Paper Pieced Heart

This red heart just sings when nestled in black and white gradations. You will find that it goes together easily whether you use traditional paper piecing techniques or the paperless technique described below.

Irish Chain

Careful measurement and attention to scant 1/4" seams will produce this 12.5 inch block with a touch of the Irish.

Preparing your pattern:

Place two pieces of freezer paper with shiny sides TOGETHER and of generous enough size to extend at least 1/4 inch beyond the border of the printed pattern. Place the printed pattern on top and staple the three layers together. Place the staple in blank areas not on or near a piecing line.

Remove the thread from your machine needle and set the stitch length to 2.5mm or normal seam setting. Sew through all thicknesses along the piecing lines and 1/4 inch outside the outside pattern lines.

This will give you two pattern pieces that are mirror images of each other. Transfer the number order of the piecing to the non shiny side of each piece if you like.

From the red that was given you, cut two rectangles that are big enough to cover the heart area of the pattern plus at least 1/4 inch all the way around. Using a cotton setting on the iron but without steam, press a rectangle over area #1 on each pattern piece.

Fold the paper back along the line separating piece 1 and 2 and trim the red piece to 1/4th inch. If you ironed the red to the freezer paper it should stay positioned correctly. The 'Add-a-quarter' ruler is a useful tool for this purpose.

From your stash, select 9 different black and white prints and arrange from dark to light as illustrated. I found it easier to work with a generous swatch rather than have the whole fat quarter or larger piece to work with, but that is a matter of preference. You can use some of the scraps that you cut off to make a crazy pillow later.

Place piece #2 with right side against right side of red heart and lined up with the 1/4 that you trimmed previously. With the paper folded along the line between piece 1 and 2, sew a seam (don't forget to use thread this time!) as close to the folded edge of the pattern as possible.

Unfold the paper and press piece 2 to the shiny side of the wax paper.

Fold the paper along the line between #2 and #3 and trim to 1/4th inch.

Place piece #3 right side to right side of #2 aligning the trimmed edge as before. Sew; Flip; Press; Fold; Trim.

Continue in this manner until you have sewn on all nine black and white pieces. Repeat for the second half of the heart.

If you press to the wax paper each time, it will hold the pieces in position nicely.

When you finish trim both pattern papers along the 1/4 seam line around the outside. Peel off the was paper pattern from each side and use it again to make more blocks if you like. You don't have to spend time picking away all of the paper from the individual pieces. That's the part I like best!

Put the two halves of the heart together and sew with a scant 1/4" seam. Press and square up. Sign your work on the back side in a seam allowance so that it is not visable from the front.

Cut strips of black or your contrast stripe from the BOM 1 ½” in width and sew around the outside of the kimono block in log cabin fashion

Select two 7” charm squares of white on white and cut diagonally from corner to corner.

Attach the bias edge of each piece to the bordered kimono block to set “on point”.

Your packet contained a medium green print. From your stash select a dark green print and an off-white or cream tone on tone for the background. Cut the following:

Dark Green Print: 2 squares 3 7/8 x 3 7/8 and 1 square 4 3/4 x 4 3/4

Medium Green Print: 16 squares 2" x 2"

Cream Tone on Tone: 16 squares 2" x 2"; 4 squares 3 7/8"x3 7/8"