Hand piecing- Gather your Tools

I am inviting everyone to hand piece a quilt with me. While making this quilt I will describe my time saving and very useful method based on Barbara Johannah's machine piecing method. Even if you do not want to make this quilt- you might find the method valuable to use in your own projects.

Tools
You will need to make three triangle templates: No 2 (Straight sides 5 cm (2 Inch)), no 3 (straight sides 15 cm (6 inch)) and no 4 (straight sides 25 cm (10 inches)) as in the drawing.

You will draw around the template. In a big quilt it is best to make the templates from plastic like Mylar (I use old x ray's). For a single block, cardboard (as from a cereal box) will be fine. We do not need a template for the square- but you will need a perspex square of 15 cm (6 inches) with lines marked every half cm or every 1/4 inch. You will also need a bigger square: 30-40 cm (12-16 inch)

You will also need a multi- line perspex ruler marked in centimeters if you are following the metric instructions and an Inch ruler if you prefer to use that measurement. A rotary cutter and cutting mat is also essential. Perhaps I should call it Hand piecing with a Rotary cutter?

I draw around the template with a HB pencil, make sure it stay sharp or use a mechanical pencil.

I sew with a between needle (the same one used for hand quilting.) I see most books and people recommend using a sharp needle. I find them to long to control to make tiny stitches. I use cotton thread and I prefer a thin thread (no 50) so that there is no bulk in the seam lines.

Fabric
For this quilt I have used a jelly roll with pre-cut strips. The pinking cutting make the strips  a little thin.(I will talk later about this again). I used 18 of the strips- a medium value, 6 greens, 6 reds and 6 blues. I like to use many fabrics in my quilts. I feel it make a quilt more interesting and unique. So I have only used one strip of a particular fabric. You do not need to use pre cut fabrics. You can cut a 6,5 cm or 2 1/2 inch strip of 18 different fabrics. You will also need to cut 23 strips of the same width from a very light or very dark fabric. I have used white to make sure that I get a good contrast.

The 15 cm (6 inch) triangles were cut from dark Kaffe Fasset fabrics. Once again try to use a variety. You will need 72 of the triangles and will be able to get 12 from a fat quarter. I like to have a wider variety and cut only 6 triangles from a specific fabric- I had 12 different fabrics. So you will need  of 6-12  fat quarters.
The biggest triangle form a pathway. I used Westminster big prints in a medium to medium light colorway. OI coloured it to form a green, a blue and a red/pinkish path. (See previous post) One could make it one solid fabric through out and do some lovely quilting on it or you can have it in a variety of dark colours and make the smaller triangle a medium value. (If the small triangles stay a medium value it will look as if the triangles are part of that fabric and can create an interesting look.)

In this quilt I will first piece all the triangle units. I will then lay it on my design wall and audition fabrics to decide if I will use a dark or medium fabric for the big squares. You will get 4 squares from a 30 cm (12 inch) cut of yardage. You will need 9 squares in total. I think at this stage that I will have to green, two blue and 5 red/ maroon squares but I will make a final decision later.

Here is another EQ diagram coloured differently.

 I prefer to put my fabrics in a tub full of hot water. I want to shrink it and let extra colour come out. I keep the light and dark fabrics separate. I press it with steam to make sure it has no wrinkles.

If all the preparations is complete we are ready to start.

Hand piecing and Barbara Johannah

In 1982/3 when I started again doing Patchwork (as we called it in South Africa) the rotary cutter and rulers were not available yet. In my 5 magazines I have read an article about Seminole patchwork and immediately saw how I could apply it to other patterns like the lone star. I immediately started to cut strips, using a cardboard ruler of 6,4 cm, drawing lines with a pencil and cutting 4 layers of fabric with my pair of scissors.

Although I could only hand quilt it after my trip to the USA I could complete the top before I left. I experiment a lot with Seminole strips and till today use strip piecing whenever I can. (Remember- I am a Stripper).

I planned a trip to Europe and the USA, to travel with my backpack, staying in youth Hostels and see the wonderful sights in Europe, then going on a quilt tour in the USA. I knew that all the shows were listed in the quilt magazines- remember I had 5! After three weeks in Israel, Greece and Italy, I realized my money will be finished before I reached the USA. So I changed my plans, flew to London and arrange to leave for New York 5 days later, after exploring London a bit and visit the Victoria and Albert museum to see some quilts.

When I arrived at New York Airport I got on the shuttle-as per my 10$ a day book and ask if it was going to New York. They want to know where I want to get off- at Manhattan? Did I not read my book properly? I was unsure and realized how ignorant I was- here I want to go to New York and I did not even know it has 5 Burroughs.

