Sunday, March 30, 2008

Free Piecing tutorial

I am trying to get a title section so changed my blog layout, says I should get one, still nothing! Anyone help with that?


Okay, if you don't want to know, look away now! But some people do. Boy, hard tutorial because you are never quite sure whether it will turn out or if you are on the right track-as you will see in the pics! You really just need to sit down and play, remebering to have pieces right side together, making sure you cover all edges ot you have raw seams poking out of your picture and that you press flat after every flip. Here we go.

Search around in one of the scrap bags you got for your birthday, then decide you have found too many good bits so put them away for quilts and bags and go and look in your trusty scrap box instead!! -(or something like that)



Pull out a heap of reds, cut into strips, length and width don't matter but err on the generous side, it is easier to cut down later than add on. Can have a fair bit of variation here, it's your flower. I added in the black as the shader. Perhaps have a good look at some roses/rose pics, to get the idea of how the light and dark works.


I started with a black triangle, added a strip of red and sewed.


Then you press that flat, don't trim too much excess at this stage, you never know what you will need to do with it.


add next colour, I went for black


Press flat again




Got to here and not happy, my black had ended up in the corner rather than the centre so a bit of quick unpicking


down the centre


and added in another piece of black-far happier now.


Then make sure you don't completely encircle with your shader as you want to have continuity of colour, like real shading, so the red gets going again.


Here is a tip to remember, for rounding your petals, helps to sometimes do some flip and sew ahead of where your working, like the red piece I have added in above, much easier to get definition that way.





Not going to bore you silly with every step, so here a few progress shots, just using different shades, and blacks where they appeal to me.-thread photos thrown in as a bonus!


Then I have come to the end of the rose, ready to add a background. I place a few pieces of the background around the rose to flip and sew, will help to get rounder edges.



Then just attach the background using the same method as the rose part. You can keep doing this until you get to a block size like 9 inches that you want to evenly trim it to.

Okay, if the first people to visit notice any glaring omissions please post a comment, I am off to watch my families Cats football team thump my team, oh, what unbridled joy! Tracey

19 comments:

Chookyblue...... said...

go girl they should be happy with this photo session........

Lily Mulholland said...

It looks fantastic with the shading. I wouldn't have thought of that :)

Lissa Jane said...

yep.. I noticed an omission...

You forgot to say HEY PRESTO or Bobs your uncle and you are done..

Looks fab, had always wondered on how to do this! and now I know!


ta muchly
Lissa

Anne Ida said...

I love the look of that rose block, and this tutorial is great, Tracey! Thank you so much for sharing!

Fiona said...

You make it look so easy ... and so effective.

P.S. Thanks for checking to see if I was okay.

May Kristin said...

Great tutorial! The rose looks beautiful with the shading! Thank you for sharing!

PossumGirl said...

Thankyou for sharing, I am going to give this a go! May have to read it a few more times tho....

Dawn's Daily Journal said...

That's really neat!! Great tutorial as well!!
dawn

Mary said...

Great tutorial! I'm going to try some of these myself! Thank you!

Helen said...

You make it look soooo easy!

Kim said...

Thanks for the tute! Lovely flower block.

dot said...

Thanks for the great tutorial. I have wanted to try one of these.

Needled Mom said...

You covered it well. I'm not sure I could have done the job like you did. Looks pretty.

Jodie said...

Great tutorial Tracey. It must have taken you ages. Thanks

Jodie said...

This looks amazing... I've never understood how to do that but your simple tutorial has made it sooo clear... Thanks for sharing..

Jodie ;)

Chocolate Cat said...

You make it look so easy!

McIrish Annie said...

These flowers remind me of Valori Wells. They are fun and fast to do!

Jeanne said...

Thanks for showing the roses Tracey. I'm going to try these!
Jeanne

arlette said...

Hello from Costa Rica... I love your rose, it´s beautiful, a great tutorial, take a look at my profile when you have some time