I posted yesterday about a lot of vintage fan blocks I purchased from eBay. 

Today I am drafting a pattern for  the white portion of the blocks that is missing.

I started by dong some measuring and drew out the pattern onto a piece of muslin

I cut that out and finger pressed a crease in both pieces to use as a centering mark for pinning

Place a pin in the center on the crease, then pin both ends and then a few pins between

(my pressing mat is a mess …red dye from antique fabric)

Now I hand stitch the block together with a 1/4″ seam…I am using black thread because I will take it apart again (black is easy to see) and if it fits correctly I will use the muslin piece to cut a cardboard template to cut the 90 pieces for all the blocks

Now a quick press

Pressing toward the white is the best…makes it flatter,  No clipping needed in the curves.

Looks pretty good. (looks a bit wavy in the picture but it really is square) Now I can take it apart and use the muslin piece to cut a template…I think it is better to try one out first and make sure it works before you cut 90 of them!

Next step is to see if I have enough white fabric to make all the pieces, and to decide if I want to hand sew them or use the machine.  Sewing them on the machine I use the same procedure of creasing the center and pinning and sewing  1/4″ seams, but hand sewing is rather relaxing so I might do that.  I will likely do the assembly of the blocks with the machine because that is just straight lines and very fast.

Curved piecing is not hard!  don’t be afraid to try it.

I had a lot of leftover flowers from the Michigan Floral Association Convention so I made a big arrangement for the conference table.

It is sunny and warmer today so it is starting to feel like spring!

Happy Quilting

Tim