A couple of girls have despatched me questions concerning the Dazzling Diamonds guide over the previous few months; so I used to be considering this morning that possibly some extra of you wish to “perceive” the overall thought behind the quilts on this guide.

If in case you have adopted me for some time, that my life is so filled with “stuff to do” that I am all the time in search of faster methods to create blocks, and many others. that give me the identical (or typically higher) outcomes. That’s what occurred to me concerning the methods on this guide.

The primary merchandise which influenced it was a Water Soluble & Printable basis sheet. This is available in quite a lot of manufacturers…however the one I used for the guide (and nonetheless assume is one of the best) is bought by C&T known as “Wash-Away Sew Stabilizer”.

After I purchased this my intial thought was “surprise if I might design a block with seams included…print the design…then sew”. If that’s the case, there can be no want for templates, tracing, and many others.”. Now, the idea will not be with out challenges…like having to take away this product which implies “wetting” the block. Usually, I do not prefer to moist my loopy quilt blocks.

However, my subsequent thought was “What if I add a bigger seam allowance; simply in case the block shrinks when moist…and never embrace something however the embroidery”.

So, here is what I did…and you are able to do too.

First got here the block design. I used to be uninterested in stitching hexagons…so thought {that a} diamond is likely to be a enjoyable form to play with. I included the patchwork (observe dashed traces) for the seams when piecing the block and included the stitching sequence (1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4) together with the Block #1 within the quilt. 

Second was the inclusion of the BASE Embroidery on the seams. Since I used to be working with my Adobe Illustrator software program; it was simple to create the seam concepts. You could possibly to the identical factor with graph paper and pencil after all.

I printed your complete design on to paper and lower it out alongside the dashed traces to create sample items for stitching the block.

The subsequent job was to place the block collectively and fasten it to a muslin backing. I traced the define and seam traces on to the muslin and used the “flip’n’sew” piecing methodology to assemble the block. Now, I used to be prepared for the embroidery layer…so printed the design on to the Water Soluble product subsequent.

Oh, it is a good time to level out the double seam allowances within the design. The ultimate block with out seam allowance is the strong black line. The subsequent line can be the reducing line at regular seam allowance, and the outer line can be the road to make use of in case you needed to trim earlier than getting moist. Now, in actuality…we will not actually “management” the quantity of shrinkage this exactly…however these traces function reminder that the additional seam allowance might be wanted. Instructions within the guide advocate that you simply lower a plastic form (diamond) that’s the similar dimension because the completed block (with seam allowance). That is used to put on high of the embroidery part (whereas the block is flat) so a future trim line might be marked on the block.

Right here is the block with the BASE Embroidery stitched. I’ve trimmed away as a lot of the water soluble as potential simply to scale back the quantity of “gunk” that wanted to scrub away. It was off to the kitchen sink the place I submerged your complete block (face down) into some heat water…and held it in place with a few espresso cups. After about ten minutes, I picked it again up and ran water via the block from the again to the entrance. It won’t have mattered how I held the block; however my “logic” was that with the water soluble on the underside it will simply go down the drain higher…quite than being washed on and off to the material if it was going through upwards.

When all of it was washed away, I positioned the block on a couple of paper towels, rolled it up and squeezed as a lot water out as potential. Then I ironed (on reverse aspect) till nearly dry…added spray starch…and pressed till fully dry. 

The picture above reveals the block AFTER the bottom embroidery has been accomplished…soaked in water to take away the water soluble…pressed/starched (on again). It lays good and flat and was simple to put the plastic template form on and hint round.

At this level, the block merely must be completed. So, the second layer of embroidery was stitched; silk ribbon embroidery stitched; and beads/sequins/and many others. had been added. Lastly I took my scissors and lower alongside the drawn line to get the completed block to the right dimension and form.

It is able to take it is place within the quilt structure.

I hope that this helps you are feeling extra snug in creating the wall-hanging dimension quilt within the Dazzling Diamonds guide. 

BTW, I purposefully saved the block dimension sufficiently small to print on a single sheet of paper; and included a direct hyperlink to the PDF file within the guide so you do not have to “scan” every web page. You are able to do that too…however I did attempt to make the file downloads as simple as potential. It is simply simpler when every block is full dimension to start with. Plus the structure for the block consists of the design for embroidery of each seam robotically…so no actual “considering” concerned. You continue to have whole freedom in selecting your embroidery threads, colours, forms of beads, and many others. so no quilt will look similar to one other if utilizing the sample.

I additionally created the quilt myself twice…in Spring colours (pastels) and in Autumn colours (mediums) so of us would get a good suggestion of now completely different colours would possibly look.

Hope you which have the guide will give the quilt a attempt! 

After all, in case you do not wish to go the “water soluble” means…that is positive. The guide designs can be utilized as a information to hint or simply encourage you if you wish to “do your personal factor”.