something new? I recently came across a tutorial on the
"Disappearing Pinwheel" from Missouri Star Quilt Co.,
on Youtube and thought it would be so fun to make a
sample block.
Didn't have a layer cake and because I wanted to make
a small block, I cut 8-inch squares and followed her
instructions, carefully I thought. What is the actual size
of a layer cake---10 inches or 10 1/2 inches square, BTW?
Divided it into thirds as she said and cut as directed. It
didn't come out right! Because some of the pieces are cut
on the bias, it seemed to stretch and was difficult to match
up the individual blocks. The outside blocks were
"terrible" and I had a difficult time squaring the block up.
Very, very frustrating! The block, after trimming, came
out to 8 3/4 inches and I wanted a 9-inch block.
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If any of you have made this block, especially in a
smaller size, not the 12 1/2 inch size, and have good
suggestions, I'd appreciate your sharing with me.
I'm not sure I will be doing this again as I don't want
to waste fabric. This was some old fabric that I
had stashed away.
I did notice from some of the comments left, that I
wasn't the only one having a difficult time.
.
I also tried this block. Will never make the HST using that method again. all the edges of the block are on the bias. I think a layercake pack is 10 in. I cut my fabric 10.5 and made the pinwheel. My block was 13.5 which divided equally. using a scant .25 inch seam it made a block 12.5 unfinished. So if you are wanting it to finish 9.5 (unfinished) the pinwheel should be 10.5 as you use 1 inch total in the 3 seams.
ReplyDeleteI guess that's why it's always good to make one block first! Sorry it was so frustrating for you. She makes it look so easy!!
ReplyDeleteI tried this technique for pinwheel blocks and won't use it again. Perhaps I don't use heavy enough fabrics, but the bias pulling on the edges was a real problem for me. I'm an experienced sewer and usually don't have a problem with bias, but with this block I did. Maybe super-starching the fabrics would help? I don't think it was just you.
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried that block but a good starch does help with the stretching
ReplyDelete