Pieced Border in EQ7-how to piece-NOW with progress photo

[Jules M.]

I designed this quilt for using some 12" blocks I received in an exchange. (I just use colors and not actual fabric samples so pardon the harshness of the coloring.)



FYI: The center block will be a form of spools block w/ a dark background. And yes, I'll make those yellow & pink border corners work right. The brown fabric I have is the common thread for all the blocks and is a busy print tying all these colors together.

At the border tab, I chose the border style: Big & Little Points In.

I'm not sure how to piece this! If necessary, I'll just pick another pieced border from a book. But before I give up... what advice do you have? Using the select tool while in layer 1, I can click on each piece in the border but not get the whole border highlighted at once. If I could highlight the whole border, I thought I'd get the option to paper piece. (I love to p.p.) If I print off templates, :cry: , just the large triangle takes 3 sheets of paper!

I'm not sure how I'm going to figure out the setting squares/triangles either if you'd like to chime in on that too.

I'm stuck. Thanks for your help!!

[Margo C.]

Joyce, maybe you could print out templates from EQ for the pink, yellow and blue shapes in the outer border and make plastic templates to cut out your pieces
and piece the borders the old fashioned way, lining up the seam lines instead of the edges of the fabric?
Paper piecing would work, but that's a lot of paper!

[Jules M.]

Joyce, maybe you could print out templates from EQ for the pink, yellow and blue shapes in the outer border and make plastic templates to cut out your pieces
and piece the borders the old fashioned way, lining up the seam lines instead of the edges of the fabric?
Paper piecing would work, but that's a lot of paper!

Thanks Margo! I had all those thoughts as well.... use plastic and that is a lot of paper! I wanted something besides blocks put together side-by-side. I guess I'm getting that! LOL!

[Annis C.]

For the corner setting triangles, I would continue the pink on both sides. They are large enough to use templates, but you might want to cut the pink strips oversized and square after assembly. Also the yellow setting triangles could be sewn to long strips of pink. Just make sure you leave enough space between them for the angles.

I would use freezer paper templates for the pink diamonds cut exact size and use an add-a-quarter ruler to add the seam allowance, then cut the yellow pieces oversized and sew against the freezer paper to keep the angle correct on the very stretchy sides. Then I would use a plastic template to trim them to size after they are sewn. That's almost like paper piecing except without the paper.

[Jules M.]

For the corner setting triangles, I would continue the pink on both sides. They are large enough to use templates, but you might want to cut the pink strips oversized and square after assembly. Also the yellow setting triangles could be sewn to long strips of pink. Just make sure you leave enough space between them for the angles.

I would use freezer paper templates for the pink diamonds cut exact size and use an add-a-quarter ruler to add the seam allowance, then cut the yellow pieces oversized and sew against the freezer paper to keep the angle correct on the very stretchy sides. Then I would use a plastic template to trim them to size after they are sewn. That's almost like paper piecing except without the paper.

Oh, this is good! I prefer to cut over-sized and trim after sewing.

Yes, I will have the pink edging on all the sides of the corner setting triangles. I couldn't get that to work in EQ either. :

Thank you!!!

[Annis C.]

Here's how to get the corner setting triangles to work. Treat them as quarter-square triangles instead of half-square triangles and draw the block in 1 quarter section. Then after placing them in the corners rotate them so the proper corner shows. You can also flip them to get the seams going in a different direction.

[Annis C.]

I would strip piece the pink and yellow, then cut the triangle shapes shown in side of the brown border. For the outer border, I would strip piece the yellow, pink, and blue and strip piece the yellow with blue, then cut the strips Seminole style--you will have a few extra seams, but less waste and it would be so much easier. I hope this makes sense to you.

[Annis C.]

I think I would go with the freezer paper idea for the outer border. Then you could control the cut bias edges and hopefully avoid ripples around the outer border. Definitely strip piece the pink and yellow inside triangles.

[Jules M.]

Here's how to get the corner setting triangles to work. Treat them as quarter-square triangles instead of half-square triangles and draw the block in 1 quarter section. Then after placing them in the corners rotate them so the proper corner shows. You can also flip them to get the seams going in a different direction.

