Hand quilting requires the same first steps regardless of the technique you choose. Any description of your quilting technique in addition to using a walking foot, would be appreciated. Enjoyed reading about the constructing process and the Aurifil article. She is currently visiting guilds virtually to present lectures and workshops on Zoom. In the real world, scraps are dropped into a bottomless basket, never to be seen again, so sorting your fabric is a MUST. The tutorial goes into details on how to change up the angles and size of your fabric pieces to achieve a varied look. In this example, a large enough scrap isnt available, so we will make our own! I have had a lot of fun piecing improv curves years ago, and am glad this techique is featured here. All together they echo quarter circles. I love this baby quilt. I promise to never promote anything that I dont use and love personally. Use your marks as a guide for pinning the two pieces at those points only. I love the feel of this one so much. * The small scrap would be traced and the cutting line would be drawn 1/2 inside the original tracing line. This was an absolute delight to make from start to finish. I had put on my wellies, but by the end I would have been better off using my snowshoes. Circle Machine Embroidery. Please check your entries and try again. Step 7. As you can see, I also like to keep all the crazy knick-knacks that Ive amassed over the years in my sewing room and candy, I like candy. I picked these up from Costco (Im really sorry but I have no idea who theyre made by, etc.) I knew I wanted to add a little bit of another color. The improv curves are easy to do and totally take any mystery out of curved piecing. yvonne(at)quiltingjetgirl(dot)com. Now that we have a mental framework to approach this improv project, its time to gather the tools. Use this square to make a template and mark all circles. For example, if you want four inch finished units, cut your strips of yardage to be five inches wide. The MQG Award of Excellence went to.. She said that the quilt was based on a traditional "Courthouse Steps" pattern but added the improvisational sawtooth design in each of the "steps"! Box 399 Calwell, ACT 2905 AUSTRALIA, Office Hours: Monday - Friday 10am - 3pm AEST. Sew a 1/4 seam away from the edge of the fabric scrap. Not quite parallel is good.) Dont run away!! Especially because cutting and sewing curves creates a lot of excess fabric, and it can be hard to repurpose the scraps. Here are the steps to follow. This could be a fun guild activity. Longer rectangles are best used for covering up raw edges. . Chapter seven covers several different types of pieced triangles. Love it.. and know this is possible if there is a sewing room that allows to work in. Learn how your comment data is processed. Polka Dot Embroidery Design. Use them as a square in a traditional quilt block and mix with solids for a contrasting look. I will email you in the next few days. The traditional Kawandi is a hand-stitched quilt, made from scrap fabric, including old saris. Tundra is the same composition as Birch Woods Glimmer except for three things. Teresa Mairal Barreu, TeresaDownUnder of Sewn up. The blocks are improvisationally pieced roses inspired by Corey Yoder's Newtown Auction Pillow . Use code SUMMER to get $5 off a purchase of a single Quilt Keeper! Learn how to create twelve stunning contemporary quilts and develop your own designs using improvisational methods.Take inspiration from simple objects to create twelve beautiful, contemporary quilt blocks. Batting: Hobbs 80/20. A single pin should work fine as well. Improv stack and whack quarter circles block - video tutorial Teresa DownUnder 187K subscribers Subscribe 15K views 1 year ago Sewing tutorials This block is a lot of fun. So I dumped out my scrap basket of solids and made some blocks fairly randomly. I generally opt for quilting lines in the same direction (i.e. Here it is laid out with a few more blocks. I heard Mary Pal talk at a local guild she said to always jump opportunities Could we talk about what it would take for you to stay after the conference and teach a few classes? If you feel like doing something a little different, why not try making these improv birch trees. Select your pairings while sitting at your machine. You will make them approximately all the same size later. You can also depart from those guidelines a little bit and fussy cut 5 with your ruler, with the extra room you provided by piecing 1/2 over the edges of the square. I do have a couple of different sizes of plastic boxes though for fabric scraps (turns out I use a lot of blue, black and white). Fold the circle again, this time matching up those points and marking the new outer edge diameter points. I think the obsession started in Nancy Crows Workshop called Sets and Variables. . The triangles, at this point, will very a lot in size and many of them will be mis-shaped. I have your book, but I still learned something about your aesthetic reading this. Do not leave raw fabric edges or interfacing exposed in the middle of the square. That is really a pretty quilt and so colorful. You have a great finish. Stitch with the large triangle on top of the skinny triangle. Improvisational quilting or 'improv' quilting is all about your creativityNO PATTERN IS REQUIRED! Designing Jumping for Joy Cindy Grisdela. Step 1: Lay two fabrics right side up, overlapping by a couple inches. The straight quilting lines are perfect to offset the curves in the piecing. Quilt Piecing . As you can see I have a number of boxes (and labels). , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iamNMHxtwjY. Choosing a dark background