Happy Sunday, everyone! I have another finished block for my Stonefields sampler quilt (pattern by Susan Smith) to share with you, Block 18 "Star in a Star." It was a fiddly little bugger for sure, but I'm delighted with how it turned out. These blocks will finish at 6" after being trimmed down and sewn into the quilt.
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| Stonefields Block 18, "Star in a Star" |
I have heard from a few other quilters who are working on Stonefields or other Susan Smith patterns who are struggling with the lack of instructions, so I'm going to try to share a bit more about how I'm puzzling out the more challenging blocks. This is not "the right way," "the only way," or even necessarily "the best way" -- only the way that worked for me.
Alright, so the first thing I realized about Block 18 is that the pattern for this block that Susan Smith gives us does not actually match the block she made in her own quilt:
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| Pattern Designer Susan Smith's Stonefields Block 18 |
Notice how the points of Susan's smaller white print star all lie within the light brown circle? On the pattern, though, that smaller star is drawn with star points that extend significantly past the boundaries of that circle into the larger star. See below where I have darkened all of the pattern lines with an extra fine point black pen, except for the small star points that I've redrawn to match how they look in Susan's actual block. The faint lines extending beyond are what is given in the pattern:
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| I Shortened the Points on My Small Star to Match Susan's Block |
Now, I didn't just change that automatically. I studied the photos of the blocks in Susan's original quilt and looked at lots of other quilters' versions of this block on Instagram and decided that I preferred this look over the other one.
Next, I selected my fabrics for the block:
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| Fabrics Selected, Pattern Altered and Darkened |
And then, in the absence of any instructions for making the block, I dug into my "quilter's toolbox" of every appliqué method I've ever learned and thought about potential challenges with this block, different methods I could use for each shape, and the advantages and disadvantages of each one. I decided that plain, old-fashioned needle turn was the way to go for the large star closest to the background fabric because the straight lines and inside/outside points of the star shape are easy to turn under while stitching, eliminating the extra time involved in making templates and preturning edges. Anyone out there wanting to learn needle turn appliqué should check out any of Linda Jenkins and Becky Goldsmith's Piece O Cake books. She has great video tutorials on her website as well. (This post contains affiliate links to products that I Iove using).
After tracing over the original pattern with dark ink to darken the lines, I photocopied it onto a piece of heavy cardstock, cut it out with scissors, and traced the star onto the right side of my chambray fabric with a Bohin mechanical chalk pencil. I eyeballed the seam allowance as I cut around my chalked lines.
I folded and lightly pressed horizontal, diagonal and vertical folds onto my block background and used the fold lines as reference points to position the star on the background fabric. I pinned the star in place with Bohin 1/2" sequin appliqué pins that I like for their shorter length, but I wish they were thinner and sharper like Karen Kay Buckley's Shorter Perfect Pins (those are 1" long).
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| Large Star Traced with Chalk Pencil, Pinned for Needle Turn Applique |
I wait to clip those inside corners until right before stitching them, using my small Appliquick serrated scissors that grip the fabric securely and snip cleanly to the point. When I traced around my card stock template, the chalk line was completely outside the template and when I'm stitching, the fabric gets folded under just inside that chalk line. Normally I prefer 100 wt silk thread for stitching appliqué but I didn't have a good color match in silk this time, so I settled on a 60 weight cotton embroidery thread instead. After trying several different brands, I like Bohin appliqué needles. The others bend and snap on me fairly quickly. Needle preference is personal, though -- if you're new to hand stitching, try a few different sizes and types to see what works best for you.
I should mention that the chambray fabric I chose for my star was more challenging on those inner points because of the fabric's tendency to fray. If you are new to appliqué or have struggled with inside corners in the past, a firmly woven fabric like a batik will make those inside corners a lot easier.
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| Tucking Seam Allowance Under On the Chalk Line As I Stitch |
This isn't meant to be a full tutorial on needle turn appliqué. Becky Goldsmith, one of the authors of the Piece O Cake books I learned from, has a whole playlist of excellent YouTube videos demonstrating needle turn appliqué techniques far better than I could and you can find those here.
