teaching sewing confidence, tip by tip

Monday 1 May 2017

Otterly Adorable - FPP Pattern Testing For The Tartankiwi

Otterly Adorable FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

So excited last week when Juliet @The Tartankiwi asked me to pattern test this cute and totally gorgeous Otter FPP pattern.

I'll start with my usual intro to foundation paper piecing (FPP) for newbies - jump in and have a go and you'll soon get the hang of it and love the results.  As always, I'm quick to share that not all FPP patterns are equal.  There's a lot to be said for a well-designed pattern, it makes life soooo much easier for the sewist and produces fabulous results and, for me, Juliet is the Queen of FPP design and her patterns are thoroughly tested before they are made available to purchase.

OTTERLY ADORABLE
FPP PATTERN TESTING FOR THE TARTANKIWI

Juliet's design calls for 6 fabrics, of course, you can change that if you want.  I've already made two animal head pattern testing blocks for Juliet using batiks so I want to continue using them in the hope of one day having enough blocks to make a quilt top. 

This is my batik pull for this pattern.

Otterly Adorable FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

Once I'd chosen my colours, I sat down with my FPP pattern pieces and coloured them in the appropriate colour ways.  This makes it super easy to know which fabric goes where when you're piecing.

FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

Once my pieces were coloured, I then folded every line on the pattern in both directions (towards me and away from me).  It's so much easier at this stage than when you start sewing fabric to the paper as the paper knows exactly where you want it to fold when you come to trim your 1/4" seams.

If you don't already have one, I highly recommend you invest in an Add A Quarter ruler by CM Designs - it's the best tool out there for all your FPP work (affiliate link).



Otterly Adorable FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

I started with the simple pieces with only a couple of fabric seams, this way you can get into the process and rhythm easily and quickly feel like you're accomplishing something fast.

Otterly Adorable FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

Here are all the pieces complete.

Otterly Adorable FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

I love the magic feeling when you lay the pieces out in the correct order and get a glimpse at how your work will look finished.

Otterly Adorable FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

After joining the paper pieced sections this is how the back looked.  I removed the paper along each seam to allow me to press the seams to my chosen side.  

Otterly Adorable FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

I pressed the seams so that the nose and snout sections would stand forward from the head and so the body sections would sit back from the head.  I like how this brings the otter to life.

Otterly Adorable FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

And here he is, I totally love him, he really is Otterly Adorable.

Otterly Adorable FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

He is a right facing, 12" square finish and the pattern includes 9" and 12", right and left facing versions.

Otterly Adorable FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

And this is how he looks on my design wall, alongside the fox and panda FPP blocks I've previously tested for Juliet.

Otterly Adorable FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

The Otterly Adorable pattern isn't available to purchase just yet - when it is, I'll pop a link to it in my mbCD newsletter.  Don't want to miss it?  Subscribe by clicking this button.


In the meantime take further inspiration from the other fpp patterns I've tested for Juliet previously:
Click any of the images below to go through to my post about testing that particular pattern:

The Tartankiwi FPP Pattern Testing by www.madebyChrissieD.com The Tartankiwi FPP Pattern Testing by www.madebyChrissieD.com The Tartankiwi FPP Pattern Testing by www.madebyChrissieD.com
The Tartankiwi FPP Pattern Testing by www.madebyChrissieD.comThe Tartankiwi FPP Pattern Testing by www.madebyChrissieD.com The Tartankiwi FPP Pattern Testing by www.madebyChrissieD.com
The Tartankiwi FPP Pattern Testing by www.madebyChrissieD.comThe Tartankiwi FPP Pattern Testing by www.madebyChrissieD.com The Tartankiwi FPP Pattern Testing by www.madebyChrissieD.com The Tartankiwi FPP Pattern Testing by www.madebyChrissieD.com

Have you tried FPP?  If not have I inspired you to give it a go!?  If you have, have you sewn up one of Juliet's patterns?  Don't you agree they're the best?  Let me know in the comments 😊

Disclosure: I do not receive payment from Juliet @TheTartankiwi for testing her patterns, nor do I receive a commission on any patterns sold via her Etsy store or any other sales method.  This post is purely informational and of no direct benefit, monetary or otherwise, to me.

OTTERLY ADORABLE
FPP PATTERN TESTING FOR THE TARTANKIWI

Otterly Adorable FPP tips by www.madebyChrissieD.com

Clicking on an image will take you to a new page of crafty goodness :)


Disclosure: 
This post contains Amazon and Craftsy affiliate links for which I am paid commission on click-through purchases (at no additional cost to you). Otherwise, no payment or commission is received for click-throughs to shared links; the post is for informational purposes only and all opinions are my own. 

Copyright: 
Uncredited reproduction of all content, text and images on this site is prohibited.
All content, text and images must be credited to Chris Dodsley @made by ChrissieD and include a link back to this site.

Protected by Copyscape




Linky Parties This post may be linked to some great Linky Parties, always a great source of inspiration too. If you click through to my 'Fave Linky Parties' page you can see where I like to share my work.

Online Quilting Class

9 comments:

  1. He's lovely Chris, his left facing companion is on my sewing machine waiting to be worked on today!

    ReplyDelete
  2. He is adorable! And great choice of colours.

    ReplyDelete
  3. He's so cute. You need a left facing one so you would have a cute couple.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is adorable!!!! I have never thought of coloring my pieces before hand, but that would make it so much easier.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh isn't he sweet! What a gorgeous pattern!

    ReplyDelete
  6. He is so cute! Love the colors you chose.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This looks really amazing! :) I love the fabrics you've chosen for this project.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow!! That is beautiful!! Your fabric colors are awesome!! Makes me what to go sew tonight!! Thanks for sharing at #HomeMattersParty hope you will join us again on Friday.

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from everyone, thank you for taking the time to read my blog and share your thoughts. Please leave a message to let me know you visited, it's a great way to get to know you all better too :)

Chris Dodsley


Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.