Soupcon Quilt Along Part 6

Soupcon Quilt Along (QAL)

Part 6 of 6

Welcome to the final installment of my Soupcon QAL! I can`t believe how quickly the time has flown by and that we are already at the end! I hope you've had as much fun as I've had. Thanks for all the encouragement and positive feedback. I've been absolutely amazed at your creativity and hope to see some finished Soupcons in the near future! In the next few days I will set up a new tab for my Quilt Alongs (that's right, alongs! I've got the next one in the works and plan to launch it next month). Under the tab you will be able to find links to all of the Soupcon instructions.

The word soupcon is French and it means "a little bit". My goal was to present you with a little bit of many different techniques and methods that I like and to give you some design options so that you could personalize your quilt. In Part 6 I'll share one final technique - a foundation paper pieced border. Once the border is added you will have a wall hanging size quilt that measures 31 1/2" finished. You can continue to add to the quilt to take it to a bed-size quilt. I'll discuss some design options in upcoming posts.

My Blue Soupcon has a scrappy pieced border that measures 3" finished. I'm not sure if this will be a wall hanging or a quilt. There's no rush to make a decision! Notice that I repeated my orange fabric in the pieced border and it is in the same spot on each side. I like the symmetry.

My Red Soupcon has a 1 1/2" border of a directional print fabric and it was added all around the quilt. It was followed by a 1 1/2" foundation paper pieced border. It is the same border as my Blue Soupcon but I used only half of the pattern to make that border. The foundation pieced border is scrappy however I repeated the same fabric in each position on each side.

THERE WAS A TYPO (MY APOLOGIES) SO PLEASE REREAD THIS SECTION WHICH HAS BEEN UPDATED: The first step is to bring your quilt to the required size which is 26" (25 1/2" without seam allowances). Measure your quilt and subtract that measurement from 25 1/2 and divide by 2. This is the width of your strip without a seam allowance. Simply add 1/2" for the seam allowance. Thus if your quilt measures 23 1/2" without seam allowances you will need a 1" finished border all around. Cut 1 1/2" strips, two of which will measure 24" and the other two will measure 26". If your quilt measures 24" without seam allowances you will need a 3/4" finished border all around. Cut 1  1/4" strips, two of which will measure 24 1/2" and the other two will measure 26". If your quilt measurement is 24 1/2" without seam allowances you will need a 1/2" finished border all around. Cut 1" strips, two of which will measure 24 1/2" and the other two will measure 26".  If you need help with the math leave me a comment or send me an email and I'll be happy to assist.

HELPFUL TIP: When I stitched a border to a quilt I pin well. At the end of the border I always place a pin perpendicular to the border and another parallel to the border. This really helps to minimize shifting.

Once the narrow border is added you will foundation paper piece four identical borders. In my Blue Soupcon I added corner squares that were cut 3 1/2" square. This is a great spot for embellishment. If you prefer you could add a pieced block instead of a solid square of fabric. Use your imagination and make the quilt yours! In my Red Soupcon The corner squares were cut 2" square.

 Red Soupcon - Adding the 1 1/2" Inner Border

Red Soupcon has a 1 1/2" (finished measurement) border of a directional print. To do this I cut 2" wide strips of fabric. I wanted to miter the corners so that added an additional 3" (1 1/2"  x 2 = 3") to my measurement. My quilt top measures 26" (includes seam allowance) so when I add the border width of 3" the sum is 29" and that includes the seam allowance. I cut 4 2" strips that were 29" in length.

On the wrong side of each strip make a mark 1 3/4" in from each edge on the side of the strip that will be sewn to your quilt. This is your start/stop sewing point. Pin the border to the quilt; make sure that the 1 3/4" mark is 1/4" in from the edge of the quilt top.

Repeat at the opposite end. Pin the border to the quilt between these two points. Start sewing at the 1 3/4" mark (take a few stitches and then back stitch a few stitches to secure the seam) and then sew to the other end again taking a few back stitches. Repeat on the opposite side. Stitch the two remaining borders to the side lining up the 1 3/4" mark with the edge of the border. Your corners will look like this - there will be two loose, floppy bits at each corner.

To miter the corners have the wrong side facing up. Line up the corner and pin as shown.

