Back home in the evening
and what did I see?
A paper pieced block
Now easy for me!
That might be stretching the truth; I sewed almost every seam twice. But it was so much easier because by unexpected good fortune, I had just practiced paper piecing last week. I placed one that was a little short – the bottom left hand block. I was hoping I could catch it within the quarter inch seam when it came time to sew together.
Ironically, I had more trouble matching seams in the center after I had finished the paper piecing than I usually have with regular patchwork. Part of that is because the seams are all pressed in the same direction so I wasn’t able to butt them up against each other. I found it to be a challenge to match seams. That aside, I had some much needed paper piecing experience and felt like I grew leaps and bounds by doing a “real” block instead of a practice block like last week.
I took a chance on the fabric choices and the colors here are a bit deceiving, probably because the photo wasn’t taken with natural lighting (the sun had already set). One advantage of keeping all the blocks out is I can see the mixer of fabrics used; I decided to go with something other than the usual off-white in the larger triangles. I think the block blends well with the others now that it’s complete.
This block was designed by Janice Ryan as part of The Splendid Sampler.
See soon you will be teaching paper piecing classes 😉
Haha! I’m afraid I would get fired soon after they learned the truth!
Wow! That was quite a job!
I had the mistaken idea (long ago) that paper piecing was easier because you sew on the lines. Turns out that was wrong! But I did enjoy it.
I’m still learning about paper piecing. It looks easy when you watch someone else do it but I think it takes a few mistakes before you get it right, having to deal with which side is the right way to flip the shapes.
I totally agree – I’m left-handed so I feel like my brain needs to flip everything twice to get it the way it needs to be done.