Block #6: Orange Peels
Block #6: Orange Peels
This month, we will be making four Orange Peel blocks. These blocks are made using turned-edge appliqué. Turned-edge appliqué is a technique in which you wrap fabric around a shape, turning the edge of the fabric to the back of the shape, and sew the shape to a background piece of fabric. For these blocks we will be using a leave-in, wash-away stabilizer for our petal shapes, and you will have the option to machine or hand stitch your petal shapes to the background fabric.
SUPPLIES YOU WILL NEED FF 1 - Block #6: Orange Peels Layout Template FF 4 - Block #6: Orange Peels Stabilizer FF (48) Stabilizer Petals or Orange Peels Petal Template FF Cutting Mat + Rotary FF Iron + Pressing Board FF Washable Glue Stick or Pen FF Washable Glue w/Fine Tip FF Washable Marking Pen
FABRIC YOU WILL NEED FF 48 - 1.5” x 3” Pieces for Petals (prints and solids) FF 4 - 15” x 7” Low Volume Background FF 4 - 15” x 7” - Batting FF 4 - 15” x 7” - Backing (Use solids. See Page 2 for backing details.)
1
CHOOSING FABRIC Using the pictures on Page 1 as a general guide, finalize your fabric selections for all four Orange Peel blocks. I chose to use a mix of printed and solid fabrics for the petal shapes and some low volume prints and solids for the backing. Cut out each piece according to the “Fabric You Will Need” section on Page 1.
This center circle is the back of Block #1.
Lay each of your petal fabrics out to come up with an order you like. Label each piece of fabric with a number: 1,2,3,4,5,6, etc. (see diagram below) so you do not get them mixed up later on. Once you have chosen your fabric for the front of the blocks, you will need to choose fabric for the backing of the blocks. I used (and the kits include) the following Kona® Cotton Solids (for the back of the blocks): #26 - Cardinal, #29 - Corn Yellow, #32Ultra Marine, #35 - Brt. Peri
1
2
Note: Keep in mind that because we are quilting-asyou-go, the backing of the quilt is automatically a reflected version of the front.
7
5
3 4
6
8
2
9
10
11 12
PREPPING THE PETALS STEP #1
#1
Put a small dot of washable glue stick onto one side of a petal stabilizer piece, then, centering it, stick it to the wrong side of one of your petal fabrics. Heat-set the glue with a dry, hot iron. Note: If you have a Petal Ruler, which has the perfect seam allowance built in, you can use the ruler to first cut your fabric then glue your stabilizer pieces centered into place. You can purchase this ruler at: http://pileofabric.com/collections/supplies/products/petal-ruler
#2
STEP #2 Using a pair of sharp fabric scissors, trim the fabric to a scant 1/4” around all sides of the petal stabilizer piece.
STEP #3 Coat the seam allowance on the fabric (on only one side of the petal) with a washable glue stick. Starting from one end of the petal, begin turning the fabric along the edge of the stabilizer, sticking it down to the stabilizer as you go. Do this using your thumb and index finger and a pinching action. Continue turning the edge of one side of the petal. Look at the edge to make sure the curve looks smooth, bump and wrinkle free. Heat-set the glue with a dry, hot iron.
#3
STEP #4 With a washable glue stick, coat the seam allowance on the fabric (on the other side now). Starting from one end of the petal, begin turning the fabric along the edge of the stabilizer, sticking it down to the stabilizer as you go.
#4
Tip: Use your finger nail pressed along the tip of the petal point (red lines in diagram) to make sure you’re turning only the fabric at the tip and not the stabilizer too. Turn the edges and heat-set the glue on all 48 orange peel petals. 3
BASTING THE PETALS TO THE BACKGROUND #1
STEP #1 Iron the freezer paper Orange Peels Layout Template to the right side of your block background fabric. Cut the block shape out along the outer black solid line.
STEP #2 Light Background Fabric: Iron the freezer paper Orange Peels Layout Template to your pressing board. Lay your block background fabric over the template and line the shapes up. Pin your block background fabric to the pressing board so it will not move.
#2
Dark Background Fabric: Cut the circles out of your layout template. Iron the layout template to the right side of your block background. Trace the circles and crosshatch registration marks onto your background fabric with a washable marking pen.
STEP #3 #3
Put a thin line of glue along the edges of the wrong side of a petal. Using the circle and crosshatch registration marks on the template as a guide, stick the petal glue side down into place on the background fabric. Heat-set the glue with a hot, dry iron. Baste all 12 petals onto the background fabric and repeat the process for all four Orange Peel blocks.
4
SECURING PETALS STEP #1 Place a few spots of glue on the backside of your block. Stick the Orange Peels Stabilizer centered to the backside of the block and heat-set the glue with a dry, hot iron.
