Nifty Fifty 22 Charity Quilt for Breast Cancer Research
New Mexico Blocks made by Betty Reynolds
In 1999 I participated in Nifty
Fifty 3 representing New Mexico.
This page will record my participation in Nifty Fifty 22,
also representing New Mexico. For more information on Nifty Fifty quilts, visit the page
for the original Nifty
Fifty Quilters Across America, and the Nifty
Fifty charity quilt page. For more links to subsequent Nifty Fifty group pages,
visit Teresa Drummond's
List of Nifty Fifty Hostesses. Jump directly to Judy Mathieson's method for freezer paper piecing
The colors of Nifty Fifty 22 are bright, clear, tone-on-tone, cool colors
such as fuscia, purple, blue, and green, with a solid black background.
The group is using Carol
Doak's Fifty Fabulous Paper-Pieced Stars as our state patterns
in 9" square blocks. The New Mexico block looks very much like the blossoms of our
state flower, the yucca, but those flowers are a pale cream--a color not included
in NF22's color scheme. Instead I searched for another wildflower or cactus
which resembled the flowers in the block. After searching many books of local
flowers I finally settled for a cactus which grows only in the Yuma desert of
Arizona, but whose flowers in fuscia resemble this flower star.
The fabrics I'm using in my New Mexico star block are:
Solid black: Pimatex cotton by Robert Kaufman.
Dark Fuscia: A Hoffman Bali handprint.
Medium Fuscia: Another Hoffman Bali handprint.
Sky Blue: This Moda Marble is remarkably like the color of the New
Mexico sky at any time of the year. Midway through I ran out of this fabric and made the remaining blocks with a different Moda blue fabric. In the picture below you'll see the difference.
Here are my 50 completed New Mexico blocks posing on the design wall in the setting I will use when I receive my 50 state blocks.
Piecing the Blocks with Freezer Paper
I am using Judy Mathieson's freezer paper piecing technique for my blocks.
I learned this technique in Judy's mariner's compass class at Quilt Camp in the
Pines 2001. Since Judy's book Mariner's
Compass Quilts; New Directions does not describe the technique, I
will attempt to do so here.
First prepare a set of freezer paper patterns. These patterns can be reused about
six times or until the fuzz from fabric prevents them from sticking when ironed. I usually
prepare six to ten patterns at a time. Since our reduced pattern measures about 6" square, cut six pieces of
freezer paper 6" square. Line up the freezer paper in a stack with shiny side up and put the
photocopied pattern on top. With an iron on cotton setting press the very tip of the iron onto each
corner of the stack of papers for about 3 seconds. This will glue the stack of papers together
without distorting them. You might want to add one extra piece of freezer paper to the stack to use as templates
for cutting your fabric pieces.
Take your stack of papers to the sewing machine and with stitch length set at a normal length (2.2 on
my Elna) and NO thread in either the top or bobbin, sew along all the stitching lines of the pattern
as well as the outer edge and seam lines. At each corner or point be sure the
paper is pierced by the needle.
Carefully remove the printed pattern from the top of the stack and set it aside. You'll be
able to reuse this pattern two or three more times before it begins to fall apart along the sewing lines.
Cut the stack of freezer papers in half diagonally between the two patterns snipping off the glued together
corners.
If your block is complex you may want to transfer the piece numbers to your freezer paper. Be sure to mark
the half inch outside edge of each pattern if you are doing Nifty Fifty blocks as this extra seam allowance around
the outside edge is required.
Notice that if your block is asymetrical, it will sew exactly opposite from the original pattern. This is because
your block will build on the shiny (upper) side of the pattern whereas in normal paper piecing you build
on the nonprinted (under) side of the pattern. Don't believe me? Look at the picture of the New Mexico block in Carol
Doak's book (page 88) Notice that the flowers point counterclockwise. Now look at my New Mexico block above.
Mine rotate clockwise. If this is ever a problem, the "fix" is to make your stack of freezer papers with
the shiny side down and tape the pattern to the top before stitching the holes.
Take your freezer papers to the ironing board and carefully press
piece number 1 into place on the shiny side of each paper with the right side of
the fabric up. Press with only the point of the iron as you do
not need to stick down the edges.