I walked the streets of Manhattan- going into every bookstore in search for a quilting magazine. Can you believe it, not one of the bookstores had a quilting magazine! I found the offices of Lady Circle (I think I got the address in a phone book) but lo and behold- they did not have a magazine in the office- it was just the subscription office. I was devastated! Will I now have to go back home without seeing a quilt in the LAND of QUILTS ?

My last change was the library but neither did they have any quilting magazines. When I walked out of the library not knowing what to do, there was a News and Magazine stand just outside. I searched the stand and - I wasn't heading home anymore!

I found myself a postbox- yes I had a Manhattan address once and wrote letters to the organizers of Quilt events. With a map of the whole country and the available shows I planned a possible route. In the youth Hostel where I stayed, I learned that for (I think) $50 foreigner youths with a student card (which I had) could purchase a pass to travel for 5 days on the Greyhound buses.

I also saw that the next week there was a Quilt Festival at Northfield Vermont. (In one of my 5 magazines I have read about the Shelburne Museum) So I use one of my passes to travel to Burlington. I went to visit the Shelburne museum and saw the wonderful quilts- and learned something about the history of "America". I immediately felt more at home. I could see all the similarities to our own history.

I use the same bus pass to go to Northfield  two days before the classes and exhibition began and helped to hang the show. What a privileged to held in my hands some antique quilts. I was in Seventh Heaven. There were still openings in classes and I took a class from Nancy Halpern, Jinny Beyer (who's book "The Quilter's Album of Blocks and Borders was then already my quilting bible) and Carla Hassle. I also took a class on machine applique on the Bernina- a class that convinced me to trade in my Elna for a Bernina when I reached home.

In Carla's class I learned that for handwork the template do not have the seam allowance added as in machine work, you draw around the template with a pencil- on the wrong side of the fabrics. You pin the two patches together and while sewing on the pencil line, you flip the work to the back to make sure that you are still on the drawn line of the patch at the back. (I have since learned Jinny Beyer's method as well where you only have dots in the corner -from her handwork book- I will blog about that at another time.) We made a block where we also pieced a quarter circle and a triangle. We learned that in handwork you never sew a seam allowance down. You flip it out of the way so that you can accurately get right to the exact point where the patch end. Here you make a double stitch before you pass the needle to the other side and again start with a back stitch to make sure the two patches meet accurately at the corner.

I also learned to take 3-4 running stitches on my needle before I pull the thread through. I then start with a back stitch and again load 3-4 stitches on my needle. I start with a knot and double stitch and end with a double stitch but also work 2 more stitches backwards. I work with a between needle- so hand piecing is good practice for hand quilting. I try to make small stitches to ensure a stronger seam.

(I will later tell you more about my Quilt trip in the Eastern parts of the USA- now I want to get back to the hand piece story.) I bought some Liberty of London prints in Greece and was making this Middelpos wall hanging for Stephanus. I pieced the word Middelpos with my new found knowledge, in this maroon Liberty of London fabrics.

At the Quilt Festival in Northfield I received a Goodie bag- the first of many to follow at all the events. In this bag was a piece of Iron- on Vilene with this grid printed on it.

So I asked the quilters what this was meant for- and learned about the quick piecing method Barbara Johannah  has described in her books. They explained that the soft iron on Vilene was a "quick" version- otherwise one need to draw the lines on the fabric. (This is the method that many books described- some only use a variation with  squares and others has it in this bigger format. One also get some printed papers or suggestions on how to print your own papers from the computer.You cut a piece of the two fabrics, draw the lines on it or use a pre-drawn paper or vilene. You sew on either side of the diagonal lines and cut on all the green and diagonal lines to create a number of squares consisting out of two triangles )

I was pondering this method and have seen the wonderful tool- a rotary cutter that were shown at some of the shows. At that stage I was stacking layers 4 high, drawing lines with my set of perspex rulers (or sometimes cardboard rulers) and cutting the 4 layers with my scissors. I could just see how the rotary cutter will eliminate the pencil line and how much more accurate it will be- the scissor lift the fabric while the rotary cutter press it accurately down while cutting. I could not understand why people would want to do all that drawing and then only cut two layers if they can cut 4 or 8. (I can still not understand that people are still doing it- but this will also be a later subject.)

