bearisgray

Watch this tutorial by Sharon Schamber:

http://www.sharonschamber.com/free%2...9%20circle.pdf

It says: "Lightly spray regular spray starch on the freezer paper and press."

She didn't mention which side to press on, but I would guess it would be the dull/paper side, not the shiny side. The shiny side sticks to the iron.

amorerm

Show pics. of your progress. I "know" someone on here will be able to answers questions or give you the next step(s) you need to continue.

I've worked on a similar pattern and it took me awhile to catch on.

Good Luck!!

judithb

I have one pattern, looks easy, that I just can't get the cutting right. I even took 2 classes from my favorite instructor. It is in the UFO sack and will probably end up in the trash at some point, or maybe in a kitty pillow... It just isn't worth the stress to me to continue with something that i won't ever be happy with the outcome. It is one of the "easy" Nickle patterns too. I have made more complicated quilts and done ok. Grrrr

bstanbro

Here are some pictures. It's hard to see the puckering in these pics, which gives me some hope. I got a close-up of one of them so you can see what I'm talking about. There is some of that in every one of these--maybe in a different place because I tried doing it a different way. It just seems as if there is too much fullness to work in. Too much for me anyway.

marla

Can you just ease out the access and trim it off?
When I use to make clothing, I would do a running stitch around the area, just slightly gater it in and then baste it in, easing in the gathers as I went, which would then conform to the area.

bearisgray

A thought?

If each of the seam rays was just ONE thread too deep, that would have made the arc too small for the center.

The paper could have bunched up under it - maybe it shrank while you were working on it.

Anyway - if the arc is too small, can the center be "shaved down" a bit?

A tiny difference in radius makes a big difference in circumference:

Example: A four inch diameter circle (two inch radius) has a circumference of 12.57 inches

A circle with a diameter of 3.94 inches (1.97 inch radius) has a circumference of 12.19 inches. (This is less than 1/16 of an inch difference in diameters)

.38 inches - over 1/3 inch - which doesn't seem like much, but when working with unyielding fabrics like batiks, could make a difference.

bstanbro

Hm, that's an interesting idea. I probably did stitch one or two stitches beyond the line. I was "taught" (translation: I read it in a book) to do that, but I can see how in this application, it might cause a problem.

I still have three to go, and I'm not against ripping all of the suns out and resewing them if that will make a difference. I'll do the next one and be very careful about where I end the stitching, and then see how it works out. Thanks. Good ideas all.

JAGSD

Beautiful pattern!

Have you tried clipping the circle? On one pattern (I can't remember which one it was though)I did that was paperpieced,it mentioned clipping the seam around the circle to help it lay flat.

JAGSD

[quote=bstanbro]Do you know what bamboozle means? Or is that something I made up?

Anyway . . . I bought this pattern at a quilt show.

http://www.newleafpatterns.com/Patte...ll/firefly.gif

I'm hoping that link will let you see the large version of the picture. It is paper pieced, and I cannot for the life of me get the sun pieces to lie flat. I've done paper-pieced circles before (Statue of Liberty style). When I've done those, I've done a quarter of the circle and then sewn the four quarters together. This is like that, but the suns are sort of stretched out so that the finished quarter is rectangle shaped instead of square like the ones I've done before. I've tried all different ways of pinning it, and I simply cannot (after making five of these) get the suns to lie flat.







Ok I'm back again, I went to the Stitch in Quilt site and where they have this pattern for sell they have this added on I do not know if you had seen it or not but thought I would pass it on to you.
*Please note that we have corrections to this pattern: You should cut your strips 4 1/4" rather than 3 3/4" wide.
Also, when attaching the arc centers, you should clip the inside of the pieced arc, not the outside of the arc center.

I hope this helps what has happened to you please let us know this looks really neat, and I love paper piecing.

amorerm

Some of this comes from the direction of the grain (the stretch). You have to sure not to pull on the fabric. Just keep it flat.

When sewing on the center piece...I started with a pin in the center of the cirlce piece then matched it to a center seam on the blaze and pinned. Then the two sides; then center of each of those, then center of each of those.

When stitching...be sure fabric is laying flat between the pins and hold before sewing. If it not flat, have needle down and pull slightly, just enough to flaten it out.

Hope this helps.

And...when you take the paper off the blocks you already have sewn, you may find that they will be OK (again because of the grain and stretch). Sometimes it works at one time and somethimes at other.