How many people out there machine piece their crazy quilt blocks? Raise your hands. Hmmm…eight…twelve….forty-seven…and many, many more. Wow…there’s quite a few of you out there.The reason I asked is because although I know a lot of women machine piece their blocks, I have always made my crazy quilt blocks by hand. I like hand stitching and I really like how each of my CQ blocks looks different. It takes a bit longer to make each one, but the extra time spent is okay with me.
I just thought I’d share a few tips on how “I” piece by hand and see if I can find any converts to the “CQ hand-piecing way of life”. These are just a few suggestions on things I do to make hand piecing progress as fast as I can:
1. Choose a color scheme.
2. Depending on the size of the block (example: when piecing a 6 ½ inch square block), I would choose eight different fabrics. (I always choose one or two more fabrics than the length of the side of the block I’m making unless of course I’m piecing a block that’s forty-seven inches wide. Then I just use bigger pieces of fabric to cover the foundation.)
3. Cut a center fabric. (I often use a 5-sided shape in the center of my block because it gives me lots of great looking angles in the block) If I am using a velvet fabric in my block, I often put it in the center because I do not have to fold the thick fabric over to make a seam allowance.
4. Next, I fold seam allowances over on the edges of the larger pieces of fabric and iron them down. I cut off a piece of fabric with a seam allowance on it and lay it on the foundation fabric in a visually pleasing area.
5. I continue to do this until I cover the entire foundation fabric. (Sometimes it will be necessary to iron an extra seam allowance down to cover the fabric adequately, but I believe in improvising if the situation warrants a change in the plan)
6. Once the foundation fabric is completely covered, I pin the seam allowances down and use matching threads to hand stitch the foundation and fancy fabrics together.
I’d love to hear how “you” piece your blocks, whether by machine or by hand. Thanks for taking the time to respond.
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