Fold the quilt so that the strips are lined up. I like to place a pin at the top to keep the edges eve and then place another pin (the white headed pin) just in from the bottom corner. You will sew from your pencil mark at the 1 3/4" point out to the corner as indicated by the line. Trim the excess fabric (the fabric above the diagonal line) leaving roughly a 1/4" seam allowance.

Turn and press. The seam allowances will naturally want to fold in one direction. Repeat at the other three corners.

Making the Foundation Paper Pieced Border

The final step is to add a foundation paper pieced border. Believe it or not I've used the same border on both quilts! The border on Red Soupcon is simply half the width of the Blue Soupcon border; the look is of thimbles alternating with points!

You will find the patterns for the foundation papers for both borders here. 

For Red Soupcon you will print 4 copies of the pattern (one sheet is sufficient for each side). For Blue Soupcon you will print 8 copies because you will need two sheets per side. HELPFUL TIP: I like to print on newsprint or cheap manila. You want a paper that is light weight and that tears easily. Avoid onion skin as it is surprisingly strong and can be difficult to remove.

A WORD ABOUT PAPER FOUNDATION PIECING: Some quilters find it confusing because they are stitching and flipping. This is how I like to think of it. The paper is always on the wrong side of your fabric and the lines are the sewing lines. If you hand piece you know that you draw your 1/4" sewing lines on the wrong side of the fabric; when paper piecing your sewing lines are on the paper which becomes the wrong side of your fabric! This means when you add a piece of fabric to another they will be right sides together and the paper with your sewing lines is the wrong side!

When I foundation piece I like to create templates for cutting the fabric. This allows me to ensure that the grain line is straight and it eliminates the guess work about how large a piece of fabric I need to cut and it minimizes the amount of wasted fabric. What I do is trace the shapes on paper and add a 1/2" seam allowance all the way around. These are the templates I made for my Red Soupcon.  HELPFUL TIP: Make your templates, cut a couple of test pieces of fabric and foundation piece. If you find it challenging to line the patches up redraw your templates and try adding a 5/8" or even a 3/4" seam allowance all the way around.

This is the template I made for my Blue Soupcon. Only one template is needed for all of the patches.

I place my template on the fabric and cut my patches. These are the light star points for my Red Soupcon. I used a single fabric for all of the points so I was able to cut strips of fabric. This made the cutting very quick and easy!

For the dark sections I cut a piece of fabric that would yield 4 "thimbles", one for each side. I cut and layered several of these strips, pinned and then cut multiples at once.

Once you've cut your fabric it is time to prepare your foundation paper. I'll demonstrate on the 3" border but the process is the same for either. There are numbers on the foundation and that indicates the order of placement & sewing. The first strip is 1 to 13. This same strip also has numbers (14) to (26a). There is also a strip numbered 26b to 36. You will need to join sections together so that the border is long enough but hold off doing that until most of the section is foundation pieced. Section 13 will be glued to line up with section 14 and section 26a will be glued to line up with section 26b.

I like to mark on the foundation where the dark fabric will go so I place a D in each triangle that will be dark. In the following pictures the method is correct but I didn't use the actual Soupcon foundations. The solid lines are the sewing lines and the dashed line is the cutting line. I cut out my foundations leaving about 1/8" of paper beyond the dashed line.

I place the first triangle which is light with the right side down. I place a small dab of fabric safe glue on the blank side of my foundation in the area marked 1 and place my foundation paper over the triangle making sure that there is a little fabric above and below the foundation.

I place a thin ruler or a piece of thin cardboard on the sewing line.

I fold back the foundation paper and trim the fabric so that there is a 1/4" seam allowance.

I place a dark triangle right sides together with the light fabric. I pin at the tip and bottom on the sewing line.

I flip the fabric to make sure that all of the triangle will be covered with the fabric. If not I remove the pins and reposition the fabric until it is correctly placed. NOTE: The angle was wrong on this photo so it appears that there isn't much fabric at the bottom but there was.

I shorten my stitch length on my sewing machine and sew from off the fabric onto the foundation and stitch the entire solid line. I sew right off the fabric. I lift the corner of the paper on the sewing line so that I can place my ruler or cardboard on the next sewing line. Shortening the stitch length will make it easy to remove the paper after you are finished.

I fold my foundation back and trim so that there is a 1/4" seam allowance.

I place my next fabric which is light with the right side against the right side of the dark fabric.

I pin on the sewing line and flip to make sure the fabric is correctly positioned. When I am satisfied I sew as described above.