#1
STEP #2 Secure each orange peel petal to the block background. Do this using whichever stitch is your favorite (machine or hand sewn). You could sew using a straight-stitch about 1/8” inside the orange peels,l or use decorative stitches, like a blanket stitch, zig-zag, or ladder stitch directly along the turned-edge. For an invisible finish, hand sew the orange peels down using a blindstitch (same stitch used on quilt binding).
#3
TIPS FOR USING DECORATIVE MACHINE STITCHES Each stitch has a different needle path. I strongly suggest sewing on a scrap first to familiarize yourself with the movement of the needle for the specific stitch you have chosen. This will also give you a chance to adjust the length or width of your stitch. You’ll want most of each stitch to land on the orange peel shape itself. Watch your needle very closely; the right swing of the needle should go into the background fabric just next to the edge of the orange peel shape. The left swing of the needle will go into the orange peel as far as your stitch width allows. When pivoting around points, make sure your needle hits the very tip of the point on your right swing. This may cause a little overlapping in the corner, but it will ensure that the edge is stitched. Always leave the starting and ending thread tails long so you can easily pull all of your thread tails to the back of your block, knot them, and trim them.
5
QUILTING YOUR BLOCKS This month I used all free motion quilting on the blocks. First I stitched in the ditch around the petals in a circle. Then, using a quilting ruler to help keep my lines straight, I quilted a crosshatch in the center of the petals and add a few extra straight lines to give the appearance of an asterisk-like star. Then, I filled the entire background of the block with small pebble quilting. When choosing quilting designs for these blocks, remember they will be trimmed down later in the year (NOT YET) before the quilt is assembled. When you have completed quilting each block, you can bury your threads then trim off any excess batting and backing around the shape of the block. Do not trim or cut the actual block. We will do this at the end of the year.
QUILTING SUGGESTIONS FROM KATHLEEN RIGGINS I have teamed up with Kathleen Riggins of KathleenQuilts.com to offer you even more inspiration for quilting your Technicolor Galaxy quilt. Kathleen is a professional long-arm quilter who I have long admired and had the pleasure of meeting in person at QuiltCon. Kathleen has a blog series called Free Motion Friday, and in this series, quilters can submit a picture of a quilt they’re not sure how to quilt and Kathleen will give quilting suggestions on her blog. Kathleen will be posting suggestions for all of the Technicolor Galaxy blocks on a monthly basis so you have even more inspiration! See her suggestions for the Orange Peel blocks here: http://kathleenquilts.com/category/technicolorgalaxy/ 6
Orange Peels Coloring Sheet
7
This month, we will be making four Orange Peel blocks. These blocks are made using turned-edge appliqué. Turned-edge appliqué is a technique in which you wrap fabric around a shape, turning the edge of the fabric to the back of the shape, and sew the shape to a background piece of fabric. For these blocks we will be using a leave-in, wash-away stabilizer for our petal shapes, and you will have the option to machine or hand stitch your petal shapes to the background fabric.
SUPPLIES YOU WILL NEED FF 1 - Block #6: Orange Peels Layout Template FF 4 - Block #6: Orange Peels Stabilizer FF (48) Stabilizer Petals or Orange Peels Petal Template FF Cutting Mat + Rotary FF Iron + Pressing Board FF Washable Glue Stick or Pen FF Washable Glue w/Fine Tip FF Washable Marking Pen
FABRIC YOU WILL NEED FF 48 - 1.5” x 3” Pieces for Petals (prints and solids) FF 4 - 15” x 7” Low Volume Background FF 4 - 15” x 7” - Batting FF 4 - 15” x 7” - Backing (Use solids. See Page 2 for backing details.)
1
CHOOSING FABRIC Using the pictures on Page 1 as a general guide, finalize your fabric selections for all four Orange Peel blocks. I chose to use a mix of printed and solid fabrics for the petal shapes and some low volume prints and solids for the backing. Cut out each piece according to the “Fabric You Will Need” section on Page 1.
This center circle is the back of Block #1.
Lay each of your petal fabrics out to come up with an order you like. Label each piece of fabric with a number: 1,2,3,4,5,6, etc. (see diagram below) so you do not get them mixed up later on. Once you have chosen your fabric for the front of the blocks, you will need to choose fabric for the backing of the blocks. I used (and the kits include) the following Kona® Cotton Solids (for the back of the blocks): #26 - Cardinal, #29 - Corn Yellow, #32Ultra Marine, #35 - Brt. Peri
1
2
Note: Keep in mind that because we are quilting-asyou-go, the backing of the quilt is automatically a reflected version of the front.
7
5
3 4
6
8
2
9
10
11 12
PREPPING THE PETALS STEP #1
#1
Put a small dot of washable glue stick onto one side of a petal stabilizer piece, then, centering it, stick it to the wrong side of one of your petal fabrics. Heat-set the glue with a dry, hot iron. Note: If you have a Petal Ruler, which has the perfect seam allowance built in, you can use the ruler to first cut your fabric then glue your stabilizer pieces centered into place. You can purchase this ruler at: http://pileofabric.com/collections/supplies/products/petal-ruler
#2
STEP #2 Using a pair of sharp fabric scissors, trim the fabric to a scant 1/4” around all sides of the petal stabilizer piece.
