My alternative way to attach the roads

[Jacqueline d.]

I am piecing the each piece of road to 2 houses, then sewing them together to get 4 houses. So they are pie shaped. The curves are more manageable. I will attach the other houses onto the upper road when they are finished and the round border on top of that. I am even thinking of removing the last 2 seems of the compass and putting the pieces to the inner road in four sections. When every thing is pieced I will sew two 4 houses together to make 8 houses that makes a quarter circle and then a half circle and and with the one more seem to finish it. The only thing left are the borders. In my mind, for me, this is much easier. Fingers crossed it will work.

[Lynn H.]

That sounds like a great idea to me. I wish I had thought of that before I sewed my small houses into a ring!

[ljnstarmn72]

I agree, genius.
Thanks for taking that leap of faith to try it out and then sharing with us!!
xoxo

[Susan G.]

I'm wondering if sewing the small houses to the road in quarters worked??  I did finally get everything together but with blood, sweat and tears!  I'm not looking forward to the same struggle with the buildings but would love to benefit from someone else's experiment.  I'm an inexperienced quilter but really love Barbara's detailed videos and explanations so I feel I am learning a lot and appreciate this opportunity.  I'm doing the buildings now so lots of time to make up my mind.

[Helen W.]

I am piecing the each piece of road to 2 houses, then sewing them together to get 4 houses. So they are pie shaped. The curves are more manageable. I will attach the other houses onto the upper road when they are finished and the round border on top of that. I am even thinking of removing the last 2 seems of the compass and putting the pieces to the inner road in four sections. When every thing is pieced I will sew two 4 houses together to make 8 houses that makes a quarter circle and then a half circle and and with the one more seem to finish it. The only thing left are the borders. In my mind, for me, this is much easier. Fingers crossed it will work.

Jacqueline, Genius idea. If I had been given the pattern and just told to figure out a way to make it. I would probably have done it
this way. It seems so logical not to have to have all the fabric from the entire circle to have to fiddle with to get it attached.
Let us know how the final step goes when you get the circle done. HelenW

[AmyE]

That's how I did it too! I found it so much easier than pinning those huge circles. I was glad I hadn't sewn my houses all together yet when the roads came out.

[iris w.]

I'm doing this as well, i was thinking about taking the seams on the compass as well! Please let know how that works out.

[ljnstarmn72]

Yes! Great comment!
I haven't sewn my compass quarters together yet.
I'll sew the road pieces to them first.

[Daphne M]

Terrific suggestion... makes perfect sense and I will definitely build mine this way. Those of us lagging a little behind definitely benefit from these suggestions. Thanks to all for sharing!

[Susan F.]

Clever idea

[Paola B.]

Wow! Great idea. Wish I hadn’t sewn my houses together.

[sewskeel]

I am having a terrible time try to attach my upper road, would it be worth my time to rip my house circle apart and attach the upper and inner road arcs?

[Helen W.]

Sewskeel, If you have taken your upper road off measure it near the part that attaches to the trees and measure at the sewing line of the tree it should measure 135 inches. If you measure at the sewing line of the bottonm of the upper road is also should measure 135 inches. Does it.That is the circumference . They should be close to same. Please answer so we can try to help you. Have you watched Alex Anderson's Spinning Spools lesson 5. She attaches a curved arc doing folded edge applique. I have used that in the past to put curves and circles on when I did not want to deal with the concave/convex sewing. If that is a work around you want to try. I will post how I would do that. Just let me know HelenW

[Barbara B.]

I am having a terrible time try to attach my upper road, would it be worth my time to rip my house circle apart and attach the upper and inner road arcs?

Only if ALL the parts are the correct size. And you want to do all that un-sewing. Earlier, you said your house circle was flat. It sounds like your Upper Road is too large. Did you check it as I suggested on your earlier post?

[Jody T.]

I have asked before about leaving the houses, roads, and mariner’s compass in quarter sections. It would be so much easier to handle the circles as quarters rather than full circles. I have not yet made my roads but am going to try it. Even as we add the outer rings it will be much easier sewing to maintain quarters then assemble the whole quilt. Why not?

[Helen W.]

Jody, I just saw a post on the thread about attaching roads and there is one that is done in quarters. Check it out.
HelenW

[Sharon P.]

i rewatched the videos and it kind of looks like the seams are pressed open when you attach the roads....is this right?

[Helen W.]

I have asked before about leaving the houses, roads, and mariner’s compass in quarter sections. It would be so much easier to handle the circles as quarters rather than full circles. I have not yet made my roads but am going to try it. Even as we add the outer rings it will be much easier sewing to maintain quarters then assemble the whole quilt. Why not?

Jody, The reason Barbara gave you before was that the seams don't line up properly for the roads to match up with the other parts.
I think that means the road parts are not a size that divides evenly into 4 ninety degree quarters.
The fact that is a circle, it should work. You might have to do some minor changes if the roads are a different size when you get
to 90 degrees. It might be the road is either short of the 90 or longer than the 90. You could cut it fit and add another road piece
for the start of the next quarter. It seems doable, and easier than insetting a whole circle. Let us know how it goes. HelenW

[ljnstarmn72]

Helen, Thanks for your detailed reply to Jody. I'm very behind in the process so
I can definitely use this info to cut the roads so they fit quarters rather than a big circle.
Not my first rodeo creating my own patterns for curved piecing without a pattern.
Linda N

[Barbara B.]

i rewatched the videos and it kind of looks like the seams are pressed open when you attach the roads....is this right?

You can do either. I pressed mine to one side on the sample quilt last year. Pam E, my friend whose progress I am using for the videos now, pressed hers open.