January 2023 Sew Sampler Box and Vintage Kit Foundation Paper

    This post is primarily for people who are stitching the January 2023 Sew Sampler Box-- or using the Vintage Kit Foundation Papers. If you just enjoy a bit of quilt-y blather, you can also just read on! Here are my insights, but be forewarned-- after making 14 of them, I’m still not sure what the “best” way is. Also, I am writing from the perspective of someone who wanted to get the most blocks out of the two charm squares packs included in the box, using no extra background fabric.

     If you have never done foundation paper piecing before, I would highly recommend the Fat Quarter Shop video on this block for an overview-- then I’d recommend Gina Tells video on the same block--so good natured and so true to life <3-- you’ll see all the pitfalls that can happen. You can find both by just searching Vintage Kite Block on YouTube.

     I don’t like having to buy extra fabric for the Sew Sampler boxes-- I never want to wait for it! So this year, I’m trying to just make the projects from just the contents of the box and the rest from my stash. Each kite block, needs 12 pieces and the way you are supposed to cut, you only get one piece per charm square. I did the math and with 84 charm squares in all, that would give me only seven blocks. I guess we all know that economy of material is not a feature of these boxes, but it certainly seemed like you could get more.

     One of my first recommendations no matter what method you decide to use, is just to sacrifice one of your papers and cut two of the pie shaped piece #1 to use as templates. Cut the sides of the pie on the lines-- the other two sides don't need trimming at this point. 

     Once I did that, I saw that I could easily
cut two of these from each charm square instead of just one. 

     I also discovered by cutting a charm pack squares on the diagonal, I could get twice as many background pieces and it still covered pieces 2 and 3. I did have to pick two different colors to get the 8 background pieces needed. But with those two discoveries, I just doubled the amount of blocks to 14 and I was off to the races.

    If you just place the template pieces on your charm square and cut 1/4 away from sides, you avoid trying to tediously fold the paper and use a ruler to cut the seam allowance while a pin is in it. You don’t have to trim the “crust” side of the pie shape for now-- those are the squiggly lines I drew. 

Then just hold the piece up to the light and pin in on the printed side of the paper-- the 1/4” seam allowance doesn’t have to be exact.

     Then I placed my piece #2 right side up next to piece #1-- I flipped it before stitching to make sure it covered the entire piece 2 shape.

 I found that if I just lined the right angle edge of piece #2 as shown by the red arrow, it easily covered the entire shape. It took constant flipping to make sure I had them positioned the right way! The rectangular pieces called for in the pattern are much easier to place, I have to admit.

     I sewed on piece #2 and then did piece #3 in the same way, pressed (no steam or starch), and then trimmed on the “first cutting line.” I made all four quarters as you can see in the third photo.

     At this point, you are supposed to keep the papers in, and complete the block, using the pin marks and the drawn seam lines. Unfortunately, you have two slippery paper edges to line up as well as two fabric ones-- four in all. The pin dots don’t necessarily line up that well, depending on how well you pressed. On the last seam, you have to match the blocks in five places. It was just getting a bit finicky for me!

    After doing it this way for several blocks, I realized you have all you need after cutting on the first trimming line--you have nice straight cuts and a nice corner to align the fabric pieces together. So I pulled my papers out, after I had the quarters sewn. I wish I had done this from the beginning. Nice and clean!

     Either way you do it, when stitching the quarters together, you have seams that are both pressed the same way and it’s extremely challenging to get them to match, pin or no pin, papers or no papers. It's just a function of this type of piecing that you can't choose which way to press. Finished is better than perfect was my motto at this point.

     Once my four pieces were together, I just used a 6-1/2” ruler to trim them. You need to make sure your pie points are 1/4” from the edges, and the diagonal seams are coming out in the corners. Admittedly, none of my blocks were perfect. I do think if I had been more finicky, I could have done better. But most of my recipients are non-quilters, and will never be peeking at points. 

 Here are some close up photos of some of my blocks-- judge for yourself! I am totally happy with it. :-)

     One final caution-- if you’ve read this far, you probably realize I took quite a journey trying to crack the code of the Vintage Kite Foundation Paper Pad. I think every one of my blocks was made a different way, so that didn’t help when it came time to sew all 14 together. Whatever you decide to do-- stick with it and make all the blocks the same way for the most uniform results.

  

     So here’s my project where it stands-- this is a total win for me. I completely used up the charm packs and finished my blocks just a week after getting the box. and I’m going to work from my stash for a thin border, backing and binding. Best of all, I HAD FUN!

 I’m finishing up with just straight line quilting-- straight line quilting is going to be my go to for the Sew Sampler Challenge! Maybe by the end of it, it’ll actually be straight. So now its your turn-- go open that box-- I promise you’ll have fun too!

  If you enjoyed this deep dive into the Sew Sampler box, be sure to join the Facebook and Instagram groups at the links below. SHAREwith your friends, FOLLOW, LIKE, POST, and COMMENT so we can keep the energy going! Thanks for spending time with me today.

xoxo

Carol

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