automatically gives this quilt pattern a sleek, modern look. Love this finish. I enjoy planned improv piecing. It worked a treat so today Im going to share with you how I did that so you can do it to with whatever quilt block pattern youd like to turn into a scraptastic masterpiece. I never know exactly how things are going to turn out, and thats fine with me. It was a remnant, but it was likely Quilters Dream select loft. Now I'm just waiting for the right Day 3 to get it quilted. Decide if you want your flying geese units to be rectangular or square. Turn 4 or more into a cushion cover. This fall I finished the large version of the Modern Patchwork Trees that I started last year. on Improv stack, cut and sew quarter circles videotutorial, Paper pinwheel quilt block videotutorial, How to make 4 quilts starting with a single shoo flyblock, Michael Millers Krystal Neutrals Square0167 layer cake set, 10 Free Stack-N-Whack Quilt Patterns Quilting, Turnabout patchwork - Modern shoofly: 1 block 4 quilt patterns, Watch 90+ tutorials for non-square quilt blocks, Adding corners to a four patch quilt block, Video tutorial: Disappearing 4-patch variation block, On Instagram please tag me with @teresadownunder and hashtag #teresadownunder. You can see that sometimes I doubled up the curves and other times they are just simple. As you know, Im fascinated with improv log cabin blocks. Thankfully, we had a very old Black & Decker iron that I could use to finish things up. 3. I've taken workshops with Sherri Lynn Wood @sherrilynnwood, Maria Shell @mariashellart, and watched improv idols like Debbie Jeske @aquilterstable, Cindy Grisdela @cindygrisdelaquilts, Irene Hixson @hixsonir, Sheila Frampton Cooper @sheilaframptoncooper, and Paola Machetta @thecultofquilt seem to knock-out . I love the colors, and choosing rectangles as opposed to squares was a neat twist. Using your rotary cutter, slice off the little bit of fabric that extends past the edges of the triangle while also smoothing the edges of the skinny triangle shape. See more ideas about circle quilts, quilts, modern quilts. Take care to make sure that your bottom fabric is laying flat to avoid puckers. *At other times, there may be a small curved scrap or inset circle that is the priority piece, so a larger scrap would be trimmed to coordinate. Once youve made your scrap fabric piece big enough, trim down to the size you need. Website by Granat Design. Im happy with the way they frame the center block and bring out the turquoise in the outer row. It can be a bit wonky if you choose. 8. Stitch, as before, from the single point at the top of the triangle towards the base. Click to follow Quilting Jetgirl and receive notifications of new posts by email. Connect these points on the circle's outer edge making a square. All rights reserved. I like it too. With the kitchen restocked and after an hour long walk with a friend, Im feeling recharged and grateful for a few hours out of the house! The tutorial is just perfect too, as I had forgotten about a lovely holiday runner I made this way. I used a lot of half square triangles in KA-POW! Press seams. (Not shown.) Let me know what you plan on making with your scraps in the comments below. And while I dont have photos of the improv process I used, I do have an Improv Quarter Circle Tutorial that more or less walks through my general method. One year I will get around to doing the Project Quilting prompts. After you stitch, you will be gently re-shaping them with your rotary cutter. Congratulations on completing this project so quickly, in spite of all the snow. So I dumped out my scrap basket of solids and made some blocks fairly randomly. The Mini Improv Blocks use small, straight-edged, scraps. I do have signed copies available in my online shop too! Several strip scraps (pictured above) and a couple curve scraps from the Will-O-Wisp Quilt were added to the periphery of this block to reach the correct size. You are the reason the pointy shape chapter exists in my book. I wanted to work with the flying geese unit. On to the basics of piecing improv curves. Thanks for being so generous with your methods. All of the fabrics in the quilt top and backing were solids, so I picked out two tone on tone prints to use for the binding. And you do it in a such perfect professional way. Choose just 2-3 fabrics from your scrap bin, pick a basic quilt shape like HSTs, and decide if you will be using rulers or not. Nicole of Mama Love Quilts has a great post about improv piecing here as well as one by Jennifer as a guest post at Sew We Quilt. Or you make your own improv quilt using the Quarantine Improv Quilt prompts! (LogOut/ Maria your work inspires me! Love your improve curves & color wash, such a bright & cheerful quilt. The edges are turned under and stitched together, and batting is laid inside. Im lucky enough that most of my scrap boxes will fit on my table and leave me enough space to work. It's such a liberating process. To complement the curved piecing, I opted for organic, curved walking foot quilting in four colors, adding a tiny splash of color with Aurifil 50wt Dark Turquoise (#4182). I love the shapes, I love the flow of color, I love the fun I had piecing it, and I love that you can just get a sense of the beautiful snowy sparkle in the photo above. Remove the edges you've cut off of both fabrics so you have two pieces that fit together like a puzzle with the same curve cut. Not all the boxes are scraps, most of them are fabrics in half yard or yardage, trims, works in progress and non-quilting fabrics. Un-stack and shuffle so that each piece is paired with one of a different color. I promise, once you sit with your