Laura Nownes

[Renata L.]

Here are mine. Waited 'til morning to take the picture. I used what I think was Laura Nownes' method. I'm going to play with Margo's instructions for twirling today and then try one more square using the method of pressing in one direction. Done!

[Renata L.]

Good job--very pretty, Rita! Thanks for the explanation on how you went about it, too!

[Margo C.]

Great tute, Rita!!

Renata, your blocks look great too! I'm so glad to see different methods being tried!

[Nancy R.]

Very pretty, Renata! I like how you put the subtle pinwheels in the middle.

Nancy

[Marianne G.]

Rita, Thank you so much for your visuals. I had such a hard time getting my head around what to do with the seams even though the explanations here in the forum was very thorough. Seeing it is a great help.

Renata, your blocks are perfect and the extra fabric added to the equation is lovely.

Marianne

[Renata L.]

Thank you for all your help!

[Rita C.]

Marianne, glad I could help. The visuals really help me too.

Renata, love your blocks. Those fabrics look really gorgeous. I am looking forward to seeing how your blocks go together.

[Lois B.]

Great job everyone. I am going to go sew. Imagine that! :roll: :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Lois B.]

Renata, please try this:
To understand the concept of twirling the seams at the intersection, cut four squares of fabric to practice with by making a very simple four patch block.
Make two of the squares with dark colors and two of them with light fabric.
The size doesn't really matter for this example, just cut four squares that are the same size....maybe 3"?
Sew two sets of two squares, each pair made with one dark and one light square.
Press the two seams toward the dark fabrics.
Nest and pin the seams securely for the third seam like Laura showed in the video of the quarter-square block.
Stitch the seam and heat press it.
Open the block and from the back carefully remove the stitches from the first two stitched seams that are now inside the seam allowance created by the third seam.
This will allow the seam allowances to ALL be pressed in a clock-wise or counter clock-wise direction, depending on the orientation of your blocks. That is your swirl! Press it well. The front of the block should be a perfect intersection and there will be very little bulk.

Basically, this is falling back on hand piecing principles where we only sew the part of the seam that is apparent from the front of the quilt, and there are no stitches in any of the seam allowances at the intersections so that each seam can be pressed in any direction. When we chain piece our patches we loose that ability.

Hope this makes it easier for you to understand.

I followed Margo's instructions and took picts as I went.

First pict is after I "stitch the seam and heat press"



2nd & 3rd Pict is "remove stitches from the seams that are inside the 3rd stitched seam".





4th PIct show how "This will allow the seam allowances to ALL be pressed in a clock-wise or counter clock-wise direction, depending on the orientation of your blocks."

Check out my next post for Pict 4. Can't upload more picts.

[Lois B.]

4th PIct show how "This will allow the seam allowances to ALL be pressed in a clock-wise or counter clock-wise direction, depending on the orientation of your blocks."



Final pict shows the seam twirled and pressed flat.



Since I have tried other methods in the past, this has now become my method of choice. I say that not only because I like the method but I am also considering what Nancy had to say about the possibility of light batting showing through open seams.

Thanks, Margo. Thanks Nancy. Now I will get back to sewing.

[Renata L.]

Since Margo was kind enough to give me step-by-step instructions on how to twirl seams, I gave it a try and this is what I came up with:



Then I tried it with the quarter square triangles and voilà:



Her instructions were crystal clear--I followed them and the results were perfect, the process made sense and I had no problem reproducing the twirl with the quarter square triangle. It was unbelievably EASY to do.

So, if any of you are struggling with twirling, please give Margo's instructions a try.

And if any of the TQS leadership comes across this posting, please give Margo Classroom space for her instructions, both video and written! She comes through every time for many of us with help, and often we want to refer back to her instructions but have to go back and ask her again how to do something when we can't find it by navigating the TQS site. Before asking Margo for help this time, I searched both the TQS site and scrolled through the classrooms specifically and did not find help on twirling... (Off my soap box for now… )

[Renata L.]

Thanks, Lois! Your pictures reconfirmed that I understood how to get the stitches out of the center. Also, wanted to mention that I really like the results of the twirled seams better than the open seams. I'm not going to redo my blocks but I know I will twirl next time.

[Renata L.]

Lois - any chance that you could put a link or copy your posts showing Margo's technique into Margo's links thread on techniques, that would be very beneficial for all of us.

Renata, love your qst's 8) I might very well be copying your colour layout plan into my quilt :wink:

[Marianne G.]

Lois and Renata - Thank you very much for taking time to photograph and data allowance to upload the photos of the twirling. Now I want to give that a go too.
All the photos posted made me realise that I must remember to photograph the back of the blocks I have already made for my diary. Once quilted there's no going back to see how I did the seam intersections. What a wonderful thing the digital camera is
Marianne

[Lois B.]

Lois - any chance that you could put a link or copy your posts showing Margo's technique into Margo's links thread on techniques, that would be very beneficial for all of us.

Renata, love your qst's 8) I might very well be copying your colour layout plan into my quilt :wink:

Sure, but how do I do that? Margo? Is that okay with you?