Mod-Mood Quilt 5 ~ Get Your Puzzle On
My love for puzzles has served me well as a quilt maker.
Step 5: Get Your Puzzle On
A. In step 4 you created either rectangular or curved sections from wedged shaped strips according to your moods. At some point you will have a lot of moody "sections" made from the striped wedges. Now the fun begins. Take your sections and enjoy moving them around on your floor or work wall. Notice the kinds of relationships that are formed between colors, lines, and shapes.
B. The first rule of thumb is to go with the flow. Begin to create your composition by fitting your sections together like a puzzle. You will discover some natural fits, where the shapes seem to fit like they were cut from a pattern. Allow the shapes fall into their natural place, and your composition could take some unexpected but delightful turns.
avoid inset seams
C. The second rule of thumb is to avoid inset seams whenever possible. If you are connecting two sections of different lengths, you have two choices. You can either add to the short section or subtract from the long section so that they are of equal lengths. Once they are equal you can sew them together and thus avoid the need for an inset seam. In the example above, I have added a piece of yellow to my blue wedge section. After I sew the yellow piece to complete the wedge, I can sew it to the other blue wedge sections without an inset seam.
D.Once you begin to sew the smaller sections together you will begin to have bigger and bigger sections to sew together. Continue to follow the guidelines above until you have the sections into one complete piece. As your sections get bigger you may need to pin in order to keep things in line.
In step 6 of the quilt-along I'll review curve piecing techniques.
Givaway!
The Mod Mood Quilt Givaway is open through September 1st. Visit the post for a chance to win a half yard of hand-dyed fabrics in your color range of choice. I'll be announcing the winner during the week of September 8.
Rowing the Boat:
Please post any questions you have about the process or techniques and I will respond. Share images of your process on the Mod Mood Quilt Flickr pool. Any surprises? Discoveries? Satisfactions? Dissatisfactions? If you are working on your mood quilt, give me an update!