Paper Piecing and a Placemat - March ASG Challenge

Paper pieced placemat

      At our March meeting the challenge demo was paper piecing.  I have done quite a bit of paper piecing so this one was easy for me.  I decided to make it into a placemat as we make them for Meals on Wheels.

Pattern on fabric

     I choose to use 10" squares I had in my stash plus a coordinating fat quarter.  I had a lot of extra fabric using the 10" square but it also made it very easy to use.  You place the back side of the pattern to the wrong side of the fabric.  Then you either hold it up to the light, or crease it at the line between 1 and 2.  This gives you the place to put the next fabric.

Second fabric pinned in place

     Place the right side go the second piece to the right side of the first piece making sure you are about 1 half inch over the line and that when you fold it back over it will completely cover area 2.

First seam sewn

    Flip it over and sew on the line using a short stitch length.  This will make it easier to tear the paper.  Press the seam.

Trimming the seam

Trimmed seam

Folded back and pressed

     Then fold the paper back on the stitched line and trim the seam allowance to 1/4".  Fold the second fabric out and press the seam.  Repeat these steps for the third piece.

Second seam sewn

Second seam folded back

     Now you are ready to trim around the block.  In our meeting we were told to trim on the line but I think it would have been better to trim it with a 1/4" seam allowance.  

Front before trimming

Back before trimming

Back of trimmed block

     I then made a second block and sewed those together.  I added some more fabric to one side and that became the front of the placemat.

Two blocks sewn together

Layered for quilting

     I then layered the front piece onto batting and placed that on backing fabric.  I used my new quilting machine to quilt the layers together.  I wanted to practice on something small before tackling a quilt.  I learned I can't sew straight lines very well but the meandering stitching looked pretty good.

Quilting detail

Binding detail

Back of placemat

     I trimmed it up and added the binding.  Doesn't look too bad, hopefully I will get better with the quilting machine.