It’s time for some QAL action! How excited are you? I’m quite excited myself!
This week, it’s another simple patch from me. But it makes you practice cutting, lining-up seams and sewing together little bits of fabrics. This week we are making a very simple bordered 9-patch. This block will also be the base for my next block in 2 weeks, so it’s good practice!
So here it is, a simple 9-patch, with a border.
The instructions for putting it together are very similar to our first block, so if in doubt, refer to this post as well.
For this week’s block, I refer you to this very cool pdf file that I’ve put together. It’s handy, because you can print it and take it with you to your sewing place. It’s got all the necessary information. 9-patch tutorial.
Here are a few pics to inspire / help you. Hopefully!
So, for this week, I decided to go for the last colour remaining in my quilt: grey!
If you have scraps from your previous blocks, do use them, that will make your FQs go further! I’ve also added 3 white squares, because I like the mix of plain and prints, but it could be all prints, too!
Here is the layout I went for. I randomly placed the white squares and organised the prints in a way that I liked. I can be a bit OCD about block placement (no identical prints in the same row or touching, kind of OCD), but I’m trying to learn to let go.
And here it is, all sewn-up, before the borders are attached. Isn’t it lovely?
Now, you might wonder how you are going to trim this one down to 12.5″? Well, here’s my way of doing it.
I fold my block in half and press well at the midway point. Then I line up my 6.25″ line from my ruler along the fold (with the block open) and cut. It is not super precise, so I generally give myself a few millimetres extra and trim more if necessary. I do that on all sides and that gives me a perfectly centred block!
So here are all my blocks so far! Yes, they all have a white border, but no, you don’t have to! We are hoping to alternate print and plain border in the final layout, so if you are going to make only 9 blocks (which is totally fine), you need to keep that in mind! You would need to have 4 plain borders and 5 print borders (or the reverse!).
I think that’s all for today! Don’t forget to check Jen’s blog, too!
Oh, and there’s still 15% off all orders in the Little Fabric Store with the code ‘curiouser’ (and there’s plenty of fabrics on sale too!)
