The backing:

It’s very cute, and the front panels really look hand painted. You can actually see the brushstrokes. But I can’t help feeling it’s too much like something her grandma would make for her. I dunno, it needs to be brighter and more contemporary or something.

So after a frantic filled “omg what am I looking for?!?” trip to my beloved Fabricana, I came home with this stack of fabric, including the softest minkie fleece backing!

As the anxiety slipped away, I knew I was on the right track. I’m going with a Nautical theme. Striped panel on the left 3rd, the gorgeous linen textured white on the right 2/3’s, with an appliqued sailboat on the upper right including a little sailor boy holding a fishing rod. At the top of the sails I’m adding the signal flags spelling out their last name. Below the boat will be a myriad of sea life interacting with the bait on the end of the hook. I’m thinking maybe the worm could be reading everyone a story perhaps?

At the bottom of the quilt I’m thinking 2 elasticized flag pockets. I do know that the father is from Australia and I’ve sent Vince on a mission to find out where she’s from. Inside the pockets will be little stuffed toy sea animals, one or two that are indigenous to each country. I think the quilting could be in the shape of an anchor or ships wheel.

I’ll post a concept drawing when I get that down. PHEW!! I tell ya I feel so much better, and Vince is fully on board with this one. Who knew quilting would be such serious business? Sheesh!

On a side note, my stepsister and her kids are here visiting from Korea this month. 2 days ago she took me to this huge Korean grocery store for the first time and when I spied these babies, I just had to snag them! Check it out..

Oh man they’re so much fun! We, (as in Vince) just laid in laminate all over the place and I thought these were perfect for schlupping around the house. Besides, they make me laugh!

boutique close up, originally uploaded by sonjaartisania.

So here goes my first post in my new blog!

This is the second quilt block I made for a swap I’m participating in. (first to come in a minute) As usual I giggled my way through the layout of the piece. I found the dress form pattern here, and I guess I owe her some fabric as I’m doubly pleased with how it turned out!

I actually ran out of her measuring tape fabric, but I found some in my stash and used it in the last row leaving the uncoordinating strip as the seam allowance.

Here’s the full shot:

And now the first block I made for this swap:

Honestly, how fun is this? The boot sorely needed something to omph it up. So I added this mini harlequin border. Holy Shmoley was that a doozy! The trickiest part was lining up the itty bitty 1/2″ squares at the corners.

Here’s the full shot:

Seriously. I doubt I’ll attempt this border again until someone enlightens me as to how the heck I can do a perfect corner without sacrificing the inner mitered border. You see, my math skills are less than optimal and I had to actually sew the harlequin to the inner border first to make sure it all lined up at the corners before I sewed it to the boot. All in all I think it turned out pretty well! *doing my best to pretend that everything lines up*

Funky alignment aside, I do love love love quilting. Well, sewing anything really. As long as it’s a good challenge on the ole’ noggin and gets my creative juices flowing. I have some paper pieced quilt blocks I’ve designed recently that I’m hoping to get up on Etsy soon. And I think in the next post I’ll show you what I’m planning for the next big quilt project. The hubby’s boss’ wife is pregnant and I have less than 3 weeks to pump out one helluva charming quilt for someone I know virtually nothing about. How’s that for a challenge?