Hi, I’m Caroline and welcome to my second blog for the Patchwork and Quilting subscription box. I’m really loving these boxes and I get a bit impatient waiting for them to pop through the letterbox.
I did an unboxing of the fabric for June which you can find on my Instagram (@casperbrigg) or Facebook page (Caroline Classics). I am absolutely in love with the Hibiscus Hummingbirds range from Lewis and Irene. As soon as I saw it on Little Miss Sew N Sew’s website I was hoping it would be in this month’s subscription box. I’m a bit of a teal fan and this range has lots of it!
INSERT PIC OF FABRICS
This month’s block is the four patch. Seems simple enough but requires accurate sewing to make sure all those junctions meet up. I watched all the videos for the 3 variations of the four patch and decided I wanted to try the 16 patch and the disappearing four patch.
Luckily I measured the fabric first and noticed that I couldn’t cut the strips for the 16 patch along the length of the fat eighths AND have enough left to cut out the fabric for the disappearing four patch. Also, one of the fabrics has a definite direction to it, so I cut all of my fabric from the width of each fat eighth. This meant my directional fabric was the right way round, but I also had to cut 2 sets of strips for the 16 patch.
[photo of sets of strips]
This block went together really easily, and I’m really chuffed that all my corners meet! I think this is the neatest block I have ever sewn. I haven’t done patchwork squares since my very first attempt at patchwork, and I can definitely say it didn't look as good as this. I am improving with every block I sew. I like to be able to see progress and on this one I really can.
[photo of 16 patch block]
Next I attempted the disappearing four patch. With this block you cut your squares a little bit larger, sew them together into a four patch and then cut up your block so you can sew them back together again. This is a really neat trick to make the block look more complicated than it is by rotating and swapping some of the newly cut pieces.
I have to say it does feel a bit weird cutting up a perfectly good block. There is also less room for error. If you cut it wrong your reassembled block won’t look right. No pressure then! As expected the sewing of the four patch is relatively easy.
[photo of four patch]
Then comes the cutting. Being very careful to measure the right distance from the centre (remember measure twice, cut one) I cut it up. This was really nerve racking and I took my time. The switching of pieces is a bit like remembering dance moves, once you’ve got the hang of it it’s pretty easy. There is also a very good graphic in the printed booklet that shows the position and orientation each piece should be. Sewing together there were a few things to watch out for. Because some of the pieces have been turned and swapped around some of the seams are no longer nesting. I sewed the block together in rows first and when I ironed the seams flat I made sure they would all nest. This meant changing the direction of 2 seams, which I did by flattening them first then changing the direction the seams were pressed in.
[photo of disappearing four patch]
Phew! So glad that one came out as expected. I'm actually really impressed by it. It’s a great way to give the impression of piecing small squares of fabric and a lot easier! I’ve found in patchwork there are lots of tricks that make the sewing easier than it looks. I can’t wait to learn more techniques from the Patchwork and Quilting subscription box.
Thanks for reading and I’ll be back again next month with Block 3.