STEP #3 Coat the seam allowance on the fabric (on only one side of the petal) with a washable glue stick. Starting from one end of the petal, begin turning the fabric along the edge of the stabilizer, sticking it down to the stabilizer as you go. Do this using your thumb and index finger and a pinching action. Continue turning the edge of one side of the petal. Look at the edge to make sure the curve looks smooth, bump and wrinkle free. Heat-set the glue with a dry, hot iron.
#3
STEP #4 With a washable glue stick, coat the seam allowance on the fabric (on the other side now). Starting from one end of the petal, begin turning the fabric along the edge of the stabilizer, sticking it down to the stabilizer as you go.
#4
Tip: Use your finger nail pressed along the tip of the petal point (red lines in diagram) to make sure you’re turning only the fabric at the tip and not the stabilizer too. Turn the edges and heat-set the glue on all 48 orange peel petals. 3
BASTING THE PETALS TO THE BACKGROUND #1
STEP #1 Iron the freezer paper Orange Peels Layout Template to the right side of your block background fabric. Cut the block shape out along the outer black solid line.
STEP #2 Light Background Fabric: Iron the freezer paper Orange Peels Layout Template to your pressing board. Lay your block background fabric over the template and line the shapes up. Pin your block background fabric to the pressing board so it will not move.
#2
Dark Background Fabric: Cut the circles out of your layout template. Iron the layout template to the right side of your block background. Trace the circles and crosshatch registration marks onto your background fabric with a washable marking pen.
STEP #3 #3
Put a thin line of glue along the edges of the wrong side of a petal. Using the circle and crosshatch registration marks on the template as a guide, stick the petal glue side down into place on the background fabric. Heat-set the glue with a hot, dry iron. Baste all 12 petals onto the background fabric and repeat the process for all four Orange Peel blocks.
4
SECURING PETALS STEP #1 Place a few spots of glue on the backside of your block. Stick the Orange Peels Stabilizer centered to the backside of the block and heat-set the glue with a dry, hot iron.
#1
STEP #2 Secure each orange peel petal to the block background. Do this using whichever stitch is your favorite (machine or hand sewn). You could sew using a straight-stitch about 1/8” inside the orange peels,l or use decorative stitches, like a blanket stitch, zig-zag, or ladder stitch directly along the turned-edge. For an invisible finish, hand sew the orange peels down using a blindstitch (same stitch used on quilt binding).
#3
TIPS FOR USING DECORATIVE MACHINE STITCHES Each stitch has a different needle path. I strongly suggest sewing on a scrap first to familiarize yourself with the movement of the needle for the specific stitch you have chosen. This will also give you a chance to adjust the length or width of your stitch. You’ll want most of each stitch to land on the orange peel shape itself. Watch your needle very closely; the right swing of the needle should go into the background fabric just next to the edge of the orange peel shape. The left swing of the needle will go into the orange peel as far as your stitch width allows. When pivoting around points, make sure your needle hits the very tip of the point on your right swing. This may cause a little overlapping in the corner, but it will ensure that the edge is stitched. Always leave the starting and ending thread tails long so you can easily pull all of your thread tails to the back of your block, knot them, and trim them.
5
QUILTING YOUR BLOCKS This month I used all free motion quilting on the blocks. First I stitched in the ditch around the petals in a circle. Then, using a quilting ruler to help keep my lines straight, I quilted a crosshatch in the center of the petals and add a few extra straight lines to give the appearance of an asterisk-like star. Then, I filled the entire background of the block with small pebble quilting. When choosing quilting designs for these blocks, remember they will be trimmed down later in the year (NOT YET) before the quilt is assembled. When you have completed quilting each block, you can bury your threads then trim off any excess batting and backing around the shape of the block. Do not trim or cut the actual block. We will do this at the end of the year.
QUILTING SUGGESTIONS FROM KATHLEEN RIGGINS I have teamed up with Kathleen Riggins of KathleenQuilts.com to offer you even more inspiration for quilting your Technicolor Galaxy quilt. Kathleen is a professional long-arm quilter who I have long admired and had the pleasure of meeting in person at QuiltCon. Kathleen has a blog series called Free Motion Friday, and in this series, quilters can submit a picture of a quilt they’re not sure how to quilt and Kathleen will give quilting suggestions on her blog. Kathleen will be posting suggestions for all of the Technicolor Galaxy blocks on a monthly basis so you have even more inspiration! See her suggestions for the Orange Peel blocks here: http://kathleenquilts.com/category/technicolorgalaxy/ 6
Orange Peels Coloring Sheet
7