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| Each Inside Corner Clipped Just Before Stitching |
With the big star appliqué completely stitched, I trimmed away the excess background fabric behind the star with my duck billed appliqué scissors, a goofy-looking but invaluable tool that enables me to slice the top fabric layer while the big "duck bill" of the lower blade holds my precious appliqué fabric safely out of danger's way. Trimming away the background fabric beneath appliqué patches is optional and sometimes even controversial in the quilting world -- quilters can be a contrary bunch! With this particular block, I would have had five layers of fabric in the very center of the block by the time I got to the small circle. That's a lot of bulk to push a hand needle through (or enough fabric to punch the eye of my needle right into my fingertip! I choose to trim away the underlayers whenever I can to make stitching easier on my hands and to eliminate the stiffness of multiple fabric layers in my finished quilts. I don't have to worry about my hand stitching coming loose because my tiny stitches are just as strong as a machine pieced seam. Those who take larger appliqué stitches may want to reconsider trimming underlayers if they are worried that their hand stitching might not hold over time.
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| Circle with Preturned Edges Glue Basted Prior to Stitching |
One of my Karen Kay Buckley Bigger Perfect Circle templates was just the right size for the larger of the two circles in this block, so I used that to preturn the teal print circle. I love, LOVE those Perfect Circle templates! You just stitch a running thread around the seam allowance, pull it up to gather around the heat resistant template, wet the edges with Best Press, liquid starch or sizining, and hit it with a medium hot iron to dry the starch, and you get a smooth, perfect circle every time.
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| Invisible Stitches Formed Perpendicular to Edge of Appliqué |
After preparing my circle with smoothly turned edges, I glue basted it in place on my star with tiny dots of Roxanne's Glue Baste It. I place those glue dots just inside the edge of the appliqué shape, by the way, so I'm never pushing my needle through stiff dots of dried glue. Anyone wanting to learn "starch and press" prepared edge appliqué techniques should check out this series of appliqué tutorial videos by Erin Russek. This time, my YLI 100 wt silk thread in Light Blue Gray was the perfect blender across all the colors in my fabric print.
If not using purchased heat resistant templates like the Perfect Circles templates, you have to trace and carefully cut out your own templates for this method using plain sheets of heat resistant template plastic. It's more time consuming up front than needle turn appliqué, but it's great for curves, tricky shapes, and any situation where it's crucial that your applique finishes exactly the right shape and size without the slight distortions that can occur with needle turning the edge as you go. I also think prepared edge techniques are easier for applique beginners, because if the seam allowances are already turned under you can focus all of your attention on mastering a neat, even appliqué stitch.
I went a little out of order here, preturning the green center circle first using a template I made myself (there wasn't one in the correct size in my Perfect Circles set) and then appliquéing that green circle to an oversized yellow square before tracing and cutting out the star shape. I did it that way because I wanted as much control as possible about how my yellow star finished in relation to the surrounding appliqué pieces and I knew that I could compensate for any drawing-up that happened during the circle stitching when I needle turned the yellow star.
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| Small Circle Appliquéd to Yellow Fabric Before Tracing + Cutting Out Star |
Again, I'm trimming the underlayers away after stitching each appliqué shape. Here's what that looks like on the back of my finished block:
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| Excess Fabric Bulk Trimmed Away After Stitching Each Layer |
And now here we are, with 18 finished blocks and 24 border hexagons EPP'd and waiting in the wings:
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| 18 Stonefields Blocks + 24 Border Hexagon Rosettes |
One other thing I'll point out for anyone else out there working on a Stonefields quilt. The pattern "instructions" (hahaha, they are more like fortune cookie hints than instructions) mention the templates from the Star in a Star block will be used again in subsequent blocks. Well, I found that was not the case. When I laid my large star template from block 18 over top of the pattern for Cara's Surprise (Blocks 30, 31 & 32) I discovered that the star in that block is larger than the similar star in Block 18. However, had I not reshaped the star points on my smaller star for Block 18, I could have reused that template for the "Four Little Stars" blocks 23 & 24. I'll be making new templates for that instead.
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| No, the Star Template from Block 18 CANNOT be Used for Blocks 30-32! |
I might just skip ahead and work on these other star blocks next anyway, since they use the same shapes and repetition is the best way to develop a rhythm and improve.
Linking up today's post with some of my favorite Linky parties:
MONDAY
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Musings at Songbird Designs
TUESDAY
To-Do Tuesday at Quilt Schmilt
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
THURSDAY
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
FRIDAY
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre
Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty
TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: TGIF Friday
SUNDAY
Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué
Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts
Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework
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