teaching sewing confidence, tip by tip

Wednesday 13 June 2012

New York Beauty (June Bee Block) - Sunglasses Recommended!

Remember this fab package of fabric that I showed to you a few weeks ago?

Finally, Tuesday arrived as did my friend and fellow NYC Mod Bee member, M - both of us fully intent on learning this paper piecing thing and producing at least 1 bee block each for our June Queen Bee, Kimberly.

We'd both checked out the links given to us by our Queen Bee (you can find the links here in my previous post) and I'd found a great little tutorial video on youtube by The Crafty Gemini so we were raring to get started, although I have to admit we were both a little apprehensive.  M suggested that we started out making a muslin test piece rather than go straight into Kimberly's fabric - FAB idea.

After trialling a couple of seams we'd both got the hang of it and felt ready to move on to the real thing but I'm going to make sure I always have some muslin around for testing future blocks - it took all the pressure off and meant that we could just enjoy ourselves.

I've put together some photos and notes from my day to share with you, sorry it's no way enough to be a tutorial but some of my thoughts might be helpful to you.























So there they are all finished, my 2 New York Beauty June Bee Blocks and they're also on the NYC Mod Guild's blog.  I hope Kimberly loves them as much as I do and I know her quilt is going to be stunning. If I get to see it finished then I'll see if I can share a photo of it with you.

Since publishing this post Kati from Kati's Quilting and Sewing has told me about an Add a Quarter Inch Ruler which is very useful for paper piecing.  I have had a look at the company website and they give some very useful tips and suggestions for paper piecing which you may want to have a look at - C M Designs, Inc.


Related posts:
Stop Blogging; Start Making
Liberated Log Cabin - My August Bee Block


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Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

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23 comments:

  1. Wow, that looks great! Thanks for the pictures - they're really helpful. I want to have a go right now:-)

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    1. Well Catherine, your pieces and talk of a dandelion clock inspired me and now I'm thinking about creating my own designs, thank you to you too :)

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  2. What lovely coloured batiks.

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  3. I love paper puecing too!

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  4. Chrissie, your blocks are true beauties! I suggest to get an add-a-quarter ruler to make trimming easier since you fell in love with paper piecing. That clings to the paper's edge and you don't have follow any lines to cut. Also to make your stithes tighter you can shorten the stitch lenght and spray the paper before removing. I usually don't remove the paper until the blocks are sewn together to give them more stability.

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    1. Hi Kati, I've not heard of this ruler before, I'll ask about it tomorrow at CQ - it looks useful for a few things. I went on the company website and they've got a page of hints and tips and tutorials which is good so I'll add them to my page above - thanks for that. When I made the first block I remembered to bring my stitch length down to 1.5 but then I turned the machine off, it reset itself to 2.4 and I forgot to reset it for the second block :( Interesting idea to keep the paper on to the end, I wonder if I'd have got a smoother curve on Block 7 that way - I'll give it a go next time I venture into the world of paper piecing! Thanks for the tips, I'm a very eager to learn student :)

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    1. Thanks - I think the fabric and colours chosen by my June Queen Bee, Kimberly, give them that WOW :)

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  6. Thanks for taking notes as you went and blogging about the blocks. They look amazing! I absolutely can't wait to get them all together. I was afraid people would be overwhelmed with making two blocks. I've found though that with paper-piecing, it takes making one to get your confidence up and realize that it's not as terrible as you might have made it in your mind. I'm so glad you enjoyed making the blocks...and gained a new skill!

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    1. Kimberly your choice of fabrics is the best, they really male these blocks sing. I signed up for the Bee exactly for this reason, to push my boundaries, use fabrics that wouldn't be my normal choice and learn new skills. Two months in and I'm ticking every box - thank you for introducing me to batiks and paper piecing :)

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  7. Thank you :) Is the Craftsy video public or can you only watch it if you're doing the class? If it's public can you point me to the link, I'd love to have a look, can't get enough of it now!?

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  8. Amazing work! I'm so glad you found my YouTube tutorial and enjoyed it. Thanks for linking to it. Happy paper piecing! :o)

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  9. Hola C.!!! soy de BsAs. Argentina... y encontre tu blog de casualidad... gracias por los tutoriales.son muy buenos..segui ayudandonos!!!! Besos Rosa ramarchiano@gmail.com

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  10. Wow! Your blocks turned out amazing! Love that you showed step by step the process. I keep thinking I need to try paper piecing. . . and I have admired the NYB from afar thinking it is too difficult. . . I may have to play :)

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    1. Just go for it - the video I link to by The Crafty Gemini is really great to get you started - I'd never done it before and if I can do it you can too :D

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  11. I have never done paper piecing....but man Chrissie I LOVE this piece!! It really is just beautiful!

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  12. can you tell me where you got the pattern for this block?

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    1. Hi, no problem, the links are in my previous blog post about the block Stop Blogging; Start Making, if you want to click through to them. Thanks for dropping by :D

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  13. I've only done a little paper piecing, but it's very addictive. For some reason or another, I love the feeling of tearing off the papers. Love the colours you've used.

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Chris Dodsley


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