Take your freezer papers to the cutting mat, fold the dull side of the freezer paper
back on itself along the pierced line
between piece 1 and 2 leaving the extra fabric sticking out. Put the 1/4" line
of your ruler along this folded edge and trim off the extra fabric.
Here's what my pattern looks like with the first piece trimmed along the lines of 1 and 2 as well as
1 and 3.
Line up piece number 2 with piece 1, right sides together, along the side
you just trimmed. In this picture notice that I have outlined piece 2 in black
so that you can see what its shape is. Using this method you can see clearly
that your new piece of fabric is wide enough to cover this space along the seam line
because the fabric is immediately behind the shape of the piece. Test to make sure that
the new piece is high enough by putting your finger on the point of the pattern
triangle and checking the back side of the fabric.
Before you start to sew you'll need to cut a strip of paper to protect the bottom of your
presser foot from the "stickiness" of the freezer paper. For our blocks a strip of paper about 8"
long and 3/4" wide is just about right.
Now you're finally ready to start sewing. Lining up the folded-back edge of paper with our needle
will give you a perfect 1/4" seam. Put your strip of paper on top of the shiny freezer paper and
sew your seam with a normal stitch length right along the folded edge of the paper.
Do not sew into the paper! No need for tiny, difficult to remove stitches with this
method. I usually work on six to twelve patterns at a time, sewing them in a chain.
Return to the ironing board and press piece two into place, sticking it to the freezer paper.
This is what my block looks like after adding pieces 1, 2 and 3, trimming in preparation to
add piece 4.
Continue adding pieces to each block, always remembering to press the last piece you sewed,
and then fold your paper and trim your next seam before adding the next piece.
When your piece is completed, press again, and trim your edges to 1/4"
remembering to leave the outside seam at 1/2"
In preparation for sewing the diagonal seam that joins two eighths into a square, decide which
of the two pieces will be uppermost when you sew. Fold back that seam allowance along the
stitching line. Fold back the paper of the other block at least a half inch. This will prevent
the paper from catching in the stitching of the seam.
If you have points to match, a straight pin stuck straight through at this point will
help in the matching, but be careful not to scratch the bed of your machine. Remember to use your paper
strip when sewing the seam (I forgot in this picture)
At this point you'll need to decide whether your seams are going to be pressed toward the
side or pressed open. For the New Mexico block I press the diagonal seams toward the side and
the horizontal and vertical seams open. So before I sew two quarters together I press both of
my diagonal seams toward the left. Then fold back the paper from the seam allowances and sew
the seam. Press that seam open.
By the time you're ready to sew two halves together the papers are no longer useful and
they get in the way so carefully remove them and set them aside to use again and again. Pin
the seam, stitch, and press open. You're done!
So, why use this freezer paper piecing method? Well, it has a number of advantages over regular paper
piecing.
- There are no tiny stitches. If you make a mistake it's easy to rip out.
- The freezer paper is easy to remove when you're done. No tiny bits to pick out of seams.
- The paper pattern can be used over at least six times, maybe more.
- You can see exactly the shape of the piece to be added. If you check the shape before you
sew you'll never have a piece of fabric that does not cover.
- You don't have to hold your paper and fabrics up to the light to see if you have it
lined up properly.
Disadvantages? Sure! You have to make your own pattern. You can't just run it off on your
printer or copier.
Question: Why do you need to use that strip of paper along your folded-back freezer paper?
Well, here's my theory... Take two pieces of new freezer paper and put them together with
shiny sides facing one another. Try to slide the papers around. They sort of stick together,
don't they? I think that a bit of that plastic coating transfers onto the bottom of your
presser foot when you sew over the shiny side of freezer paper and then the foot begins to stick
to the paper. This causes your seam line to bunch up and you begin to get very raggedy looking
seams. The paper strip prevents the build-up of plastic on the presser foot. After you've
used your freezer paper patterns a time or two the fabric leaves a bit of fuzz behind on the
papers and they no longer stick as well and they also don't seem to transfer plastic so you
don't have to continue using the paper strip.
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Reynolds' Quilting Page