Ok... you are saying to draw a block like this that you've shown and place that? I'll try that - thanks!!

[Jules M.]

I would strip piece the pink and yellow, then cut the triangle shapes shown in side of the brown border. For the outer border, I would strip piece the yellow, pink, and blue and strip piece the yellow with blue, then cut the strips Seminole style--you will have a few extra seams, but less waste and it would be so much easier. I hope this makes sense to you.

This is making sense to me but can you explain this to me more for the outer border. I know Seminole style piecing but I'm not "seeing" how I'd do that. :? Thank you for helping me!

[Jules M.]

I think I would go with the freezer paper idea for the outer border. Then you could control the cut bias edges and hopefully avoid ripples around the outer border. Definitely strip piece the pink and yellow inside triangles.

As in use freezer paper templates for each piece? Or as a previous post suggested, use the FP for the pink and add oversized yellow to each one?

Thanks for your help.

[Jules M.]

http://www.twiddletails.com/store/in...page&id=21

This link is a tutorial on a folded freezer paper piecing that works really well. I would print out a few of the yellow/pink triangle sections and reuse them. thats the beauty of freezer paper. It can be used multiple times. You should be able to go into EQ7 and edit the border, then single out the area you want to print on paper in the size you need. Cut your freezer paper so it will feed through your printer.

If you only make templates of the diamond shape and add the yellow, make sure you starch the fabric really well.

[Jules M.]

forgive a beginner jumping in here, but a thought....

can you cut the large blue triangles in half at the point? Draw a line from the point to the base. Do the same on the yellow & pink so that is not a diamond but a triangle. Now you have a blue triangle and a pink & yellow triangle that are both the same size. You could do that as a template, with a line drawn on for where the pink & yellow need to meet. Then assemble it as rectangles -- the blue triangle, the pink & yellow triangle, join those together and now you have a series of rectangles going around.

obviously I'm assuming EQ7 tells you sizes of these things or that you can print that part, and that you don't mind it being rectangles that look like triangles ;-) and that you want to avoid Y seams which it looks like you'd have with that diamond in there and you know that Y seams scare me to bits. But maybe you don't find them as tricky as I do.

Anyway, no idea if that's the least helpful or not, but it's what *I* would do because I am all about avoiding those nasty Y seams. -shudder- Heck, I even forced myself to figure out applique rather than figure out Y seams!

If I am way off base, pretend I didn't say anything. : )

[Nancy R.]

Hi Heather -

Just to help you in the future, this border wouldn't actually require any Y seams to piece just using templates and adding no extra seams. To piece the border, you could sew each of the yellow triangles to the pink triangle, one at a time. This gives you pieced triangles the same size as the blue triangles. You can then sew the triangles together to make the border, just going down the side in order. This piecing is difficult as you are dealing with bias edges and odd shapes that are difficult to line up, but there are no Y seams. I just wanted to point this out as I've always found it helpful when others have shown me the way things can go together that I didn't see on my own.

Nancy

[Nancy R.]

Hi Heather -

Just to help you in the future, this border wouldn't actually require any Y seams to piece just using templates and adding no extra seams. To piece the border, you could sew each of the yellow triangles to the pink triangle, one at a time. This gives you pieced triangles the same size as the blue triangles. You can then sew the triangles together to make the border, just going down the side in order. This piecing is difficult as you are dealing with bias edges and odd shapes that are difficult to line up, but there are no Y seams. I just wanted to point this out as I've always found it helpful when others have shown me the way things can go together that I didn't see on my own.

Nancy

Oh, I see what you are saying -- since you could sew one yellow triangle, then the other, to the pink diamond it's not really a Y, is it?

Thanks for correcting that bit but let me ask -- wouldn't it still be easier if she splits the diamond into 2 triangles and assembles first a pink/yellow unit, then joins that to a blue triangle and then has rectangles to work with? Wouldn't that stabilize the bias edges some as long as the long edge of the blue & yellow are not the bias edge? If the diamond is really 2 triangles, she could choose where the bias is and make it the short edge or wherever would be the least fussy, right?

thanks for any explanation! I'm grateful for anything I learn here!