Monday, July 1, 2024

Hive 1 July Tutorial: Crumbs on the Drunkard's Path for Leah

This is my first time participating in Stash Bee, and I'm so excited to get to be the Queen Bee this month! Thank you in advance for humoring me here, and please let me know if anything is unclear. 

I recently participated in another swap for crumb blocks, and have an awful lot of crumbs left. So I've put together a somewhat more structured use for the crumbs I still have hanging around. I'm sure I didn't actually invent this block, but for our purposes I've taken the liberty of naming it "Crumbs on the Drunkard's Path"--this will have some similarities to Rita's block from April, so feel free to refer back if her directions for curves work better for you.

I'm asking for a finished product of two squares, approximately 10" apiece. 


Start with one 10.5" square of solid fabric (or print! But one solid piece.) A second 10.5" square should be a crumb block, an orphan block, or if you don't want to bother with crumbs, just a busy print that contrasts with the other block's calmer color/print. I'm happy with any color, as long as the two squares contrast. Please keep the most prevalent colors in one square on the opposite side of the color wheel from the most prevalent colors in the second square. I'd like them to be complementary colors as demonstrated on this color wheel image, or near to complimentary.



In the photos I've used a mostly greens and blues print with a crumb block pieced from mostly reds. A block made from a pile of scraps might be very multicolored--just go with whatever overall impression you get if you squint at it when determining what color to pair it with.



Stack the pieced block on top of the solid so you can plan your cut to avoid any areas with lots of seams, and cut a curve freehand from midway across one side to midway across an adjacent side, the same through both blocks. (The cut is hard to see in this photo. It's a curve from roughly the center of the right side down to roughly the center of the bottom edge.)



Spread them out and swap the inner and outer pieces so you have two squares each composed of a solid piece and a crumb piece.


Fold an inner wedge in half along the curve, finger pressing along the center to create a crease.


Make a matching fold on the outer piece and then line the two centers up together. Then unfold both and match the right side the fabric of both center folds, pinning all the way to one edge or finger walking your way to find where you should start sewing the curve. 


Pin the whole thing if you prefer, or fly by the seat of your pants while trying to keep the edges where you aligned them. (That's my usual method when not trying to plan a tutorial--perfect for when a very small person has been playing with and hidden a pincushion.)



The two pieces won't match exactly; the outer piece will extend a bit further than the inner piece.



Sew the two pieces together with a 1/4" seam. If you choose not to pin, try to match the center folds as you ease the edges around.


Press the seam to one side. If you sewed through seams on your crumb block, you'll have an easier time pressing toward the single piece of fabric side, which means toward the center of the wedge on one block and away on the other. 



Square up the edges, but don't worry too much about size. It may vary depending on your curve. I'll make it work!

Thank you so much! I can't wait to see what you all do!

No comments: