Tula Tuesday – Group 2

October 25, 2016 lovinglylissa6 Comments

Did you have an easier time this week? Now that we know what we’re doing the next few weeks should just breeze on by.

I used this week to work on ways on making that first seam between pieces one and two easier. I found this great tutorial by QuietPlay. @rachaelknitsandquilts reminded me of another tutorial from We All Sew. This is the tutorial I relied on for this week, with a few changes.

First, I traced section two to the back side of the paper.

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Second, fold back the paper along the sewing line between sections one and two.

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Now here is where I go a little off book. I place the fabric for section two right side up on the paper covering the section I drew. I get out that trusty washable glue stick and stick it in place.

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I folded the paper back again and laid the fabric for section one right side down on top making sure to cover folded back piece of paper. I raised the whole thing to the light to make sure the fabric covered section one fully. Make sure there is fabric over the edge of the folded paper for seam allowance.

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Unfold the paper without moving the fabrics and sew along the sewing line.

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Then just finish sewing as you did last week. Not one seam was ripped by me. I was quite pleased with the outcome.

Here we are half way done with all the blocks. How exciting!

See you next week.

Lovingly,

Lissa

Tula Tuesday

Tula Tuesday – Group 1

October 18, 2016 lovinglylissa4 Comments

Welcome back to our Tula Tuesday Fandango Quilt Along. We are finally SEWING. This week is about getting all the bugs out since we are following the same directions for the next 5 weeks.

Slow and Steady is not only the name of the fabric line, but it is really really good advice on creating this piece. Keep it in your mind as you work along.

Honestly, it didn’t go too bad. I did rip out some seams and discover I cut one piece of fabric wrong (so far), but nothing that wasn’t fixable.

Here are the supplies I gathered.

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Directions, fabrics, paper templates, rulers, add a quarter ruler, fabric rotary cutter, paper rotary cutter, and a mailer that is like a heavy index card to help with the cutting. Not pictured and used are clear tape, a washable glue stick, and PINS!

Let’s get started. The numbers on the paper template run right to left and I was a bit curfuddled since it didn’t seem the right way the fabrics should go. But never fear, it was totally correct. Fabric A goes to section 1 and so on. Trust the pattern.

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I love paper piecing, but this pattern is much larger than the ones I usually do. I had trouble holding the fabrics to the paper to line them up. This is where the clear washable glue stick came in handy. Once a piece was cut and ironed I would give it a quick small dab with the glue stick and adhere it to the paper. Then while I lined up the next piece it wouldn’t flop all over the place when I held it up.

Section 2 gave me a hard time and that’s where all my seam ripping happened. When this occurred I would use a piece of clear tape over the line in the paper to hold it back together when I sewed it again. Don’t use this method more than once tho, get a new paper template after that. (I hope it doesn’t come to that)

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Isn’t it so pretty once it is cut out? Remember to leave a seam allowance when you cut!

Next step was adding a template 1 piece. At the edge of the cut template it comes to a point. Make sure to line this point up with the corner of the fan on either end. It will match up the edges beautifully when you flip the piece over and iron.

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When attaching this curve and the template 4 curve use PINS!! I like to live dangerously and sew barefoot, so pins are usually not out in my sewing room. That isn’t the case for this piece. I pinned and pinned some more. Start in center, then do each end, and then just start pinning in between.

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When I sewed this, I flipped it over so the side with all the seams was up. This way I could guide the seams under my needle and not get any scrunched up. Just trust the pins and go slow while you sew.

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(it’s really hard to get a decent picture of something on the machine. I’ll have to practice this)

The directions for adding the side pieces with the Y seams are self explanatory so I don’t have any extra tips for that.

Here is group 1 all done!

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The next few weeks we are repeating the same steps with different groups of fabrics. Next week is group 2.

Do you have any tricks or tips you have used?

Do you have any questions on these steps?

Share them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them!

Lovingly,

Lissa

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Tula Tuesdays – Cutting the fabric

October 11, 2016 lovinglylissa2 Comments

Here we go!!! It’s time to cut into all that delicious fabric! But first, let’s organize it because there are 26 different prints to work with.

