Friday 7 February 2020

Hand Piecing 102 video - making your own templates

Well, I never expected that my video on hand piecing would be so popular!  Thank you for all the positive feedback on my last post and my Hand Piecing 101 video.

I thought that most hand piecers purchased acrylic templates, but there clearly are a lot of people who make their own templates, and many of you wanted tips on how to make accurate templates.

So, my next video, Hand Piecing 102, is all about how to make your own hand piecing templates from template plastic.

You can watch it here:



Hand Piecing 102 explains how to get straight edges on templates, which pens and scissors to use, and how to use the Simple Seam Wheel by Jen Kingwell.

some hand piecing in progress - Jen Kingwell's Marshal Mystery quilt


the ring above turned into this - the purple centre isn't appliqued on yet.

Note that my block isn't perfect - there's a bit of extra fabric in there, but it will OK

As I mention in the video, my block doesn't sit perfectly flat, but it will be OK when I applique it onto the background.  It's hand made so there's bound to be some imperfections.  I can live with that and know for certain that it's better than I could have managed on my sewing machine.


Just like last time, if you have questions or comments, just leave a comment below or on the video, or send me an email via the box on the right hand side of my blog.  Thanks for watching!

And yes, my next video will be about 8 or 10 pointed stars.  I've got all the pieces ready and I just need to convince my cameraman that it's time to start filming!



Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  This is where you get to share what you've been working on lately.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below:



You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter






5 comments:

Kate @ Smiles From Kate said...

Thank you for your helpful and informative videos. They have come at just the right time for me too, I have just ordered some template plastic. I did try to make Glitter on the machine, but it’s too difficult, after watching your first video I decided to try again by hand. Thank you again!

Anorina @SameliasMum said...

Oooh thank you for posting a new video. I look forward to watching it tomorrow morning (when the kids sleep-in and the house is quiet). Have a lovely weekend :)

Cathy said...

Looking forward to viewing this one. I make my own templates and can certainly use some tips.

Cathy Melancon said...

Another great video! I am learning so much from these!! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and expertise!!

Andrea said...

I like to use clear plastic template material for fussy cutting and use cardboard from cereal boxes for other templates. I normally take the pattern from a magazine or book by using freezer paper. I like to be able to see through. I then iron the roughly cut out shape on the my cereal box cardboard and but out the template with scissors on the line with the seam allowance included in the template. I have a tiny hole punch for amrking the points for the shapes of the sewing line.
Place the template on fabric, trace around the template, mark the sewing points and connect the points by drawing the line.
Sandpaper is really helpful. Works well and I like to sue something I would otherwise throw out.