I suddenly realize that this is actually a wonderful method for hand piecing. This method will eliminate drawing all the lines around the template for all the pieces, then checking all the time while you sew that you are still sewing on the bottom line as well. With Barbara Johannah's method adapted for hand piecing I set out. I grabbed a piece of dark red fabric. I have cut some pieces from it so it was just a scrap piece. I made a template of a triangle less than 1 inch on the straight sides and start marking triangles on the fabric. I then lay it on top of a piece of calico (unbleached muslin) and start hand piecing the diagonal side. This job I did on the airplane when I returned home three months later.

The triangles was the start of the Feathered star of this quilt. I hand pieced the whole top using variations on this quick hand piecing method. I have refined this method over the years. I have used this method to hand piece a quilt a year. This was done in times waiting in the doctor's office, waiting for the children at sport events and in the evening when I kept my husband company.

Any time saving method usually only save time with the initial joining of the patches. With this method you do not only save piecing time, but also cutting time and marking time. The other advantages are that one is not working with a number of small units that can get lost when one take this project everywhere with you. When sewing triangles with the machine the bias diagonal side do not stretch if you handle it with care. When sewing by hand this diagonal seam do get stretched over your fingers and it is almost impossible not to stretch it and get a wonky piece that do not want to lay flat. With this method the diagonal seam is only cut after the piecing is done- so  stretching is eliminated.

I am busy with a new project and will explain my quick hand piecing method while giving the details- so if you would like to try  hand piecing - why don't you join me? (In South Africa hand piecing is associated with hexagons and Cathedral Windows. When quilters see me hand piece they ask why I do not do it with the machine. Well I do most of my work by machine so my hand project is for when I am not at home or not at my machine-when I have company etc. Now that I am determined to master applique- I also do some hand applique in these times.)

The quilt I am hand piecing is a variation on Delectable Mountains called Delectable Star and it appeared in the QNM of Jan/Feb 2000 made by Marilyn (I have searched everywhere for the magazine now. As soon as I find it I will give the proper credit here) This pattern has big patches where one can show of the fabrics- so it will be an ideal quilt to make with a variety of modern fabrics. This is my EQ version:

Here is a line drawing to colour- I do not know how to make a pdf file available- will supply if I figure it out.

So instructions for hand piecing this quilt will be in several blog posts-will you join me?

Red and White and Quick handpiecing

Oh, how I wished to have been in New York to see the installation of Mrs Rose's Red and White quilts. Thanks to the wonderful photo's and videos on some blogs and You Tube I could experience a bit of the magic.

This is my red and white quilt (well almost) and it does have a wonderful story behind it.

I went to the USA in 1984 with my backpack and I tour from one Quilt show and Quilt Convention to the next. My tour started at the wonderful Northfield Vermont show organized by the Historical society and Richard Cleveland (It has moved now to another venue) Here I took classes with Jinny Beyer and Carla Hassle- in hand piecing. (At that time I was quite accomplished in machine piecing but needed to learn more about applique and hand quilting- learning handpiecing was a bonus.)

I will write about some memories about this tour in a later post. Now, back to my quilt and hand piecing. During my tour I learned about Barbara Johannah and her quick piecing method of triangles. (This is a method that is still widely use in different variations today- but most people do not know that it originated with this quilter.) This method entail that a grid is drawn- either on the fabric or on paper or nowadays tear away stabilizer- of a double row of squares divided diagonally with a continuous line. You then use the line as guide for the pressor foot and sew a line 1/4 inch on either side of the diagonal lines. Cut on all the drawn lines and you have multiple HST (Half Square Triangles)
                                    

In 1984 we did not have the rotary cutter that can cut up to 8 layers, but we had sharp scissors and could cut 4 layers.This method where one have to mark and could cut only 2 layers did not seem like a quick sewing method to me. (You save time in handling individual pieces- that is all) I thought that this method would be more suitable in hand piecing than in machine piecing of HST's (I still think so today). So 3 month's later on the plane back  from the USA, I started the HST of this feathered star medaljon quilt- using an adaptation of Barbara's method. I draw triangles on a scrap piece of red/maroon fabric (it was an odd size) and lay it on a bigger calico piece. I then worked the diagonal seams as marked on the red fabric. The advantage was that I did not have a lot of small pieces that could get lost.I did not have to pin individual pieces. I also saved time- instead of having to check that I follow the line on the piece at the back (as one do in handwork) there was only lines drawn on the red fabric. After I worked the diagonal seams, I turned the piece over and lay my template with the diagonal side on the seam worked. I then just had to draw the two straight seams. I could also cut two layers simultaneously- not something ussually done in hand piecing.

Beginning of Lady Of the Lake-handpieced

With this, my quick hand piecing method was born. I have adapted this idea to piece a Trip Around the world, Baby Blocks, Six point star and several other quilts where different shapes were pieced using this method.