If you’re just joining me, the Fat Quarter Shop asked me to be part of their quilt a long (QAL) for the National Breast Cancer Foundation fund raiser.
Message from the Fat Quarter Shop: “We are giving breast cancer awareness a strong push with the Support Group Stitch and Quilt Along. The Support Group cross stitch and quilt pattern by Lori Holt is a sweet nod to how good undergarments are like good friends – we show up during hard times to uplift and support each other! Take the plunge with us into this sew along to give breast cancer awareness the full coverage it needs.
We encourage you to donate $15 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation by October 31, 2022. Fat Quarter Shop and designer Lori Holt will each match up to $5,000 of the donations raised. Together, we can reach our goal of $20,000 to help women at every step of the breast cancer journey. Check out our donation page: https://fundraise.nbcf.org/fqs “
Here’s where you can get the pattern. https://shrsl.com/3obpu
This week the tops were a bit easier than last week since we didn’t have to match both sides of the straps to the cups. Whew! I’m thankful for the little things in life. 🙂
This week I focused on my method for creating accurate sew-n-flip corners on the blocks.
One thing that’s not taught to quilters is a concept in the garment sewing world known as ‘turn of cloth’. That’s the 2-3 threads in the fold of a piece of fabric that has been folded over on itself. This is very important in a shirt collar so the collar lays down nicely and doesn’t give you flippy collar points.
In quilting, if you don’t take turn of cloth into consideration, it’s entirely possible to draw a diagonal line down the center of a square and then sew the block on the wrong way. Now if you’re putting the two fabrics together, then drawing, then sewing, then trimming, it will work fine. But if you have a lot of squares that need lines and you draw all the lines at one time, you have a 50/50 chance turning the stack of squares around and putting the block on backwards.
Here’s the logic: If the ruler is exactly corner-to-corner, and you draw a line beside the ruler, then the line is NOT exactly corner to corner; it’s off to one side just a hair. So technically, once you remove the ruler, one side is larger than the other but that’s danged hard to see. You need to cut off the shorter side, but if you sew the block on backwards, it won’t fit when folded and it will drive you insane.
The trick to not mixing up the sides, is to make a mark on the side of the fabric that’s not under the ruler to identify it as the short side and then you know which corner goes to the outside and will eventually be cut off.
That took me a long time to learn. But once I got the hang of it, my sew-n-flip corners fit Every. Single. Time. If you will ever make a Lori Holt or Elizabeth Hartman pattern, you absolutely MUST learn this technique.
I’m so pleased with how these turned out! My list of fabrics is below. Please donate and please join me in sewing this incredible quilt! https://fundraise.nbcf.org/fqs
Here’s a list of my fabrics (affiliate links):
Tiny Beasts by Tula Pink – https://shrsl.com/3ndy1
True Colors Tiny Coordinates – https://shrsl.com/3ndx3
Background – https://shrsl.com/3ndx5
Backing – https://shrsl.com/3ndx7