Saturday 13 June 2009

TUTORIAL FOR CONFETTI BLOCKS

As promised to some of you, here comes the tutorial for one confetti block.

You need stripes, all 6 1/2" x 1 1/2" and squares 1 1/2" x 1 1/2".
4 stripes for background fabric (in my case white), 4 stripes for biggest round, 3 stripes for next round, 2 stripes for again next round and yes 1 stripe for last round before center.
1 square for center and 4 squares for background.

Sew the stripes as shown below and iron the groups with the seam allowances for first group to the right, second group to the left and so on.
(if you do it the other way round it is not that important, just take care that they go on opposite direction, for group 1 and 3 in one and for group 2 and 4 in the other).


Cut each group into 4 stripes 1 1/2" wide. There will be some fabric over, just discard!

Then arrange as below with the center square in the middle.
Sew that center square to the stripe lying under it.


Then sew the stripes with one another ( the stripes from the above group with the stripes of the underneath group) without cutting the thread inbetween (kind of chain piecing). It is helpful to keep the stripes in the right order and it goes faster that way!


Then sew the stripes with one another. The seam allowances should lock everywhere but for half of the center stripe (the one with the center square). Add the last 2 background squares and iron.


Once all the blocks are done, you can square down the blocks (see first picture) to 7 1/2" x 7 1/2".

Well that´s done. I hope it is clear enough and you will have fun sewing the blocks.
Questions are welcome!

Only 3 weeks to go before the holidays and a good thing too!
As there are still thousands of things needing to be done before, I expect time will fly.

In between work and other chores, I spin, knit and sew a bit.
I hope to show some of it next time.

I wish you a peaceful sunday.

12 comments:

Julie in the Barn said...

Very nice tutorial, Gwen. Any time I can make a nice looking block by using a quick piecing method I'm very happy! Your photos are well done, too! Thanks so much.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Gwen for this great tutorial ! I will give a try !

Sand and Sunshine said...

Cute tute Gwen, I thought the comment about "keeping things in order helps it go faster" was cute, now all I need to do is hire a drill sargent for my quilting bits.

Marie France said...

Félicitations pour ce cours que j'ai très bien compris même s'il est en anglais.Je ne peux pas faire la même méthode car j'utilise des chutes parfois très petites récupérées.
Bisous

Bea said...

Thank you Gwen!

Anne Ida said...

This is a wonderful tutorial, Gwen! Thank you so much for providing it!

Anne said...

C'est cela, oui, c'est cela, ... le telephone est bien branche? C'est cela oui c'est cela, clear as mud, won't see me sew anything like this for a while, not that I would want to anyway!!
Lots of love from sunny England
Anne

francoise said...

Les beaux jours vous ont fait abandonner la laine! J'aime beaucoup ce patchwork et bravo pour les explications.

Carol said...

How absolutely clever that is, goodness me. You've made it look so easy too.

dokiquilts said...

thank you! i was literally _just_ thinking about this block and now i know how to make one! you make it sound very easy too. of course i just have to find time to make one :-) (i found your blog on Cootie Bug's blog)

Chookyblue...... said...

this block looks great and I am going to save your link so I can have a go at it later..........

Quilts And Pieces said...

Oh Gwen! YOur confetti blocks are wonderful!