Curved Blocks in the Grand Convergence Experiment

There it sits on the flannel wall, these curved pieces seemed a little more challenging.

Not because they were curves, but because it was hard for me to figure out exactly how I was going to sew them together because of the point.

It took Stephanie to point out the best way to do it. And once she did, it became obvious.

She split the block into two sections at the point where the curve went from one side of the block to the other.

The idea, then, is to sew the pieces in each of the sections together, and then, sew the halves together to complete the block.

Beginning with the bottom two pieces, fold one section on top of the other so the right sides face together. I chose to fold the pieced section on top of the yellow batik fabric. That way, I could keep track of the seam allowances on the pieced section, and make sure they all stayed facing the same direction.

It looks very much like sewing two triangles together in that there were little dog-ears sticking out.

One of the big differences is that the only part of the raw edge you can line up is about 1/2 inch long. After that, the pieces begin to curve and become un-aligned.

This block will be sewn together in the same way as the first block with the wavy pink batik. As you sew, you will need to adjust the fabric, lining up the raw edges and moving the fabric around so it will go under the needle straight.

In doing that, you will create little bubbles and tunnels. Just be sure that the seam allowance remains flat so you don’t sew in the puckers or tucks.

The key is to keep the edge flat so that you don’t stitch any puckers or pleats into the seam.

Once the first seam is stitched, follow the same procedure to sew the other section together.

Now with both halves sewn together, you can sew the center seam, and your block will be complete.

Fold one half on top of the other, facing right sides together. If you want the center seams to line up, you will want to begin sewing the halves together in the center.

Beginning about 1/2 inch before the spot where the seam allowances meet, put your sewing machine needle in the fabric.

Line up the edges of the two sections and begin sewing, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Because the pieced block is on the bottom, I need to watch the seam allowances on that section to be sure that they stay facing their original direction.

Once the seam is sewn from the center to the edge of the block, take the pieces out of the machine, and repeat the process with the other half of the seam – stitching from the center to the edge of the block.

The block is done! Actually, pretty easy.

This finished block ends up being a rectangle, and the edges do not line up, with the batik being longer than the pieced sections. These will need to be trimmed before it is sewn to make the quilt.


Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren
www.TheQuiltingCoach.com
Where Quilters Connect

www.How-to-Quilt.com
Specializing in Information for Beginning Quilters

Sewing Curves in the Grand Convergence Experiment

Sewing curves presents some interesting challenges, especially when the pieces have curves going both "in and "out."

These relatively gentle curves are somewhat easier than sewing tighter curves or circles. The Ricky Tims way is to simply sew, and not worry about keeping a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Ricky also believes in ironing the strips to get them to lay flat. The key word here is iron - not press, like most quilters.

Instead of trying to describe with words how to stitch these pieces together, there is a short video showing you exactly how to sew them.

Watch the video on YouTube

Penny Halgren
www.TheQuiltingCoach.com
Where Quilters Connect

www.How-to-Quilt.com
Specializing in Information for Beginning Quilters

The Grand Convergence Experiment - Sewing the First Block

There it sits on the flannel wall, just waiting for me to garner the courage to begin sewing – all of those curved pieces.

And so it began one Friday evening. If Ricky can do it, I can, too.

Beginning with what I considered to be the easiest block, I took two of the curved pieces, and placed them right sides facing together.

As you can see in the picture below, the edges of these pieces do not line up at all, and I will need to adjust the fabric as I sew.

When I got it to the machine, it was easier than I thought it would be.

Without using any pins, I lined up the ends of the strips. They looked very much like sewing two triangles together in that there were little dog-ears sticking out.

Unlike Ricky, I sewed rather slowly, adjusting the fabric every inch or so. I kept the bottom fabric flat, curving it as necessary so it went through the needle straight.

The top fabric was adjusted often, and frequently it had little bubbles in it as it curved around to match the edge of the bottom fabric. The key was in keeping the edge flat so that I didn’t stitch any puckers or pleats into the seam.

A little tunnel

Flat seam

Once the first seam was stitched, I removed the strips from my machine and took them over to the ironing board to press.

Ricky believes in ironing fabric, not that whimpy pressing. So, I ironed the seam allowance to one side. In this case, it was the strip fabric, since it is a solid piece of fabric, not pieced.

One of my rules about pressing seam allowances is to avoid pressing seam allowances to a side where there are a bunch of pieced patches, when I can press the seams to a side where there is just a strip of fabric.

Once those strips were ironed, I returned the section to the flannel wall.

The second pair of strips was removed and taken to the sewing machine to sew together.

After experiencing success with the first seam, the second pair was much easier to sew.

I used the same technique – holding the bottom fabric flat while adjusting the top fabric as necessary to make the curves.

Once the second seam was done, I carried it back to the flannel wall to enjoy.

And the last seam was easiest of all. Using the same process, I stitched the center seam to create the finished block.

Observations –

• The finished block is no longer square. Stephanie observed at one point that since there are different numbers of patches in these blocks, that they will be different sizes. We have not addressed that issue.
• Although the striped pieces are shorter than the blue and green pieces, this has nothing to do with the sewing. As I compared them to the other block that was cut the same, I saw that for some reason the striped fabric is just shorter. Stephanie is out of town now, so she’ll be surprised when she returns – or maybe not. (She may have figured that out days ago. Or, maybe she cut it that way.)
• The pieced blocks (the 9 patch blocks in this quilt) do change shape somewhat because of the seam allowances being removed. It will be interesting to see some of the other blocks that are cut into the pieced blocks in different shapes.

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren

www.How-to-Quilt.com
www.The-QuiltingCoach.com