Hourglass border

The hourglass border for Picadilly to the Nines is coming along nicely! It will consist entirely of 2" finished hourglass blocks that are made of a large variety of green fabrics.

Working with only one colour to make all of the hourglass blocks is a good lesson in value. I started by pulling a wide assortment of green fabrics making sure to include lights mediums and darks. I didn't use every green I had; some were not the right hue; for example some were more of a blue-green and I excluded them. So working with one colour was also a good lesson in hue! I didn't shy away from brights - I threw in some lovely lime greens for sparkle!

 

In a previous post I showed you how I stitched the little hourglass blocks. You can read about it here. The first step was to cut 3 1/4" patches - I needed....384 of them! Two fabrics are needed for a block so I paired up the fabrics making sure that one fabric was darker than the other. The contrast could be subtle or strong.

 

Subtler                                         Stronger           

In most instances it is easy to identify what would be considered light. It is the mediums that give us  grief! However all I worried about was that I had two fabrics one of which was darker than the other. This means a medium fabric placed next to a dark fabric would read as light OR the same medium fabric place with a lighter fabric would read as dark. In the two pictures below the polka dot green is used as the lighter fabric in the first example and as the darker fabric in the second example!

Polka dots as lighter                      Polka dots as darker

Making these hourglass blocks with only one colourway was a good exercise in working with value (the lightness or darkness irrespective of colour) and hue (the colour shade). I think a quilt made of larger hourglass blocks in a single colourway could be very effective and fun to make! And if the blocks were larger, say 5" or 6", it would work up fairly quickly! I might just add that to my to do list and I already have a colour in mind!

The little hourglass blocks are now being sewn into nine patches! Are you a recurring theme in this quilt....Picadilly to the Nines? I can assure you that it wasn't planned this way but it is working out! Lots of nine patch blocks and nine patch variations in this one!

I had originally planned on a border of the background fabric before adding the hourglass blocks but I've had a rethink! I have lots of the green stripe that was used to make the churn dash blocks and I've decided to have a smallish green stripe border instead.  I'll use the part with the dark green stripe with the gold line running down the centre and a Greek key design on either side. I think this will make for a more dramatic border than the simple background fabric.

I had thought that the border would be 1 1/2" bringing the size of the quilt to 58" and that would work fit with the 2" hourglass blocks. But last night I was just dozing off when it hit me -  the 55" includes the seam allowance which means that the border strips have to finish larger than 1 1/2". A quick calculation and I now know that I'll have to cut the strips 1/4" larger than I thought. Measure twice (or more) and cut once! Good thing I hadn't cut the fabric yet!

Until I post again, happy sewing!

Hourglass Blocks

This is the centre panel of Picadilly to the Nines. At this point it measures 55" with the seam allowances.

I've used a variety of nine patch blocks including the tiny churn dashes and they are all set on point; I think it adds some visual interest and it makes the blocks look a little different. The two pictures below are of the same churn dash  block but the first one is set on point and the second is straight. Don't you agree that they look different?

 

I alternated the various nine patch blocks with 3" hourglass blocks. I used two fabrics for the hourglass blocks, the off white background and a mottled taupe fabric.

Hourglass blocks make a great alternate block in a quilt, they are fun and easy to make and they can be made any size you choose. There is a simple formula to determine the size of patches to cut to make the hourglass block. To calculate the size of patches simply add 1 1/4" to the finished size of the block. I needed hourglass blocks that are the same size as the nine patches which finished at 3" so to that measurement I added 1 1/4" for a measurement of 4 1/4" square. I needed two fabrics, one light and one darker. Each pair of patches yields two hourglass blocks!

On wrong side of the lighter of the two fabrics I drew a line from one corner to the opposite corner. I like to use a mechanical pencil because it gives a thin sharp line. With right sides together I pinned the fabrics together making sure the corners lined up. I shorten the stitch length and stitched a scant 1/4" away from either side of the pencil line. If you have trouble with a scant 1/4" seam allowance, if your machine allows you to shift your needle position to the right simple shift the needle a little bit and that way you can sew with your 1/4" foot.

The next step was to cut on the opposite diagonal from the one that was just stitched.

Next cut on the pencil line with a rotary cutter or sharp scissors. Press to embed the seam and then press the seam allowances open. As always a little starch works wonders, especially on small blocks! This is what you will have at this point.

Lay out the triangles to create two blocks. Pin and stitch using a scant 1/4" seam allowance.

Place your ruler on one of the blocks and line up the 45 degree mark on the ruler with one of the diagonal seams. Trim to 2 1/2" and clip the remaining tails or wings.

Press and you are done! Could they be any easier? I think not!

I think I will add a 1 1/2" border of the background fabric all around the centre panel of Picadilly to the Nines and then I'll add a border of many tiny hourglass blocks. How tiny? They will be 2" finished and they will be made of assorted greens. I calculated that I will need 384 blocks so I'll need 384 3 1/4" patches. The design seemed like a good idea at the time and so I started cutting fabrics. 384 is a lot!!!!  And then the light dawned on the primitive brain....this is going to involve a lot of sewing and pressing! But the fabric is cut so I will persevere! Here's a stack of them pieced and ready for pressing!

 

And another pile of pressed blocks waiting to be trimmed!

Until I post again, happy sewing!