Sewing Wilde: Circles and Matching Seams

When I found this fabric I knew I wanted to make something different. It would be a quilt that I didn't cut up into tiny little pieces and put back together. I know this is what we quilters do yet I couldn't bring myself to disturb all the flowers in the main fabric.

I decided to create negative space with circles, if you've never done them before I found wax paper to be the easiest method.

I used a protractor to make the circles for this project, you can use anything including dishes, jar lids, whatever is handy. I was careful to cut them out with long scissors to avoid jagged edges, a smooth edge is very important.

Iron it to the back of your main fabric, shiny side down. If you have trouble keeping it attached pin the corners, it won't be on that long.

Cut the circle out carefully if you want to be able to use the fabric on the inside. I found using a rotary cutter to make a 2" slice then finishing the cut with scissors, allowed me to use the scrap circle for another project.

Make small clips around the circle, be careful not to cut into the sewing line. Leave 2-3 threads, don't worry it will turn.

Turn back the clips making a smooth circle, turn your fabric over and press again. Look at it from both sides to make sure the shape is what you want, make adjustments if you need to.

Use fabric glue around the circle, put a small dab on each clipped piece. I did half at a time folding the new fabric (black) in half to make sure it was all smooth. Press and let dry. I use Aleene's, it drys clear without being stiff. Be careful not to get it on the good side of your fabric, if it happens remove it with a wet cloth before it drys.

At this point you can remove the wax paper.

Trace the circle line you need to stitch on with a removable pen or marker, the pressing line no matter how sharp will not show while stitching.

Sew the circle, press on both sides with a hot iron, trim the extra fabric around the circle to one quarter inch. As you can see my fabric during stitching is about 1/2" to keep all of the presser foot on fabric.

The glue worked so well I used it again when I wanted to match up the lines I cut into the circles reversing the fabric from black and white to blue.

I did it again to seam the background fabrics together so I wouldn't lose any of the beautiful flowers. I folded and pressed one side of the fabric first, lined it up where I wanted it to be, then dab dab dab added some glue to the folded side of the fabric. Putting them together I added a few pins being careful not to put them in the glued seam.

Once it was dry the two pieces were stitched together just as I would using pins, worked perfectly! You can barely see the seam and after quilting may disappear completely, well almost.