Design

Perspectives Block Tutorial

Create a beautiful illusion with this perspectives block. When the blocks are put together circles appear, but there are no curved seams. The block utilizes two different size triangles to create this illusion.

The tutorial is a FREE download below!

The Perspectives Block

I created this block using a vector drawing program.

It took quite a bit of trial and error, especially with the point triangles to sew the block. In this finished block, the dimensions not quite right, but I’ve since adjusted the measurements.

Figuring out how to square up the four side yellow, purple and green blocks as well as the four point blocks was also difficult.

I like to make slightly larger blocks and trim them down to size. I’m pretty good about making a consistent 1/4″ seam, but can usually perfect the block in the trimming process. And, I think I’ve figured out a process to trim everything.

I’m not to keen on the purple in this block, but I do like the design. And, I really like the design it makes in a whole quilt.

A block becomes a quilt

One set of 4″ squares are done.

Two more are cut.

One more to cut (not photographed).

My Quilt with Fabrics

I sewed this quilt using a variety of fabrics I had in my fabric stash. I wanted to keep to the color scheme in my drawing, for the most part.

I love the effect of the circle illusion. All seams are straight seams, but the angles of the triangles make curved lines appear.

I love how the circles intersect each other like a kaleidoscope quilt. You can either see circles or, if you pull back a bit, flower-petal-like curves. Because the picture is taken from so far away, it looks great, but up close, my seams don’t match up as well as my prefectionist self would like.

Sample Layouts

Here are a few different layouts with different color options.

This one really accentuates the circle affect.

How to Download the Perspectives Block Tutorial

To download the tutorial, enter your name and email below. You’ll need to confirm your email address. After doing so you’ll receive a link to download the Perspectives Block. That’s it!

Have You Made This Block?

If you make this block, I’d love to see it. Feel free to leave a link to your blog post or photo of it in the comments below!

Wonky Quilt Bee – July

As the month is nearing a close and work is starting to ramp up, I knew I needed to get these blocks done or they would be late! The blocks are for Knottygnome. She wanted small buildings and city themed houses, trees, etc. She's looking to make a similar quilt to this one. I made small blocks, but didn't add as much white space around each one as she will need. I figure that she can add her own white space depending on how she wants to fit them together.

I ended up making her three blocks. I usually just stick with making two blocks, but I wasn't entirely satisfied with my first two blocks, so I made a third.

The first two blocks, I just fussy cut and sewed together, piecing as I went. I had to backtrack a bit on the house, but it still came together. I realized after a bit that the roof and sides of the house would need to be y-seams and I don't know how to do y-seams. I tried and it didn't come out right. I ended up sewing a bit of white on the end of the house and cutting the roof a bit; my original had more overhang.

This one is supposed to be a skyscraper with traffic and a store front. It didn't come out as well as I imagined it would. It seems really busy. Of course the entire block is 8", so it's a lot going on in a small area.

The tree came out well. I decided to paper piece it and drew up my own template, which I didn't photograph until I was done with each segment. It took a bit of trial and error to get the template just right. The sections needed to be drawn in such a way that allowed me piece it together. In a way, I had to backward map the sections.

One thing to remember about paper piecing is that what you draw will actually be a mirror image of what you get. I forgot about that until I was done and the tree was opposite. It's not a big deal, since it's a tree, but other things could be more important.

The other point to remember is that you need to have a 1/4" seam allowance in all areas. I remember to do that with this block, but I could see myself easily forgetting the seam allowance.

I paper piece a couple times a year, but it seems I always need a refresher on how to start. It took me a couple tried on the first seam to get it right. After that, though, the block went together quickly.

This is the first time that I'd designed my own paper piece template. It was challenging, but not beyond my skill-set. I can see myself trying it again, sometime.

I can't wait to see everyone else's blocks and the quilt when it comes together!

Re-do

Does it ever take you five days to realize you didn't sew something right? Yeah. That's how long it took me to realize I'd reversed the direction of four of these blocks.

Test Block & Design

Luckily, this is just a test block and I realized it before I'd sewn together the entire quilt. I'm sure I would have noticed it eventually, as the quilt blocks aren't sewing together in the same way as this 20 x 20 sample block. But, still, you'd think I'd have noticed earlier!

I'm still working on the quilt. It's going a bit slower than I thought it would. I have the sewing for all the 4×4 blocks done and need to trim them up this weekend.

Sewing and blogging may slow down for the next few weeks. I went back to work yesterday and have a bunch of end-of-the-school-year things to do. I'm a bit stressed out by it, but trying to compartmentalize it as best I can.

I also found out yesterday, my first day back at work, that next year I'm teaching a 1/2 combo class. Ugh. I've taught kindergarten for the past three years and have become super comfortable with it. That has its pluses and minuses. I taught upper grades for 6 years, too. I'm worried about the 1/2 combo and was up until midnight last night thinking about it. As the time nears I'll figure it all out. I'm still processing it all though and my brain won't stop!

TouchDraw & a New Block

"There's an app for that," my husband and I joke all the time. And, most of time it's true or at least someone should invent an app for that.

Lynne over at Lily Quilts discovered an application, TouchDraw, which is a vector based drawing application. It works great for drawing quilt designs. She's done a couple tutorials on how to use the application specifically for designing quilt blocks and quilts.

I played around with it a bit and came up with a few designs.

The first is a Kaleidoscope block and quilt. Last year, I started working on a Kaleidoscope quilt. It's stll in process, but I was (with help from Lynne) able to design a block and quilt based on the colors I'm using in the quilt. It took quite a bit of trial and error to figure out how to create the triangles.

Then I started playing around with the application a bit more and designed this block:

Which in turn, led to this quilt:

Or with a little bit of playing around, this quilt:

As you can tell, I'm enjoying this app. It's pretty intuitive. As I learn different processes, I'm able to build on that knowledge and "figure out" how to do something else. The possibilities are endless.

How do you design blocks and quilts? What tools have you found useful? I'm always up for sharing knowledge and bouncing ideas of one another.