Curved piecing makes the best heart quilt block for Valentine’s Day by Claire Haillot December 27, 2018 written by Claire Haillot December 27, 2018 837 Have you finished the cute table runner for the holiday season I showed you in my posts this week? Piecing curves might take a little practice at the beginning, but it isn’t that hard, it’s all on how you place your fabrics under your needle. If you haven’t had the time to try it out, I have another great project using curved piecing. It’s a variation that will help you make the best heart quilt top and you’ll have plenty of time to practice your curved piecing in time for Valentine’s Day. A variation in the curved block to make a heart pieced block Once again, my PFAFF creative icon made it easy for me to sew the block. Since this is my last blog posts of the year, I will summarize all the things that simply amazed me on this machine throughout the year when piecing: the ¼” foot with the IDT™ system and straight stitch needle plate huge workspace perfect lighting ease to change foot ease to change needle (using hole in the multipurpose tool) ease to refill bobbin either from the top of the machine or through the needle bobbins are designed to hold 30% more thread telescopic thread guide able to place large spools directly on the machine self-threading needle (has never let me down once this year) cut off thread button tie off thread button knee lift for presser foot (thought I would hate it, but couldn’t live without it now) big screen with video tutorials included download apps on your smartphone and tablets that let you see tutorials while away from your machine mySewnet™ All of these features are available in the PFAFF creative icon and performance icon. The difference between the two machines is that the creative icon also comes with the embroidery unit. I will touch base on those features tomorrow. Supply list to make the heart quilt block Let’s go back to the heart project. Here’s what you need to make the block: Omni Arc by Omnigrid 28mm rotary cutter Six (6) 5” square of printed fabric Six (6) 5” squares of solid fabric (pink) Two (2) 4” square of printed fabric Two (2) 4” square of solid fabric (pink) Instructions to make the curved piece square for heart quilt block Making the heart quilt block Step 1-2-3 Here are the simple steps to sew a curve: Take the concave (inward curve) unit first to position carefully under your foot. Using the red lines on the ¼” foot, align your needle ½” inside the concave curve. Place the needle down so that the needle is also positioned at ¼” from the edge. Take the convex (curved outward) unit and align the curve so that it sits perfectly in front of the needle, right sides facing together with the same ¼” seam allowance. Start stitching while pulling (not too much) the concave unit so that it is straight and aligning the convex unit to the edge. Your convex piece will end at about ½” from the edge of the concave unit. Press the seams towards the concave unit. If it looks a little bit distorted, don’t sweat it, you will be able to fix that in the next step. If it’s too distorted, don’t pull as much on the concave unit when stitching. Step 4 of sewing a curved square This time, I’ll square up the blocks to a 4” square while ensuring that the seams are aligned at ¼” from the edge on both sides. You can rotate your ruler until it all fits! Than cut. I suggest starting with the concave unit first (see photo). Then rotate the block and cut the convex unit to have a 4” block. Square off your block starting with the concave unit first You should have 8 blocks made. Layout of blocks, sewing them 2×2 initially Using the two 4” solid blocks and the two 4” printed blocks, position your blocks to form a heart shape. I sewed the blocks into two 6 units blocks, ensuring that the seams would not overlap to prevent bulking. Then I sewed them together for a final piece measuring 14½” x 11”. I played with some leftover fabrics to create a border on the top and bottom part of the block to make it a square. I sewed the blocks into two 6 units blocks Playing with leftover fabric to create borders for a 14″ square finish Playing with leftover fabric to create borders for a 14″ square finish Hope you’ve enjoyed my curved block variation. You have plenty of time to make several blocks for a bigger finish on Valentine’s Day. Come back tomorrow to see how I quilted this heart block using the wonderful PFAFF creative icon. This is part 4 of 5 in this series. Go back to part 3: 10 steps to face binding a holiday table runner using PFAFF creative icon Go to part 5: The trick to amazing free motion quilting for beginners [shareaholic app=”follow_buttons” id=”23735596″] Print this page or save as a PDF 0qs239creative iconcurved piecingfree patternspfaffsewing machine reviewstable runnertutorials FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinRedditWhatsappTelegramEmail Claire Haillot Claire Haillot shares her passion for quilting among her neighbors in the United States and Canada as well as her cousins in France. Claire has been active in the quilting industry since 2004. At first, she opened a quilt shop and started to teach, write how-to guides, and translate patterns and product information into French for American companies. In 2006, she started her own line of patterns and later began publishing patterns and articles in Canadian, European, and American magazines. You might have seen some of her work in Quilter’s World, Pratique du Patchwork or Canadian Quilter. She decided to close her brick & mortar quilt shop in 2016 to be able to concentrate more on teaching, writing, and creating. She collaborated with PlumEasy patterns to launch the Dancing Diamonds and Gem bag patterns. Claire has also won a few awards for her work: • Juror’s choice in Salon 2012 • Second Place in Vermont Quilt Festival of 2014 and 2016 • Second Place in Salon 2016 • Best of show at the Quilt Festival in Chicago and Houston 2018. previous post 10 steps to face binding a holiday table runner using PFAFF creative icon next post The trick to amazing free motion quilting for beginners YOU MAY ALSO LIKE... The trick to amazing free motion quilting for... 10 steps to face binding a holiday table... How to center a quilt section in a... The secret behind sewing curves without using pins How the creative icon does half the work... 8 easy steps to perfect mitered corners 3 reasons why embroidering text has become an... 6 essential steps for successful machine embroidery using... PFAFF creative icon and Chloe fabrics make excellent... 8 comments Rachell R January 9, 2019 - 2:22 am Nice! Hearts are so fun! And I love the Kate Spain fabrics. Curved piecing doesn’t intimidate me as much as it used to! Reply Claire Haillot January 9, 2019 - 10:22 am Hi Rachell! Thanks for your comment. Reply MaryBeth Little January 6, 2019 - 1:00 pm What a cute little quilt. Thanks for sharing. Reply Claire Haillot January 7, 2019 - 4:23 pm Thanks MaryBeth! Glad you like it! Reply Jeannie Zimmerman January 4, 2019 - 5:23 pm Thanks for sharing. I love this heart block! Drunkards’ Path is already one of my favorite blocks and this is just so stinking cute! Reply Claire Haillot January 5, 2019 - 11:49 am Thanks Jeannie! Enjoy Reply Susan Nicol December 27, 2018 - 10:15 pm Did I miss the step where you say what size curve to cut? Reply Claire Haillot December 28, 2018 - 7:19 pm Hi Susan, Thanks for that! It’s at the 4inch arc just like on Monday’s post. Enjoy! Reply Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.