I continue in this manner until patch 11 is stitched and trimmed. I then glue the next foundation section to the  previous section and continue piecing. When section 24 is stitched and trimmed I add the third and final foundation section. HELPFUL TIP: Sometimes the paper will tear on the sewing line. I just put a little cello tape over the tear to hold it together until the piece is completed.

Once the entire piece is foundation pieced I use a rotary cutter and ruler to trim the foundation on the dashed line.

Stitch a foundation to the top and bottom of your quilt. At this point you can removed your foundation papers. You can add the borders to the quilt so that the light triangles are pointing away from the quilt or

towards the quilt. The choice is yours!

If you are making the Blue Soupcon border, stitch a 3 1/2" square to either end of the two remaining borders (for Red Soupcon it will be the four 2" squares) and then stitch the borders to the sides of the quilt. You are done!

     

  

I really hope you've enjoyed this quilt along! I've have fun sharing my ideas with you! As always if you don't like what I've done or you don't want to try this technique by all means do your own thing! A simple DESIGN OPTION would be to just add a nice border of a fabulous print fabric!

Time for a nice, hot cuppa! Until I post again, happy sewing and don't forget to post your pictures of your Soupcon quilt on the Soupcon FLICKR Group!
Karen H

Hexagon Shamrock

Julia of The Hexie Blog  released her March block and it is as I suspected a shamrock! I had been sorting through my fabrics looking for blue with a hint of green in the print. I couldn't find what I wanted so instead I just went with an ombred blue print and used a shamrock print fabric for the centers of the hexagon flowers. I also wanted to use my foundation pieced English paper piecing (EPP) technique so I added a darker blue to surround the shamrocks. Here is my shamrock block which is made of 1" hexagons.

Notice how the points in the center form a four pointed star. I may fill in that space with an appliqued shamrock fussy cut from the fabric. This is a free block of the month and there's plenty of room for creativity so if you are interested pop on over to The Hexie Blog for a visit. You'll also be able to join the Yahoo group Julia has set up so you can see what others are doing. January was a snowflake and February was a heart. All of my blocks will be made in shades of blue with little pops of colour that reflect the theme of the month. I wonder what she has planned for April!

This is a close-up of one of the lobes of the shamrock and the foundation pieced EPP hexies.

This is the hexagon template I used to make the lobes. Only two pieces of fabric are needed to make this versatile hexagon. My light blue fabric is directional so I had to make sure that my hexagon was placed correctly on the stripes so I drew pencil lines on my hexagons so I was sure to line them up correctly.

I used this same template to make this star in my quilt Loopers in the Sky with Diamonds. It reminds me of a ninja star!

Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

Tutorial: Another hexagon star

If you are here for the GROW YOUR BLOG event please go to my January 24 post titled to enter the draw for a hardcover needle book. The winner will be announced on February 15, 2014! I reply to every entry so if you don't hear from me it means you are a no-reply blogger so I won't be able to enter you in the draw because I would have no way to contact you should you win! Good luck everyone!

Like many of you I love my hexies so let's make another foundation pieced English paper piecing hexagon star. I started off demonstrating a very simple star. The beauty of the first star is that none of the seams of the star base come out to the corners.

This made basting the hexagon is relatively easy. When  seams come out to a corner the basting is a little trickier (it takes a few seconds longer to baste) because there is bulk at the corner but a little bit of effort will pay off!

To begin you will need 1" hexagons. You will find a master template of 1" hexagons here. To draft your six hexagons locate the middle of the top of the hexagon and draw a line out to each corner. Make six for the star plus an extra hexagon for the center.

You will need six fabrics that are 2 1/2" x 1 1/2" for the star points. I used red. You will need 12 patches that are 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" for the background. I used light blue. The piecing is the same as for the narrow pointed star. You will find the sewing instructions on my January 19, 2014 post. Don't forget to shorten your stitch length when sewing.

Once you have stitched the star points the hexagon will look like this from the back

and like this from the front.

Trim the seam allowance down to 3/8". With the method of foundation piecing your hexagon for English paper piecing a generous seam allowance makes the piecing much easier. I trim with my scissors and just eye-ball it. Begin your basting by turning in the side as in the photograph below. Fold the top down and baste until you get to the base of the star point.

