8 June 2011

WOW - Helping a Friend out with Y Seams

I opened my Emails this morning and was greeted with "......I'm new to quilting and I can't get the "Y seams set in ....any suggestions?"
So today I spent the morning making  the next block in my work in progress. My Women of the Bible Quilt, and I felt the easiest way to explain how to set in a "Y seam" is to show how!

I hadn't made this weeks block yet - so here goes.......

I decided to Foundation Piece this block, for 2 reasons -
Firstly my friend had foundation pieced her block and I wanted to do the same (for consistency).
Secondly - I found this "You 'Beaut" way of doing foundation piecing this week and had to try it out.
I did my square in a square foundation and sewed 2 x 1 1/4" strips together.


I then created my outside border pieces using the Freezer Paper Technique.  The beaut part about this method is that you fold the seam lines out of the way, sew along them and then press the fabric to the Freezer Paper and when you are done - it just peels off - BRILLIANT.
No itty bitty annoying pieces of paper to pick out from between your stitches.

Sew the 1st  border piece to the square in square block.

Make sure you DO NOT stitch into the seam allowance

Continue around the centre block until all border pieces are on - Yes it is a bit 'flappy' at this point.


Now comes the fun part.....

Fold the block DIAGONALLY forming a triangle.

You should now be able to see why it was important not to stitch into the seam allowance.




You can now sew the corner pieces together,
finishing the seam at the corner.

(Sorry the pics are a bit dark - my work light is elsewhere!)



Remove all the remaining papers - you have probably taken bits off as you have been sewing.

Tidy it all up
Give it a press.
And trim to size.




And there you have it.

1 x 6 1/2" Open Window Block representing Michal.

This quilt is part of a weekly on-line Bible Study each week we study one of the Women from the Bible and make a quilt block to represent that Woman.

The block "OPEN WINDOW" represents Michal.  (You can read about her in  I Samuel 18-19, 25, II Samuel 3, 6, and I Chronicles 15.)

4 comments:

  1. What a beautiful way to spend some time with the Bible I love that idea and you meet new friends and learn new techniques. This is sure a WOW Love it.
    Bunny Now I had better get my wow up.

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  2. Y seams. I haven't tackled them yet. I've got a Bible block project on the go as well though, and I love it!

    http://wentworthcountyquiltworks.blogspot.com

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  3. This is a beeautiful project idea. I really love it. I can't wait to see how all the other women are represented in blocks.

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  4. Wendy I am so grateful you did this!!! This looks do-able! Now just to find the time....we have VBS this week so it is nuts here! Thanks again!
    Roni

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