24 October 2012

Setting blocks - the Straight and Narrow

Blocks on straight.
Works with blocks up to 8" square
Uses the Hunter's Star 12" collection, AND the Leaf Sashing 4.5" collection (for the triangle)

Cheat-sheet for the setting of one 6" block (finished size).

The beauty is, that this setting will work for blocks up to 8.25" square. The necessary adjustment is made on the plain strips that border the block-proper, and the important part is, that once it has been bordered, and trimmed, but before adding the units containing the trapezoids and the triangles, it needs to have a finished size of 8.84" square ( = 9.34" unfinished).

What is more. If you have a set of blocks, that should be 'same size' but aren't, you can hide quite substantial differences in size with this setting, because the setting in and of itself will make a secondary pattern to draw interest away from the different sizes.
As always, photographing inklingo-printed fabric is not easy. However, if you have trouble seeing what I'm writing about, try clicking on the picture to enlarge it.



Log-cabin the block with strips of the same fabric you're using for the triangles.




Trim down to 9.375 (UNfinished size)



For the following : DO NOT sew into the seam-allowance at the corners. Stop at the cross-hair.







Sew a trapezoid to one side of each triangle.
Press away from triangle.


 Make 4 identical strips







Add a pieced strip to each side of the log-cabined block

Piece the corners.

Now, the corners are made with inset seams, but since you have not sewn into the seam-allowances at the corners, but have stopped at the cross-hairs, this should not be a problem !
If you baulk at the thought of doing inset seams, try checking Linda Franz's All About Inklingo Blog.
This is where you (among many other treasures) can find the video on how to stitch hexagons on your sewing-machine.
Use the same principles, and you should be good.



Press.

And you're finished !








P.S. The block shown in this post is actually 6.25" finished size, and not 6". The only difference between this one, and a 6" block is, that you will trim off a bit more of the fabric you use to log-cabin the block proper.
That is all.

1 comment:

Laura said...

Thank you for sharing Tilde! I love that you are showing how to combine different collections to create blocks! I really need the visual that you provide!