This tutorial is especially for my beginning paper piecing students.
Indian Summer by Quiltworx was originally printed more than a few years ago. The revised version was released earlier this year. Here is my version made in 2011 I believe.
Once the paper piecing is complete you will trim each unit just outside the outer solid line. The inner solid line is your seam line. Lay the blocks out on a design wall or floor. Two units are placed together to make one square. Once you are happy with the layout you can begin piecing the units into squares then piece the squares into rows then piece the rows together.
When to remove the paper?? First try piecing with the paper intact. The advantage of this is the paper keeps the fabric stable (no stretching) and you can stitch on the printed seam line. The disadvantage is it takes longer to remove the paper. If you are careful to not stretch the fabric and use a 1/4" foot you might feel comfortable removing the papers before stitching the units together. Use the method that gets the best results for you.
Four of the triangle units are left over after piecing the interior of the quilt. I included one of these in each edge of the border. Here is how I pieced the borders.
You will need 2 yards of fabric for the borders and the binding. The border strips are cut along the lengthwise grain which means the strips are cut parallel to the selvage edges.
Here is a short video from Marti Michelle explaining why you want to cut strips on the lengthwise grain.
When the fabric comes off the bolt it is folded in half with the selvage edges together. We don't want that. Press the crease out of the fabric. Fold the fabric by placing the raw edges together as shown below.
Now fold it again in the same direction by taking the fold up to the raw edges. Keep the selvages straight on both ends.
Repeat the folding until the piece is small enough to fit on your mat for cutting. If you started off with 2 yards of fabric, you would need to fold twice to get 18" and you will have 4 layers of fabric to cut.
You should now have something that looks like this.
Check that your selvages are lined up on both sides and the fabric is smooth.Start by cutting off the selvage on the left. Then cut 4 strips that are each 8" wide. Square up one side of each strip. You will use one strip for each side of the quilt.
You can cut binding strips from the remaining fabric. Cut 4 strips at 2-1/2" for the bindings.
You can cut binding strips from the remaining fabric. Cut 4 strips at 2-1/2" for the bindings.
It is best to work at a table where you can lay the quilt flat. Decide the approximate place you want to place the triangle unit for each side. You will be attaching the borders to the sides of the quilt first. These are the long sides.
Lay the pieced quilt top on the table and with the left edges lined up, position one border strip against one side. The border strip will extend past the right side edge. Next position the triangle unit on top of the border strip in the approximate area you want it.
Now you will work with just the border strip and triangle unit. Line up the bottom edge of the triangle unit with the bottom of the border strip. Place your ruler along the edge of the triangle unit.
To allow for the seam allowances, slide the triangle unit to the right until the distance from the ruler to the triangle unit is about 1/2".
Slide the ruler over so it is once again aligned with the edge of the triangle unit.
Cut the border strip along the edge of the ruler. Keep the left side of the border strip in the same place. Set aside the border strip on the right and work with just the left side and the triangle unit.
Next we need to mark the seam allowance on the cut edge of the left border strip. Holding the cut edge, flip it up as shown so you are looking at the wrong side.Notice that the cut edge is now horizontal and at the top and the bottom edge is at an angle on the left. Place your ruler along the cut edge and mark a 1/4" seam line.
Mark the seam line on the bottom edge (which is now angled and on the left). We are marking the intersection of both seam lines. This intersection will be used to line up the triangle unit with the border.
The picture below shows the intersection we marked on the back of the border strip and the seam line point of the triangle unit. These are the points we will match in the next step.
Now flip the end of the border strip back down so the right side is facing up. Place the triangle unit as shown.
The next two pictures show how the intersections are matched. Here is how it looks from the wrong side of the border strip.
Here is how it looks from the wrong side of the triangle unit.
Place another pin or two to hold the pieces together. Don't worry about the extra fabric in the border strip for now.
Sew the triangle unit to the border strip using the solid seam line on the triangle unit as a guide. Press the seam towards the border strip.
Align your ruler along the right side of the triangle unit as shown and cut off the extra fabric in the border strip.
Now we are going to work with the right border strip you set aside earlier.
You will end up with a triangle cut off the end. Discard the triangle.
Pin and sew the border strip to the quilt top and ease in any fullness.
You will repeat this entire process for each of the remaining three sides of the quilt top in this order:
- The remaining long side of the quilt top.
- The top edge of the quilt top.
- The bottom edge of the quilt top.
Happy quilting!
Carol
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