Traditional Meets Modern – “Blue Moon”

This is a block made up of four Drunkard’s Path units, joined to make a circle.

We are using the free tutorial from Stitched by Crystal

STITCHED by Crystal: Tutorial: Quilting curves – The Drunkard’s Path

The tutorial instructions are thorough, with clear pictures of each step, and the measurements are generous to allow for trimming down and squaring up.

For each block, the guild will provide two 5” squares of WHITE, and participants will use two BLUE (prints or solids) 5” squares from their stash (a total of four 5” squares are needed to complete the block.). Prints with outer space or sky motifs are especially cute and reinforce the Moon theme, but there is no need to purchase new fabric. Any solid shade of blue will also work. Your two blue squares do not have to match. Mix it up!

You will need an 8″ circle to use as a template. Paper templates were distributed at the meeting, but if you did not get one, you can use any means to create a circle with an 8” diameter.

When making my samples, I encountered two points that were not discussed in the tutorial, which might be helpful for first-time curve piecers.

1. One of the steps is to “find the center of each piece and pin them together.” The easiest way to find the center of a curve is to simply fold it in half and make a little finger-pressed crease. Match up the center creases of the convex and concave pieces, keeping right sides of the fabric together. Pin the center first, then pin the corners, and then fill in with as many pins as you find helpful.

2. I found that I was able to get the bias of the curve to stretch more easily when I fed the fabric through my machine with the convex piece on top. The tutorial pictures show the concave piece on top. Try one each way to see which works best for you.

Individual Drunkard’s Path units will be squared up to measure 4.25” each.

Four units will piece together to make a moon block measuring 8” square.

In order to create the Half Moon look, join the units so that they form a white semi-circle.

No one expects perfection! This is a way to build our skills with curves and try something new. Let’s make it fun!

RESULTS OF BLOCK LOTTO!