BLOOM Sew Along - Week Twelve - Block Twelve!!

Happy Monday Morning!!

Welcome to our sew along:)

It's time to make another BLOOM block:)

CLICK HERE 

to download the free pattern

CLICK HERE

to purchase the 

BLOOM 

Sew Simple Shapes

Today is block twelve...

3 cute little aqua tulips!

Here are my fabric choices.

We are using 

A-13 and A-18 

of the BLOOM shapes.

Grab your rotary cutters and let's get started! 

From both fabric and Pellon:

Cut 3 - 3" squares from 3 different fabrics

Cut 4 - 2" squares from two different fabrics.

From fabric only:

Prepare 3 stems - 3 1/2", 4 1/2" and 6 1/2" long

Cut 1 - 9" square for background 

1. Trace the shapes onto Pellon.

2. Sew the Pellon to the fabric stitching directly onto your traced line.

Trim approximately 1/4" past your stitching line.

3. Cut an "X" in the Pellon for turning.

4. Turn, shape and press. 

Let's have another chat about turning:)

This is how my little leaf looks when I first turn it right side out.

Then I use my Clover turning tool to shape it. 

I always have the Pellon facing me...

And I make sure the the point of the turner

 is BEHIND the seam allowance (both  Pellon AND the fabric) 

In other words...I'm gently pushing out the top layer of fabric only. 

I push that fabric while moving the point 

across to the right while I'm turning the shape towards the left.

You can see here that there is a flat spot...which is totally normal.

I round out that flat spot by taking the point of the turner to it again...

 I work it back and forth until I've pushed the fabric out until it's curved.

Cotton has a bit of a stretch to it so it can be manipulated.

Just remember to work the front of the fabric only

 by keeping the seam allowances behind the turner 

so that you are never pushing on the Pellon at any time.

See? 

A cute little leaf shape is acheived by just smoothing out the edges with the turning tool.

Press...don't iron after shaping.

A good hot iron with NO STEAM is a must.

100% Cotton shrinks with steam... the Pellon is NOT cotton

 and so your fabric will end up smaller than the Pellon

and so your shape will be distorted.

Okay...I hope that little chat helped.

I know I said all of this in my video tutorial during week one...

but I thought it might be worth repeating!

So press your background in half when all of your appliqués are ready:)

Place the longest stem on the center line

 and then place the center tulip on top of that stem 

by first measuring  1 1/4" down 

from the top edge of the background fabric.

Place the 4 1/2" stem to the left by measuring 1 1/2" in-between the two...

Then repeat on the right side using the 3 1/2" stem.

Measure 3 1/4" up from the bottom edge of fabric to place the tulip.

On the left side...

measure 4" up from the bottom to place the remaining tulip.

Place the leaves on each side of the stem and pin or glue baste all into place...

so that you can applique:)

When complete...

trim your block down to 8 1/2" square.

Choose your border fabrics and squares...

and sew your block together:)

Take a cute photo of your adorable

#BloomBlockTwelve

Then sew the third row together and add it to the top two rows.

YaY!

I'm loving how it looks:)

Next week we will start on row four!

xx

Lori