Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Tuesday Tutorial: Curved Piecing with Man Sewing

You've probably read that I make a quilt for each of my Mother's great-grandchildren when they turn 12. The youngest boy in that generation turned 12 last month (there's still one girl who isn't yet 12). 

Now, I don't normally allow much input as to which quilts I make. My theory is, "I make the quilts I like, and if you suck up enough, you get the quilt!" But since I let L's older brother choose the colors of the quilt, I figured L. should get a choice also.

Via his Dad, L. requested "yellow and orange with no print. And I really like lions."

Yellow and orange with no prints? Hmm -- I DO have a rather extensive collection of solids.

So I pulled out all the orange and yellow solids. Initially, I thought I would cut them to 2½" strips and sew them together randomly. Then I happened upon Rob Appell's "Man Sewing" tutorial on piecing free-hand curves.

It's a life-changer! Seriously, I haven't witnessed a new technique this revolutionary since I was shown Susie's Magic Binding!

As Rob advised, I made a practice block. His technique is so easy!

Have you notices all the exclamation point in this post! Can you tell I'm just a little excited?!?

Are you ready to see my finished quilt? Here it is:


Isn't that fun? I originally had the large (20") blocks arranged in a checkerboard as Rob does. The DH suggested they would look better all turned the same direction -- and he was right. 

Since L. said he loved lions, I searched for a backing with a lion print. It took some time, but I finally found the perfect backing fabric:


Thank you Rob, for the excellent tutorial! 


From the desk of your auntmartisignature