Originally Posted by
amh
I have a question ladies.
When I sewed the curved pieces together, I had to take the paper off to get a nice curve. It would be nice to be able to stop any stretching by keeping the paper on. Is there a trick that someone has that they can share. I've made my blocks 12 inch, which should make it easier, but it did not seem to do that.
Also, is there a trick to cutting out the pieces. What I did was cut out each piece (actual size), lay all the like colored pieces on my ironing table about an inch apart. I then took a piece of friezer paper and ironed it onto the pieces. I then could iron the pieces onto my fabric and cut out. I could then cut rectangles and cut them apart later, or cut the freezer paper piece out (leaving enough seam allowance) and plop it into a little space to conserve fabric. Some of these blocks have many pieces and I'm wondering if someone has a slick way of cutting them out as the above was quite time consuming.
I'm sure I'll have more questions as I tackle more blocks, but thought I would try to pick the brains of some expert paper piecers. I welcome any suggestions.
amh
Saskatoon SK Canada
As for cutting the pieces I measure the width of the piece so as an example the archs I measure from the top to the bottom (the height of the block) then I measure the triangle pieces, so if the height is 2 1/2 I will usually cut a strip about2 3/4 to 3 inches and then I measure the triangle piece so if it's 1 1/2 I will cut a square that is 3 1/2 inches and then cut diagonally. I hope that helps.