Tag Archives: paper piecing

Free Pattern Friday – Virtual Hugs!

hugs title

Surprise, it’s a Free Pattern Friday!

As a person who loves to give and receive hugs, I have found the current social distancing a little trying.

Without being to give out REAL HUGS, I’ve decided to share with you, my online friends, Virtual Hugs!

Make the size you want and give yourself a Virtual Hug from me to you. Share them with your friends and family, too. We could all use a few more hugs right now! ♥

Print or Save Virtual Hugs (Google Drive)

The pattern includes both 6″ & 12″ (finished)

Massive thanks go out to my dear friend and long time pattern tester Amber for getting this super simple pattern tested and for always, always being a fantastic proof-reader!

hugs by amber

Amber’s 6″ Virtual Hugs!

hugs by amber 12in

Amber’s 12″ Virtual Hugs!

 

How to Enlarge & Reduce Patterns using Adobe ReaderWant another size? I can help with that!

sewhooked sew along 2020

Join us for a free sew along and safe socializing over in the Sewhooked Facebook Group! Patterns and other details are available when you join us!

 

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Facebook Group Sew Along

sewhooked sew along 2020

Hello, dear friends!

In this crazy time when many of us find our usual activities canceled and ourselves restricted to our homes, I thought a fun, free entirely-online social activity might help us all continue to feel active and connected.

I’m hosting a very informal quilt along over on the Sewhooked Facebook Group.

There are three projects to choose from but there is no schedule and there are no assignments. You pick your project from the three below and we’ll all of sewing along together while sharing our photos and discussion in the Sewhooked Facebook Group.

Participants can choose from the following projects:

Frosted Firs Title

Frosted Firs
(pattern available for free when you join the Sewhooked Facebook Group)

happy hour title happy hour title 2
Happy Hour 1 & Happy Hour 2
(pattern available for free when you join the Sewhooked Facebook Group)

Clover All Over quilt in fabric
Clover All Over
Find the free pattern in on the Sewhooked Free Pattern page.
Also available via the Sewhooked Facebook Group.

I hope to see you there and that sewing with us will bring you some cheer in this strange, strange time.

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I Voted – a free pattern to paper piece

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Hello, dear friends!

I know, I know, I already posted my TTMT earlier today BUT, I voted today and then I had to wait on a technician at my house and one thing led to another and BOOM, accidental new pattern!

“I Voted”

(print or save from Google Drive)

a free pattern to paper piece

6″ x 10″

Full discloser: This pattern is hot off the press and has not been tested. If you make it and have problems, please let me know and I’ll get it edited asap. I’m releasing it pre-testing because it’s Super Tuesday and, well, it feels relevant.

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This is me and my fella, voting earlier today, sporting our own “I Voted” stickers.

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Trees for Australia🌳🌳🌳

trees for wollongong by janina

The lovely Janina made these 12″ paper pieced trees using two of my free patterns to send to Australia for the quilt block collection by Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild. The blocks will be used to make quilts for families affected by the bushfires in New South Wales.

Tree blocks will also be collected at QuiltCon here in Austin later this week to send to the Wollongong MQG. You can read more about that here.

how to enlarge reduce patterns

Janina used my Tree at Sunset & Whomping Willow patterns. Both were enlarged from 5″ to 12″. I have a handy dandy tutorial for enlarging patterns here.

Thank you for sharing your lovely blocks, Janina! 🌳💜🌳💜🌳

 

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Happy Love Day! Heart Pattern Roundup

Happy Love Day to all of my friends out there!

May 2005

Donated to The Linus Connection, May 2005

I have always loved hearts in crafts in general, but especially in quilts. One of the early quilts that I made for donation to The Linus Connection was made of simple pieced hearts and I remember just how EXCITED I was when each heart made its appearance!

In honor of love and friendship, I am sharing a round-up of my free heart patterns. I’ve even added a couple of patterns that were previously retired. They are now back to share the love!

I hope you enjoy these and I hope you have some time to appreciate yourself, hug someone you love, and maybe get a little sewing in today. Each of these patterns is a  virtual hug from me to you.♥

Click on any image to print or save the free pattern with Google Drive.

All patterns are paper pieced. Find out more about Paper Piecing here.

Hearts Go Round title

hearts go round repeat

Hearts Go Round, Repeated

full_1155_12956_CrossMyHeartspaperpieced_2

cross my heart title

Cross My Hearts (two sizes of blocks plus a quilt pattern!)

cupid's arrow 2

mug-o-love-free-pattern

woven-heart-free-pattern

yellow ribbon heart

heart

log cabin heart

linus heart by me

braided heart by me

scrappy heart 2 by me (1)

scrappy heart by meless than three by me

Find more Free Patterns here!

