Get The TechniqueBack in September, I blogged about some of my favorite quilting sources while I was in the midst of making baby quilts. To my own surprise, I actually finished one of them before the recipient reached college! Thanks to his photographer mom, Rhea Ramey, I have some great photos to share with you.
To create the circle-in-square blocks, I used freezer paper to make circle appliques. Some of the blocks I left whole (the ones that featured Michael Miller's great "Zoology" fabric). I cut the other blocks into quarters - then mixed, matched, and sewed the quarters back together to make new blocks. See the gallery below for a quick circle-in-square tutorial.
1 Fold a piece of freezer paper in half, and cut a circle using a circle cutter or bowl as a guide. You will end up with TWO perfect freezer paper circles.
2 Iron one freezer paper circle onto the wrong side of a piece of fabric, shiny side down.
3 Trim fabric, leaving about 3/8 inch all the way around circle (this does not have to be perfect).
4 Place second freezer paper circle shiny side UP on top of fused circle. Use a couple small pieces of double-sided tape to temporarily tack the two together.
5 Fold the excess fabric over the two paper circles, and press in place (the fabric will stick to the top circle). If a bump shows up, simply lift the fabric and press again - freezer paper allows repositioning.
6 A completed circle will look like this - not perfect from this side, but all fabric has been secured to the edges in smooth curves.
7 Cut a second piece of fabric to the size of the finished block, plus seam allowance.
8 Fold both the square and circle in half one way, then in half the other way.
9 Place circle paper-side-down on top of square, lining up the folds, and press in place. The circle will temporarily stick to the square.
10 Machine-sew all the way around the circle, about 1/8-inch from the edge.
11 Completed circle attached to square.
12 Turn over block and cut the fabric from the inside of the circle, leaving about 1/4-inch within the seam.
13 The fun part - carefully rip the paper from within the circle. Use tweezers to get any stubborn bits out.
14 Flip the block over and press. Sew two together into a pillow, or a bunch to make a quilt!
Special thanks to little Graham for modeling free of charge!
More baby projects to try:
Follow-the-Lines Baby Quilt
Simple Baby Quilt
More Handmade Baby Gifts
From: Janet Lee | 7/27/10 at 8:56 am
thanks for the great tutorial. i always wondered how wax paper is used to make appliques. my question is, when you quarter and resew your circle blocks what do you do for seam allowance so when you sew your blocks together that shape is still a circle?
From: Nikki | 7/27/10 at 9:41 am
Love the double layer of freezer paper idea! It's especially good for beginners. (At first, I was wondering why you wouldn't use double sided fusible, but that does not allow for repositioning! GREAT TRICK!!)
From: Kirsten Earl | 7/27/10 at 12:02 pm
Janet - really great question - for the blocks you quarter, you must increase the size of your block for seam allowance if you want it to match up with a whole block in the end, or if the finished block must be a certain dimension. For example, add 1/2 inch to the circle's circumference and 1/2 inch to the square's dimensions for 1/4-inch seam allowance.
From: Kirsten Earl | 7/27/10 at 12:04 pm
Nikki - the double-sided fusible wouldn't work, because when you first iron it on to the fabric, your iron would become a sticky mess from touching the other side (I know, I wondered that too ...)
From: Nikki | 7/28/10 at 9:33 am
Look around a bit. You can find it with a "waxy" kind of paper on the other side, so your iron isn't a mess. (It's not really a wax paper, but I can't really think of the best word for it....I'm sure you know what I mean.) Then you peel that layer off, and iron the applique piece to your background.
From: Nikki | 7/28/10 at 9:53 am
Wait! It would still stick when you turned under your seam allowance! Oh well....I tried!
From: Anita P | 7/28/10 at 10:36 am
Gorgeous!! I can't wait to try this myself, especially since my 5 y.o. niece reintroduced me to ed emberly's graphic drawing styles I'd love to incorporate into a project like this.
One question though, and it may seem silly, but I have to ask, must you do those last 2 steps (cutting away the backing?) or is that just so your quilt won't be crunchy from the otherwise trapped freezer paper? I guess if mine is only meant for a wall hanging, it wouldn't much matter?
From: Dani Peterson | 7/28/10 at 6:37 pm
Perfect! It's like you were reading my mind one step a head of me!
From: teela | 7/28/10 at 8:39 pm
thanks for the tutorial. Darling quilt
From: Tiffany | 4/15/11 at 12:27 pm
Hi...I am really late to the party, but I happened to find this through an internet search. It looks like you used five different fabrics. Do you have any idea how much you needed of each (other than for the backing, of course)?