Welcome to Free Pattern Friday!
I am thrilled to share a fun, cheeky, and VERY simple pattern with you today.
Gran’s Faux Flowers was inspired by the classic hand-pieced hexi pattern called “Grandmother’s Flower Garden” (above) and an idea from my bff, Jewells.
Gran’s Faux Flowers doesn’t include the lovely, individual honeycombed pieces. Instead, you get a fun, fast, machine paper pieced version in homage of this quilty classic!
Gran’s Faux Flowers is free for your personal & non-profit use and can be downloaded, printed, or saved using the Google Drive link below.
Gran’s Faux Flowers FREE Pattern
6″ & 10″ paper pieced (6 1/2″ & 10 1/2″ with seam allowance)
Look for fun quilt ideas further down in today’s post!
Want another size? I can help with that!
Need help piecing angles?
Keep scrolling for a simple tutorial that will help!
♥
If you make this or any Sewhooked pattern, stop by the Sewhooked Facebook group to share your photos or tag me (@sewhookedjen) on Instagram!
If you have a peek at this pattern, and many, many other paper pieced patterns, you’ll see some not-so-straight angles that might leave you scratching your head, or worse, wasting TONS of fabric to get just right.
I’ve been using the following simple trick for many, many years. I’ve shared it in classes, with friends, on social media, and in my free paper piecing video tutorial. Since making that video way back in 2012, I’ve added a tiny step to this simple trick that makes this trick even easier and more accurate!
So, how on earth do you deal with those wonky angles without wasting a ton of fabric?
Once you learn this EASY method, you’ll never look back!
Used for this tutorial:
- Gran’s Faux Flowers Unit A. Any pattern with a wonky angle will do!
- Fabric strip at least 1/2″ – 1″ wider than needed. Works great with scraps!
- Add-A-Quarter 12″ Ruler. You can also use any quilting ruler 1/4″ markings.
- Olfa 45mm Rotary Cutter, the rotary cutter of your choice, or scissors if you prefer.
- Postcard
- Fabric marker, pencil, pen, etc.
- Sewing machine with the stitch set to approximately 1.5mm (halfway between 1 & 2 for machines with single numbers).
Using a postcard, fold the pattern piece on the line, just as you would any time you’re paper piecing.
Not sure what I’m talking about? See my full tutorial here.
With the paper folded back, cut away excess fabric using your rotary cutter. This will be your seam allowance.
If not using an Add-A-Quarter ruler, cut 1/4″ using a rotary ruler.
You can also use scissors, but a rotary cutter and ruler will make the job much easier!
With the paper folded back, place the next piece of fabric RIGHT SIDE DOWN with the edge tucked under the seam allowance cut in the last step.
Open the paper, checking to see if the fabric is placed correctly to cover the entire pattern piece. With more irregular shaped pieces, you may need to slide the fabric around to get it just right.
Open the paper back up. Make a dot inside the seam allowance on both pieces of fabric. This doesn’t have to be exact. A pencil or fabric marker works great for this. The dot will be inside the seam allowance and will not show.
Place the ruler exactly where it was before and cut again. This time, you are cutting the second fabric.
This is the key step to make this angle business work…with RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER, find those tiny dots and match the seam allowance. It doesn’t have to be precise, but they do need to be more or less in the same spot.
Pin if you need to, flip and sew as usual.
Open out and press for a perfectly covered pattern piece!
I do hope you found that helpful. The number one question I’m asked is how to deal with wonky angles. This is especially true over in the Project of Doom Facebook Group where we get not just new paper piecers, but brand new quilters!
Now that you know how to tackle the crazy angles, how about some fun ideas to use the easy peasy Gran’s Faux Flowers?
12 – 10″ blocks.
Every other quilt block is turned once to the right.
Border + binding.
Simple & fun!
Just four blocks alternated with background fabric.
Border + Binding.
Even easier than the first!
9 Flowers on point with a border + binding.
How sweet is that for a little quilt?!
Get Gran’s Faux Flowers FREE Paper Pieced Pattern!
All designs created by me in EQ8.
FINAL CALL!!!
Medical Themed patterns – Medical Themed Bundle (all three patterns), Heartbeat, Stethoscope, Lab Coat are for sale in my Etsy Shop with ALL proceeds during April & May 2019 going to the Action Jaxon Medical Fund.
TODAY IS THE LAST DAY! Thank you to everyone who has purchased to help support Jaxon and his family so far! I’ll be announcing the final donation total in my next Talk to Me Tuesday video.
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