scraps and start making these squares, time will fly. A dominant circular motif merges with strong vertical and horizontal . In 10 Ways to Love Improvisational Quilting, Malka Dubrawsky will introduce you to new forms of quilting with fresh color combinations, techniques, and patterns. At the same time, my husband experienced a surge in the 220V circuit in the hangar. This simple block is a breeze to cut and sews together quickly. It is fabulous. Yvonnes quilts have been featured in numerous national and international magazines, quilt shows, and books. The content of this blog is the property of Patty Dudek. I have your book and just sat down with it again to get inspired to start a piece using your wonderful book for guidance. Improv? This is one of my RSC projects I experimented with last year and am continuing on this year. All Rights Reserved. In the third photo from the top of this post above you can see my in progress work on my cutting table. Join right sides together with a quarter inch seam. This might be a color palette, a tool, a technique, or something else. Make a vertical or horizontal row of them and use them to divide a pieced quilt back. This is where the fun begins and the time flies! Dont despairabout cutting up your scraps, just add them back into your scrap box and use them again. Sew your foreground on to the house. Which means you can use them like you would any other Drunkard Path block. I cut a rectangle approximately 2 x2.5 inches. Great tutorial, Patty. Love all the curves and colors! Think Drunkard's Path, Orange Peel, Winding Ways and Apple Core - these are all examples of blocks with curved seams. The sides dont have to be even, you just need an number of sides greater than 4 to stop it looking like an improv log cabin. Love the quilts in the wild photos!!! In the example blow, each block was pieced then trimmed into a 5 1/2 square, and scrap sashing was added to create a grid. I recently sat down to do some improv quilting with my stash and not only did I end up with several of these cute blocks, but the process of sewing together fabric without following a pattern had me feeling quite liberated and productive at the same time. The result was Jumping for Joy, which you see in the featured image above. Half-square triangles which are super useful units. Step 2. Sew up 10 distinctive quilts, each with full-size patterns, plus get tips on how to accurately cut and sew wedges. Step 10: Fold a block in half and press. Jul 12, 2019 - Quilts with circles (and dots). I am working INTENTIONALLY to create beautiful pairings. The key to the perfect quilt block is to blindly follow a quilt pattern to the letter, right? Thank you Heather! Once the block reaches the desired measurements, take the template (or ruler-depending on the design), and place it on the folded block. Consider joining the Homemade Emily Jane quilting community on Patreon! It's not only. This is my favorite part of the process! My improv triangles is the second quilt I've made using techniques from the book. New patches are laid on top as needed . I love it! This is such a fun quilt for the challenge, Yvonne! The Toronto conference is only an hour from my home. Trim the strips to align with the edges of the curve (Figure 1). Then there is no measuring and squaring up required! Thank you Melanie! Pinterest. Now that my publisher is going out of business I have bought the rights to publish my book. This example is using a rainbow scrap created while testing templates and a curved scrap from the cutting process: Step 1. Yvonne is a former aerospace engineer turned modern quilter, designer, and technical editor. (Im guessing a triangle would work too) Im going to call this your starting scrap. Simply add your details below! Explore. Use code JETGIRL to get 10% off any order fromCurated Quilts! Using your rotary cutter, slice off the little bit of fabric that extends past the edges of the triangle while also smoothing the edges of the skinny triangle shape. For the challenge I received the Florence Brown Aurifil Color Builder with three large spools of 50wt in Ermine (#2312), Toast (#6010), and Chocolate (#2360), a trio of Michael Miller Cotton Couture fat quarters in Khaki, Ginger, and Brown, an OLFA 28mm rotary blade (with refills), and a 24 x 36 OLFA cutting mat in Navy. If something good happens, I would love to see it! Improv piecing often involves trial and error, so having a pressing mat close by avoids endless trips back and forth to the ironing board, Step 5. Trace along the raw edge of the curve. See where it takes you! Yes, I have plans to make another one from the book . (Not shown.) I didnt get a chance to tell you at the conference that Break Up took my breath away when I saw it in person! Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. I made a lot of little improvised houses and related blocks during COVID and decided to combine them into a quilt for our builder, since we love our house! If you have extras, turn them into coasters or use them in another pattern! As you can see in the basting photo above, I rotated every other basting pin (one pin runs north/south, the next runs east/west, and so on) and I pin basted the batting to the backing just outside the quilt top. With a layer cake I made 42 blocks that measured just shy of 9" each. Nice. Open and press, then repeat until the fabric scraps cover the interfacing square, or open and sew over the seams. It will be time to get it out and it has always been one of my favorites. Improv Block Article Published in Quilting Arts! Thanks for the tutorial Mary. Thanks for this. I love working with freehand curves; I never know how they're going to turn out!