I thought I'd share with you my practice block for "Dove in the Window"
After reading that there were problems with the paper piecing templates on quilterscache, I decided to print them out and take a look. Math isn't my strong point, but I realized straight away that the templates were too small. If you think of this block as a basic 9-patch to finish to 9", each "patch" should be 3" without seam allowances and 3.5" with seam allowances.
Since this appears to be a fairly simple block, I decided to draw the block on graph paper and piece in the conventional way.
I used my triangle tool to cut the points ... and the block came together fairly quickly.
I'm assuming this is a 9" block, and the unfinished dimensions should be 9.5". Madeline, if this is incorrect, please let me know!
Claudia
Amazing, Claudia, that you have this figured out. My apologies to everyone that this block turned out to be a STINKER. I'd wanted a 9" unfinished block but I'll make whatever everyone came up with to work... somehow. The pattern I want to use is in straight up and down rows so I might just have to have one row be 8.5" blocks and another 9"---I'm NOT going to fret. In a perfect world things would be easy, eh? Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteAn 8.5" FINISHED block would make the math very difficult. The quilterscache that you reference says this is a 9" finished block. I suppose you could add sashing to the the blocks to make them all the same size? It would be a shame to chop of the star points. I can always wait to see what others come up with before I cut into your fabric.
ReplyDeleteIt seems I owe apologies as well. When Madeline told me the Prayer Flag quilt uses blocks that are 8.5" unfinished, I thought that's what she wanted from us; hence my post where I suggest printing the templates at 93%.
ReplyDeleteThe math is difficult if one wants to draft the pattern by hand, but if we're simply going to print out the quilters cache templates I think we can play with the size we print to get a 9" unfinished block. Of course, that's assuming everyone's printers will let them adjust the print size.
Quilterscache patterns are for finished size. All of the 8" blocks come out to 8.5" unfinished, and 9" blocks come out to 9 1/2" blocks.
ReplyDeleteClaudia, that's true. But if you play with the printed size of the templates, you can make almost any size block as long as the paper is big enough. Simply tell the printer to shrink the printout to make a smaller block; enlarge for a bigger block.
ReplyDeleteIt takes some trial and error, of course :-)
I think I got the 9" unfinished block accomplished...I did a test block and it came out to that. Luck? Stupidity on my part? Not a true 1/4" seam? LOL Whatever it is, I'm pressing on!
ReplyDeleteForgot to say how beautiful this fabric is! Love the black and white together!
ReplyDelete