Week 4 - Around The Lake Sew Along

Apr 4, 2022 - 8:45pm

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Welcome to Week 4 of Around The Lake Sew Along.

Put your hand up if you are afraid of curves? Don't worry I've got you.
It's all about finding the right technique for you. Hopefully my tips will make you love sewing all the curves!

If you have just joined the sew along, make sure you’ve purchased your copy of the Around The Lake Pattern.

The Around The Lake Sew Along will be taking place on Instagram, so be sure your account is set to public so we can all see your posts using the #aroundthelakeSAL and #aroundthelakequilt hashtags.

You can also join the Private Facebook Group here.

When I sew curves, especially Drunkard's Path blocks I always put the convex curve on the bottom.
This makes it much easier to keep an eye out for fabric tucks and gathers.

First up, find the centres of both template A and B. I do this by folding the fabric in half and giving it a little finger press.

Grab your pins. Now I prefer Clover Fine Patchwork pins because they are exactly as the name says, nice and fine and perfect to sew over without damaging your machine. Occasionally I may break a needle but mostly the pins just bend.

The trick with getting this block to work is to make sure you line up the edges so they are parallel. If you don't it will definitely skew.

When I make mine I only use 3 pins. One in the centre and then one at each end.
In the photograph below, I put in the extra pins so it will sit flatter for the photo. However if you feel more comfortable using more pins, go for it. You need to find what works best for you.

You can check out my little video tutorial on instagram here.

Remember to press towards the Template A piece. It will make the block sit beautifully flat.

Another method which might suit you is to glue baste. My friend Jackie has done a tutorial on instagram using this method. You can check it out here.

Now hopefully that helps anyone who has been struggling with curves!

I also wanted to share a little tip for those that might be wanting to get this quilt top pieced.
When I made the original scrappy version I sewed each of the quarter units into blocks first. It's much easier to tackle a block at a time and then sew those larger blocks together.

However for my TarryTown quilt I decided to sew the quarter blocks into rows. This was because of the layout I had choosen and the fact I don't have a big enough design wall to keep it all in the right positions as I sewed. So rows it was.

I'm pretty happy with the way this quilt top turned out, because of how different it is to the other two versions I have made. I still have plans to make many more of these quilts. They are very addictive and so much fun!

Next week we will be assembling the blocks. I am so excited to see your quilts come together.

Happy Patching,

Emma

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