I received Alpha Bitties in my Sew Sampler box a while back so I brought those out along with clips to attach them with. I labelled each fabric piece and then grouped them according to cutting directions.

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I love how organized this looks.

Ready to go? I am. I used my trusty 6×24 cutting ruler. I also have a 6 1/2 inch square that gets used quite a bit and some larger squares that get used from time to time. For this project I did use my 20 inch square as well.

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I began with all the rotary cuttings. As each fabric was completed, I clipped the alpha bittie label back on the cut pieces and then put all leftovers in my new Tula Pink scrap bag. Something wonderful will happen with all those leftovers I am sure.

When that was all done, I pulled out my templates I made last week to trace and cut. The first thing I discovered was how slippery those templates are. I grabbed some masking tape and placed it on the wrong side of the template. Not as great as some no-slip tape, but a world better than what I had going on before.

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Remember the arrows we traced on the templates? Those are to show you the direction to place the template in. It says to go with the grain. The grain of the fabric runs parallel to the selvage end.

When I was tracing templates 1 and 4 to fabric Y, which is the solid charteuse, I made sure to make a small x in a corner to mark the wrong side BEFORE I cut it.

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I’ve also already marked the seam allowances on all fabric I cut from templates 2 and 3.

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I do suggest placing the templates over each piece after you have cut them to make sure you don’t have any fabric over the cutting line. Remember those 1/16 inch overages soon add up to 1/4 inch and then can really start throwing everything off.

Here’s everything all cut up and ready to be sewn.

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Another suggestion I have is regarding fabrics Y and Z which have a large edge of bias on them. If you have somewhere to store them flat, do so. You don’t want to have to iron them before you stitch them to the other pieces. Ironing bias edges can make the piece distorted if you are not extremely careful. In fact, if you haven’t cut template 4 or the setting triangles yet, don’t. Just wait until you need them and then cut them out. The other templates have bias edges to them too, but not as long as the other ones.

The last thing I did was group the fabrics together for sewing. I am now all ready to start sewing!

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I will be working on group 1, steps 2-6 for next week. See you then!

Lovingly,

Lissa

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Tula Tuesday – Prep Work

October 4, 2016 lovinglylissa1 Comment

Here we go! Getting all ready to make the beautiful Fandango quilt by Stacey in Stitches featuring the Slow and Steady fabric line by Tula Pink

First we have to get the templates together. I took the pattern to a copy place and enlarged the pieces 200%

In the upper right corner of each template page you are copying is a small square. This square should measure 2 inches by 2 inches after you enlarge the pattern. It is REALLY, REALLY important to check and double check this before you continue copying.

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Also, Templates 2, 3 and 4 have a 6 inch measurement guide that should measure 12 inches after copying.

This measurement guide came in very helpful for me, since one of my templates didn’t overlap after I copied them. I was able to line it up with the ruler and add a piece of paper in the gap. You can see it above on the right.

I purchased template material at my local store, but sadly it didn’t measure big enough for template 4 so I had to tape two pieces together.

I laid the paper templates on my cutting mat and taped them down, then I laid the template acrylic on top and taped it down. Seriously, I did a lot of taping. In fact, the hardest part of all of this was tracking which child had taken my tape dispenser from my room!

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I used an extra fine tip sharpie to mark the templates and then a razor blade and ruler to cut along the outer lines

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The curves were done free hand, very slowly.

All cut out and I still have 10 fingers!

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The paper piecing templates were just enlarged onto 11×17 paper. I’ve always used regular paper when I paper piece with very tiny stitches and its always just been fine. There are two curved pieces on the original pattern and you are supposed to make 12 copies. I couldn’t see any difference between the two, so I enlarged the top one and made 30 copies (24 plus extras for mistakes)

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I am looking forward to playing with the fabrics this week! We are cutting the fabric next, but will be sewing soon!

Are there any tips in prepping that you used? Feel free to share them here and on my instagram, @lovinglylissa.

Lovingly,

Lissa