the way to the end of the marking for a straight stitch line. At the end, pull the needle all the way up.
12 Position the needle on the thimble on your right middle finger, and push the needle through the fabric.
13 Firmly hold the pieces where you began stitching, then smooth out any bunching by sandwiching the fabrics between your left fingers and lightly sliding leftwards.
14 Use 2 backstitches as shown in step 6 to finish stitching. Without knotting, leave a thread tail of about ⅜ in (1 cm) and cut.
15 The stitches are on the marking line on the back side (side A) as well. Trim the seam allowance ¼ in (0.6 cm) from the stitch line.
When joining the pieced squares, pay particular attention to lining up the corners neatly. If there is extra fabric bulk or if the stitches are misaligned, the following steps will show you how to use an alternating stitch at the corners (=four stops) to secure them and fix the shifting. Sew up to just before the corner, check to see if the corners are lining up and if so, backstitch and continue stitching (don’t sew through the seam allowance).
About the piecework seam allowance
For this lesson, the fabric pieces are initially drafted with a ⅜ in (1 cm) seam allowance which is then trimmed to ¼ in (0.6 cm) once sewn together. As you become accustomed to piecework, feel free to start with a ¼ in (0.6 cm) seam allowance.
16 To join multiple pieces, repeat steps 2 ~ 15. Position fabrics A and B in a checkered pattern by joining three rows of three squares pieced together.
17 Place two rows right sides together, match up corner markings and baste with pins (①~④ indicates pinning order). Due to the bulk of the extra seam allowances, inserting the pins with the tip facing upward is easier for ③ and ④.
18 The seam allowances for ③ and ④ should lay in opposite directions on the front and back to reduce bulk before pin basting. Press the seam allowances in the direction of the arrows.
19 Repeat steps 6 ~ 10 to join pieces. Stop sewing about one stitch away from the corner marking and pull needle through.
20 Insert needle into the corner marking of the wrong side of front fabric A through to the right side (in the photo, the seam allowance of fabric B is flipped over for a clearer view).
21 Proceed to the corner marking of the back fabric A (the needle will be inserted diagonally from the front fabric A to back fabric A. Make sure to avoid stitching other pieces), pull needle through.
22 From the existing position of the needle on the back fabric A, insert needle slightly into the seam allowance and through to the same spot on fabric B (see illustration on right).
Dots indicate where needles will go in and out (slightly into the seam allowance from the corner markings).
23 The needle from step 22 pulled through (photo shows back fabric B on top).
24 Insert needle into the corner marking of back fabric B.
25 Continue to front fabric B corner marking and pull needle through (needle will be inserted diagonally from front fabric B to back fabric B).
26 Needle pulled through from step 25 (now the front side is shown). The thread is coming out of the front fabric B corner marking. Continue stitching.
27 Sew the corner sections as shown in steps 19 ~ 26. Backstitch at the end as shown in step 14.
28 The pieces sewn together in step 27 opened up. Repeat previous steps to join the next row to create a nine patch quilt block.
Basic Piecework Techniques
LESSON 2
Making a Triangle Quilt Block
This lesson features the Tree of Life quilt block pattern to join same-facing right angle isosceles triangle pieces. To prevent unwanted spaces where the corners intersect, the four-stop method will be used (see steps 8–12). Make sure to avoid accidentally sewing extra fabric pieces.
★ Refer to page 82 for drafting pattern pieces and marking.
★ Refer to page 10 for pin basting, backstitching and piecework sewing basics.
1 Trace the pattern piece on the wrong side of fabrics A and B. Add ⅜ in (1 cm) seam allowance and cut (seam allowance will be trimmed later).
2 With right sides of fabrics A and B together, pin the two corners of the longest side. Add a pin between the two corner pins. Align the markings and pin as precisely as possible.
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