Block 9: Gingham Block

This is a simple block that I assumed would take a lot of work because there are a lot of tiny pieces. It turned out not to be too bad! I worked on it while my sister was visiting. I wasn't sure if I was going to hand sew it, but not surprisingly, I did. It's just so easy to pick up the hand sewing and do it while we're talking, etc.

I remembered to take some in-progress pictures this time, so I can show you how I put this simple block together. I sewed across the rows without cutting my thread (although I did anchor the thread at the beginning and end of each block).

Below you can see that several seams are sewn and I am working on adding another row across the top. I'm half way through sewing on the fourth block and still have to add the pink block and the plaid block to the last two columns.

Here all the horizontal seams are sewn. Since I didn't cut my thread between blocks, they are held in place--sort of basted together.

It makes it very easy to sew the remaining seams. There's no mixing up the blocks or confusing how the rows go together. Here the block is turned 90 degrees so the vertical seams were the ones done first, and I have two of the cross seams done.

I think you can see how it is coming together.

Here is the completed block:

The fabrics are extremely thin and I think I will back this block with a piece of white material to give it some extra support.

Here is the back:

I made sure to start and stop each seam in the first step 1/4" from the edge. This meant that I could flip the direction of the seams at every junction and open up the intersection so that they lie flat. Here's a close up:

I've shown this before and I'm becoming quite enamoured of this step. (That's probably becoming obvious to you!)

Here are the blocks in a sample virtual layout:

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Kim's block is a stunner this week. :)

I will take credit for getting her to use the orange/brown/green bubble fabric in this block. I was imagining the fabric put together with solids, but Kim took it up a notch by using it with two other polka dots. I really love it.