Improv quilt components - Making directional prints move around the curve

This is another component trick that I used in the making of the New York Beauty Improv quilt.

This component utilizes a directional print with a strong stripe.  I wanted the strips to move around the curve of the piece, while lining up with the direction of the radius (a line from the center of the circle to the outside edge).  

I numbered the pieces on the foundation drawing.  These were then traced onto freezer paper templates and cut out.

The templates were ironed to the back side of the fabric, lining up the CENTER with one of the circle striped sections.  

The pieces were then cut apart, leaving a generous seam allowance and lining up the LEFT cutting line with the same angle as the left of the template.

Starting with piece #1, the piece was lined up with the template and pinned in place.  Piece number two was placed right sides together with piece #1, matching up the edges of the templates, and placing a pin at each location to hold them in place.

The seam was sewn, then trimmed to 1/4".

The pieces were ironed to the back side of the foundation paper.  The next piece was then picked up, placed right sides with piece #2, matching up the edges of the templates.  The rest is a repeat of the steps to sew, trim, press, and pick up the next piece.

After the entire foundation was covered and pressed, the excess fabric was trimmed to 1/4" on both of the curved edges.  Here it is before it was trimmed.  You can see that the strong vertical lines of the fabric ended up just where I wanted them to be.

And here is the component in the piece.

I hope you like it and can use this technique to get the results that you want.

P.S.  I decided that it is easier to use solid components between the pieced components.  This one used two piece components side by side and it was too hard for an improve quilt block!

Improv quilt components

I wanted some of the striped components to lean in a certain direction on the New York Beauty improv quilt.   Here is how I planned and sewed the stripes to end up on the slant.

First, I drew the piece on freezer paper and numbered the pieces.

Second, I cut apart the pieces and pressed them to the reverse side of the fabric, lining up one edge (the left) with the stripe.

Next, I cut apart the pieces apart, leaving a seam allowance.  The pieces (with the freezer paper pattern still ironed to the back) were matched at the outer and inner seam allowance and sewed together.

Next, the seam allowance was trimmed to 1/4", and the piece was pressed.

Here, the picture shows two pieces sewn together after they were pressed.

Next, I'm showing you a few more pieces sewn together, and the last one in place.

The entire piece was pressed really well.

Here is what it looked like on the front side.

The final step was to trim the inner and outer curved edges to 1/4", and leave a larger seam on the outer seam.

And here it is in the block.  I also have used this technique with other directional fabrics in the blocks.  Oh, and if you do this, don't forget to remove the freezer paper!

I hope you like this technique and can use it on your quilts!

Improv quilt, Part Two

This is a continuation of a previous post about the making of this Improv quilt.

What fun it has been to make the improv blocks.  And to say that they were entirely improv is a bit misleading.  I did use foundation piecing methods for the black and white parts.  And some of my dissolving foundation and invisible applique methods for the dark ovals and spots.  Here are 4 of the blocks pressed and ready to trim to 14-1/2" square.  

I hope you like them so far.  

Modern Scrap Squares, take 2

I made a quilt from some of my recently hand dyed fabric.  Here are the fabrics that I used, which were a range between yellow, green, teal, and khaki, and included some commercially printed fabrics:

The pattern is very similar to the one that I used Modern Scrap Squares.  I only changed a few things, and quilted it the same way as the first one.  It's 64" W x 76" L.

I hope you like it.

Improv quilt, part One

I looked for inspiration for a quilt that would use some of my hand dyed fabric.  This one jumped out at me.  The improv nature of curved pieces was really appealing.  Here was the inspiration:

I sketched up some blocks that I thought that I would like to make:

I wanted to use some of the fabrics from my hand dying experience.  Here is the pile that I started with:

I originally sketched up the blocks as 6".  But, no sooner than I started making one of them, I realized that it would be way too difficult (and not fun) to piece the tiny pieces.  So, I transferred the sketches to 14" and 18"  blocks, and drew up some overall quilt designs.

If I did the first design, the quilt would end up being 74" square, which may look pretty unique.  The second idea would be 56" square and would make a large wall hanging.  Stay tuned to see what I did.

Testing for dye fastness

I hand dyed almost 13 yards of fabric earlier in the year and did all the recommended rinsing and washing.  However, I didn't really trust that the washing had removed all of the excess dye.  And there is nothing worse than completing a quilt and having some of the fabric run the first time it's washed.  So, I tested the pieces that I was going to use on a new quilt.

I cut a small piece out of each fabric and sewed them to a larger piece of white fabric.  Then, it was sprayed with water and left to sit.

Here is what I discovered after letting it sit for an hour.  You can see that all of the hand dyed blues and red had issues.  Two of the commercial blue fabrics also had issues.  All of the commercial red fabrics passed the test with flying colors. 

When the problem with fugitive dye was discovered with this simple test, the plan of attack was to wash all of the fabrics that failed again in hot water with Synthropol and a color catcher sheet, and then do the test a second time.   Here is the second test:

All of the blue hand dyed materials failed this second time and so did the red fabric.  So, they were put back into hot water for another round of Synthropol and a color catcher.  As you can see the color catcher is getting more and more pale, which means there is less and less fugitive dye in the water.

The last round of washing was with hot water and Retaine.   I thought that I'd finally gotten all of the fugitive dye out.  But, just to make sure, one last dye fastness test was run. 

And, yes, finally, these 4 fabrics were ready to use!

I hope you check out the dye fastness in your materials too.