Sending you love and wishes for lots of sewing this weekend!

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Free Printable Paper Piecing Tutorial

Hello, my friends! Many years ago, I wrote a full-length tutorial that has been available for sale in my various online shops. Since I’ve retired from selling, but not from my love of paper piecing, today, I offer it to you for free.
Learn to Paper Piece with Sweet Skating Sue is now available as a FREE printable PDF download. The step-by-step tutorial includes 23 pages of paper piecing goodness perfect for beginners. You get photos and easy-to-understand instructions for paper piecing Sweet Skating Sue. The pattern is also included in the tutorial, so you get everything you need to get started on your paper-piecing adventure! Once you learn the basics using Sweet Skating Sue, you can tackle any project that includes paper piecing. There are thousands of patterns out there, making the possibilities of creating a special quilt project just for you absolutely endless. Prefer a video approach? Paper Piecing Art: Beginner and Beyond, is a full-length class I created for a subscription-based platform back in 2012. Both the class and the pattern are absolutely free.

Need more? I have a whole page about paper piecing!

See you on Tuesday! signature-2016

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TTMT #534 – Zilch, Featuring Cats

 

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TTMT #533 – Happy Hour

 

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Free Pattern Friday (Gran’s Faux Flowers) + How to Paper Piece Crazy Angles!

Gran's Faux Flowers photo

Welcome to Free Pattern Friday!

I am thrilled to share a fun, cheeky, and VERY simple pattern with you today.

hexi

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 old fashioned

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!

How to Enlarge & Reduce Patterns using Adobe ReaderWant 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!

Crazy Angle tutorial title

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).

Crazy Angle tutorial (1)

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.

 Crazy Angle tutorial (2)

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!

Crazy Angle tutorial (4)

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.

Crazy Angle tutorial (3)

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.

 Crazy Angle tutorial (5)

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.

 Crazy Angle tutorial (6)

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.

Crazy Angle tutorial (7)

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?

 

Gran's Faux Flower mock quilt 2

12 – 10″ blocks.

Every other quilt block is turned once to the right.

Border + binding.

Simple & fun!

Gran's Faux Flower mock quilt

Just four blocks alternated with background fabric.

Border + Binding.

Even easier than the first!

Gran's Faux Flower mock quilt on point

 

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.

medical pattern bundle title

FINAL CALL!!!

Medical Themed patterns –  Medical Themed Bundle (all three patterns), HeartbeatStethoscopeLab 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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Free Pattern Friday – Poultry Update!

free-pattern-friday

Earlier this week and as a favor to my BFF, Jewells, I added 10″ versions of two existing free patterns, Sitting Hen and Cat’s Rooster.

I have to say a big thanks to Jewells for giving me a project that I can do while I recover from my ankle sprain! As she said in her TTMT earlier this week, I am NOT good at sitting still!

Find updated versions of both poultry patterns below and on my Free Quilt Pattern page.

Both are paper pieced and both include 5″ and1 10″ finished patterns.

 

Cat's Rooster block image

Cat’s Rooster

Print or Download from Google Drive

sitting hen title

Sitting Hen

Print or Download from Google Drive

If you make either of these patterns or ANY of my other patterns, please consider sharing over on the Sewhooked Facebook Group! There are some really wonderful, supportive people there. ♥

2019 Fat Quarter Lotto

REMINDER! April is my birthday month and you’re invited to help me celebrate by participating in the 5th Annual Fat Quarter Lotto

It’s super easy – send up to four fat quarters & I’ll draw a winner (or winners) “live” on Talk to Me Tuesday on April 30, 2019. There will be 1 winner per 50 fat quarters. Last year we had two winners with 50 fat quarters each and one winner with 25 fat quarters!

Watch last year’s live drawing!

Want an extra entry? Include orphan blocks for The Linus Connection! The Linus Connection is an Austin, TX-based blanket making charity. I use orphan quilt blocks to make quilts to donate. I also share orphan blocks with fellow volunteers to make quilts. Any orphan quilt blocks collected will be turned into quilts for kids in crisis in Central Texas. This collection is personally done by me, Jennifer Ofenstein, and is not sponsored or endorsed by The Linus Connection.

The Sewhooked Fat Quarter Lotto is not a sponsored event and I am not eligible to win. This is just my way to say Thank You for another fun year of sharing! There is no purchase necessary and no obligation to play. I will pay for all return postage.

Click for Details

All entries must be received by April 29, 2019.

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TTMT 10th Anniversary Info!

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