La passacaglia Quilt - phase 2 fussy cutting and glue basting

By now you have looked thru the acrylic templates to see how the fabrics you selected will translate into shapes and are ready to cut into that first piece of fabric. You have a color plan in mind for the first rosette, and an overall strategy for the entire color theme.  Right?  Or…..perhaps you took a more cautious step and just picked one fabric, and are going to wing it from there. Attack with reckless abandon!  Either way.....let’s get cutting.

I had an overall strategy in mind (brights as you can see by my fabric selections in my prior post) but that was it. I wanted prints to provide movement leading your eye around the piece. I wanted a range of scale and shapes such as lines, dots, organics, ditsy, geometrics, florals to provide visual interest yet play well together.  I started with a plan for fabrics for each rosette but that quickly changed.  Some may work in theory but not as well wrapped around templates, or too much pattern or too much of a color, or not enough contrast. All these things need to be kept in mind.

Viewing thru the template is a great start, but you may need to cut a few 'finished size' pieces and nest them together to see how they work. Tweak if you need to.....unless you are the type of person that will be happy and consider it a learning process. If you are one of those people that over think things, and nitpick and criticize points that aren't 110% perfect.....don't cut too far ahead. And lighten up!  You're working a quilt with a new technique…. not solving world peace. 

Start with your 5 center diamonds. If you start with a fussy cutting plan, it's really helpful to mark registration lines on the acrylic template. This is especially helpful on florals, but not as critical on simple stripes that can be eyeballed. But......be sure to use something you can wipe off like a wipe off marker board pen....not a permanent marker.

Align the template on the fabric and mark around the outside edge. For complex prints I cut with a small rotary cutter so I don’t disturb surrounding designs I may wish to use later. It looks like Swiss cheese after a while but it’s easier to handle.

Next, turn fabric pieces over and lay then in the same direction. This helps you glue baste in a consistent direction…more on this later.

Next, paper punch a hole in the center of your paper template. The hole makes it easier to insert a tooth pick or wooden skewer to pop them out later. This isn't mandatory, just helpful.

Now…..you are ready to begin basting. If you decide to glue baste like I did, stock up on extra packages of refills as you go thru them quickly. As mentioned earlier, lay your cut fabrics shapes all in the same direction if they are fussy cut. Direction isn't important if you use an all over print. If you decide to thread baste, and since I've not done EPP before I'll refer to you YouTube for lots of English Paper Piecing methods. 

So....on to glue basting. Dab the glue stick point onto the paper template and lift up. Carefully flip it over and position it exactly on your fabric. This is especially important on fussy cut pieces. Repeat this step carefully for each paper piece. 

Lay a thin line of glue just inside the edge of the paper piece. This (roughly 1/16-1/8”) leaves you a few loose threads to sew into that aren't glued down. This also helps remove the papers in the end. You'll get a feel once you sew a few together, another reason why it's better not to go too far ahead right away.

Continue glue basting around the corner, in the same direction each piece. 

The tails and designs will all be in the same direction if you've done it right. Don't they look great all coming together in the center?

So...that's it for cutting and basting. Recapping a few hints and reminders:

1. Place removable (no permanent markers!!) registration marks on your acrylic template to line up your pattern before cutting. 

2. Start by cutting only a section at a time until you see how colors and shapes will play off each other, and its neighbors.

3. Paper punch a hole in the center of your paper template before basting to make it easier to pop them out in the end.

4. Baste your pieces in the same direction; the majority will nest together making stitching easier.

Next post we will do some stitching…….