New York Beauty QAL, Week 7, Block 3

Hi to any new visitors to my blog as part of the New York Beauty QAL hosted by my friend Sara over at Sew Sweetness.  Also hi to anyone dropping by from Cindy's blog where I'm featured on the Name Game today :o)

Anywho, today I'm going to show you how to make block 3 from Ula's collection of New York Beauties using Oakshott's sunrise fat eighth bundle (to make this I needed a fat 16th at most of each colour you see below):

I have recently run a series on here, Foundation Paper Piecing For The Terrified, where I covered a lot of the basics of how I prepare both patterns and fabric for foundation paper piecing.  I always print out a copy of the template for each block I want to make, plus a copy for a cutting guide and a copy to see what I'm working towards.  In order to get the full circle I needed 4 copies for the base, however because of how the centre of the block works, I had to dig out my trusty light box and trace the pattern through to get 2 in reverse.  Here's my bases ready to go - please note that unlike in my regular blocks, I left the seam allowance on to make sure I got the curves correct:

And here's my cutting guide version:

To explain to those of you who are new here, I use a cutting guide version to cut my fabric down, using roughly a 1/2" seam allowance all round (I don't risk 1/4" to give myself a bit of play),  For me this saves a lot of fabric, as well as stress, because I can make sure I'll cover the entire pattern piece correctly.  For the non-pieced curves and the outer section, I use tiny dots of fabric glue from a glue stick to stick the pattern on and cut round it, then for the non pieced curves, I removed the paper again prior to starting, but left it on the outer section.

Here's the centre of the block ready to go:

And here they all are, ready to go.

Starting with the centre section, take pieces 1 and 2, plus your base and hold them up to a light source to check how they're going to cover the relevant sections in the end.

Carefully flip piece 2 face down onto piece 1, making sure you haven't shifted it side to side:

Pin in place, and then sew up the line between 1 and 2 (usual rules re pins and needles for paper only, and short stitch length apply):

Once you've finished sewing, head to your cutting table, and carefully fold back the base piece along the stitching line to reveal the seam allowance, then trim it back to 1/4"

Now flip piece 2 right side up, and press in place:

Repeat all the way up until you have:

Flip it over and trim back the excess to the edge of the paper and leave the paper in place:

Repeat the same technique for the second pieced section:

 Join the last outer piece as well, so that for 1 block you have:

Now to join them together.  Because these are curves, it adds to the challenge a little, however we can do this!  Start in the middle and fold both the pieced and non pieced sections in half, marking a crease:

Using that crease, match the centre of the 2 pieces, right sides together, and pin in place on the paper base side.  Then pin either end in place, and finally work your way from the centre out to each edge.  There's no such thing as too many pins here!

Once sewn, press in place:

Repeat with the crease and pin method for the next section:

And repeat all the way to the outer edge:

Now if you've done 4, here's what they all look like:

Join them together half at a time, then join the 2 halves together:

Now you can remove all the paper, it's great therapy ;o)

BTW, anyone got any ideas of what I should do with this now?!

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