When you get to the base of the star fold the side in and the base of the star down. Before I fold it down I like to give the solid side a good pinch with my fingers making sure that the fabric is folded right against the paper right up to the corner. As I fold down the base of the star I slide my thumb nail under the fold to make sure that the fabrics are flat and smooth. This will ensure that there is a nice point on the corner. I check before I stitch it down and if it isn't a nice point I refold.

For the other side of the star base fold the side in and the top down. This is the one place where the fold is not going in the same direction as the other folds. It is important to fold the sides in and the base of the star point down. If you don't do this the corner will not be correct on the right side.

This is the star!

Play with your hexagons to see what happens! There is no reason why the background fabric has to be the same. I could have used a darker blue on one side of each star point to give a shaded effect.

There's also no reason why you have to use the same fabric for each star point. When I made Stars in the Loft I didn't have enough red to make all of the stars I needed for the border so when I started to run short I added a second fabric and just alternated the two fabrics. It was the solution to a problem but when you see the quilt the combination of fabrics make it look very complex and I'm sure people wondered "how did she manage to plan that element". Didn't I look smart? A fussy cut center finished the block off!

Hope you liked this star! There's still more to come so until I post again, happy sewing!

Karen H

Tutorial: Another fun hexagon block

Back by popular demand is another fun hexagon block using my foundation pieced English paper piecing (EPP)  technique. It is fast, fun and suited to all skill levels! Last time I showed you how to make this block.

Today I'll show you a variation of this block. To start you will need a foundation paper which you will find here. I'm using 1" hexagons; you can find a template here.  You will draft the block using the method I described on January 19, 2014.

Draw a horizontal line that is 1/2" above the base of the star. You will need six like this plus one for the center.

The sewing order is numbered on the template below. I start by applying a dab of my glue stick to my paper and then apply the paper to my fabric, the star point. I cut six orange scraps that measured 1 3/4" x  1". These are area 1.

I fold back the paper on the line between 1 and 2 an trim the fabric leaving somewhere between 1/8" to 1/4".

I cut twelve light blue background fabrics that each measured roughly  1 1/2" x 2". These will be areas 2 and 3. With right sides together I line up the edge of the star point with the long edge of the background fabric. I shorten my stitch length (I have a Janome and I set it at 1.8 or shorter) and I sewed on the line between 1 and 2. Stitch about half way into area 4.

I fold back the paper and trim the seam allowance down to about 1/8".

Open the fabrics and either finger press or give the patch a press with a hot dry iron.

I repeat these same steps with the background patch on the other side of the star point. This is what it will look like from the wrong side.

I trim the excess fabric on all sides except the bottom edge. I like to leave a generous seam allowance of at least 3/8". It makes the basting much easier.

I carefully lift the paper away from the fabric (the paper might tear a little but that isn't a problem) and fold on the sewing line. Trim the seam allowance down to somewhere between 1/8" and 1/4".

For the base of the star points I cut six red scraps that measured 1 14/" x 2 1/4". These will be area 4. With right sides together line up the hexagon patch with the fabric and stitch on the line. Trim the excess seam allowance if necessary.

Open and press with a hot dry iron. Trim the rest of the hexagon being sure to leave a generous seam allowance. This is what the hexagon will look like from the back.

Here is the hexagon from the front.

HELPFUL TIP: I chain piece my hexagons so they sew up in no time flat! I then set them aside for basting when I need some handwork.

 Baste the hexagon in the usual manner.

I basted a hexagon for the center and then arranged the patches before sewing. I am happy!

Normally I would use one thread that works with all of the fabric, perhaps a neutral taupe. In this instance I chose to use a blue thread for the background and a rusty red for the star base and center. Please refer to my post on January 20, 2014 for instructions on sewing the hexagons together. HELPFUL TIP: Sometimes because of the extra fabric the patches don't fit perfectly. What I do is take my first couple of stitches and then I make sure the opposite ends match up. Then I stitch easing in the extra bit. A good press with flatten everything. So as I like to say, voila - another one of my foundation pieced English paper pieced hexagons! I've got more fun blocks planned so stay tuned!

And now for the most recent Soupcon block on the Soupcon FLICKR Group! Silverrabbit6 is so clever! She came up with a wonderful idea that had never occurred to me! She used machine embroidery stitches to embellish her lovely block. She used a blanket stitch and some Omni stitches along with machine embroidery thread! It is so perfect!

That's it for today! Tomorrow's post won't go up until very late in the day. It will be my GROW YOUR BLOG post with the giveaway! Until then, happy sewing!
Karen H