PICK A PETAL ADDED BONUS -- PAPER PIECED FAN BLADES

The 2024 Block of the Month Quilt for The Quilt Show was designed by Jen Kingwell exclusively for Star Members of The Quilt Show. Join today to get access to the patterns, once a month throughout 2024, along with almost 500 shows featuring the best and brightest movers and shakers in the Quilt World. Membership is $49 for the entire year, the best money you will spend on your quilting journey.

This is an extra added bonus--instructions on how to paper piece those little fan blades. There are 256 fan blades, that make 64 Fan Blocks, or 32 Double Fan Blocks in the outer border so working ahead is a good idea, rather than waiting until Month 11 to start. 

NOTE: If you prefer to follow the pattern instructions just ignore this post.

The sample quilt uses a very scrappy plan--the backgrounds and fan handles are all different. This shows 2 Fan Blocks made, then joined together: 

You have some options. The top one shown below has one fabric in the background and handle, the middle one has four different fabrics, the bottom one has two handles and one double background. Do whichever you like or some of each as I am doing:

The Fan Blocks are the same size as the fans from Month 1. They include a background that will make each Double Fan Block finish at 4" x 8", or 4.5" x 8.5" with seam allowances. The template for the background will be provided in Month 11. Just make the fan blades with handles so you will be able to add the background when the template is provided.  If you have the acrylic template set, you have the background piece.

To me, one of the most time-consuming parts of the fan block is cutting the many blades with the small templates. A friend/student reminded me about paper piecing the fans as we did when we made Garden Party Down Under. Brilliant! It takes little time to cut rectangles for the blades and paper piece them. 

Paper piecing uses more fabric but saves time. You can print the pattern that is provided on newsprint, vellum, or freezer paper. The advantage to freezer paper is you need very few printed patterns, you DO NOT sew through the  paper. Stitch length remains as normal for piecing, 2.0 for me. Each pattern can be used many times, so far I have made 40 fan blocks with only TWO printed patterns.

I have a Tutorial on Freezer Paper Foundation Piecing from an earlier Block of the Month, Color My World. Check it out, I won't repeat all that information here.

First, I cut a wide variety of fan blades about 2.5" x 3.5". You might find you can get away with slightly smaller so try a few first before cutting 256 rectangles:

On the LIVE which will air Friday February 2, 2024, noon central time, I will show all the steps described here. I recommend you watch it for more information. Find all my LIVE broadcasts HERE

Paper Piecing can seem "upside down and backwards". Place the butt side of the fabric to the butt side of the paper. Align two fabrics right sides together so there is the normal 1/4" seam allowance. If not sure you have the fabrics in the right place use a PIN to check  BEFORE sewing.

Use the EDGE of  the Freezer Paper FOLDED BACK as the GUIDE for where to sew. Right next to the FOLD:

The best notion I own for paper piecing is the Add-A-Quarter ruler. Use it with a flat edge, like a postcard, to trim excess fabric after sewing the first pair of rectangles in place, giving the 1/4" seam for adding the next rectangle. The postcard is placed on the next sewing line, fold the paper back over the postcard, and put the ruler 1/4" away from the line, Adding A Quarter inch:

Angles can be tricky, that orange floral just barely covers the paper. I should have moved it a bit more:

The process is SEW, FLIP, TRIM, SEW. Because you are pressing the fabric to the waxy side of the freezer paper, the fabric stays put. After making several the wax is gone, so I use a very light dab of glue stick, my favorite for this is Elmer's Disappearing Purple Washable School Glue. Here are my favorite notions for freezer paper piecing. I will demo how use them in the LIVE:

Once the four blades are sewn on, trim the excess fabric away, being sure you get a full 1/4" seam allowance beyond the finished line. I use scissors for the curves, rotary cutter for the straight edges:

 

Now you get to decide, do you want to make two complete 4" fan blocks and join them. OR do you want to sew two sets of 4 fan blades then add a half circle handle and a Double background. I did both, finally settling on the double sets of fan blades as my favorite:

To make the double handle I tried two methods. I created a template of the double size from template plastic. After trying to machine piece it and doing a poor job, I decided to hand applique it on. That worked better. But it was fiddly to keep the handle where it needed to be as I was sewing.

Then I decided to prepare the outer edge of the handle over freezer paper, as I often do for applique. I simply used a 3" circle from Bigger Perfect Circles, adding a seam allowance at the bottom. Here is what my page looks like.  I printed it on freezer paper and it worked great. I won't send this out, you can simply draw your own:

12 Doubles, 4 Singles

Seam allowance glued to back of freezer paper 

If you want the double handle to be made from two fabrics, simply sew two squares cut 2.5" together and make a double handle that uses two fabrics. It adds another seam but is more scrappy.

After gluing the curved edge over the freezer paper, I knew it would be so easy to machine applique these  handles now that they are prepared. So I did that and loved it. I will do all the rest of them this way. I used the acrylic template to add the dots at the bottom edges and center. Then I used a very light touch of fabric glue to hold it in place, no pins.

 Once it is sewn in place, by hand or machine, spritz with plain water, count to 10, and the freezer paper will pull right out. If it doesn't, spritz again and next time use less glue:

Some of the best videos on machine applique are from Becky Goldsmith, prepared for SIZZLE, the 2019 Block of the Month quilt. Find them HERE

Then I decided to make the background as a Double background. The Kit has at least 28 fat eighths, making it easy to cut these as 5" x 9". It takes 32 Doubles to equal 64 Singles, the amount needed for the outer border of this quilt. 

Fold the rectangle in half, WRONG SIDES OUT. Use the acrylic template to draw/cut the background. Cutting the rectangle 5" allows for a bit extra along both outer edges. Trim that AFTER THE BLOCK IS COMPLETE. 

BE SURE TO PLACE THE FOLD ON THE INNER DOT--with the FOLD you don't need the seam allowance at the middle. Here the FOLD is at the top and the RED ARROW points to the dots at the seam allowance placed exactly on the FOLD:

I found the outside background easy to machine piece, using pins that align the dots to the fan blades. When both the handle and outside background are sewn on, carefully trim the rectangle to 4.5" x 8.5". I work from the middle outward, putting the 4.25" line on the center. You should have 1/2" of background beyond the outer fan blades, which is 1/4" background, 1/4" seam allowance:

There are so many ways to do all these various steps. Try a variety to learn your favorite. My motto is "I want the fastest method that gives me the result I want.". Sometimes that's by hand, sometimes by machine. The more skills you have, the more likely you will find the right technique for any given project.

Let's quilt.

Barbara