February 4, 2023 from 9am to 2pm
price: members $40 Non-members $60
Here's what David says about his technique:
Paper piecing is cool because of the intricate and accurate results you get. The only drawback was that it was really difficult to wrap my brain around, kinda like upside down and backwards. If you’ve ever tried it, you know what I mean. But once I got it, the results were quite exciting. Except, there were a couple of huge drawbacks…how to orient the next piece of fabric, and removing the paper. Regardless of the kind of paper I used, it still had to be removed at the end, which took as long or longer than the construction of the quilt! So, I started thinking about how to make paper piecing simpler and faster. And I’m proud to say that in 2004, I figured it out. My "Sirota No More Tears Paper Piecing”© method is easier to understand and takes half the time of the old way of paper piecing.
My goal was to take the anxiety out of paper piecing and replace it with the joy of the process. Paper piecing is now fun, easy and quick.
David will demonstrate his technique with the Colleid-O-Scope quilt.
This pattern has been around for years. It's actually an Eight-Pointed Star. And although "Collide-O-Scope" could be strip-pieced, it's kinda fussy to get all of your center points crisp and you have to have an accurate 1/4" seam allowance...yuck! That's why I choose to paper piece the blocks. Not only do they all finish to the same size, the center points match as accurately as possible, and it's done in the same amount of time.
Once again we have all straight lines which result in the illusion of curves, which create the kaleidoscope pattern. It's the play of the shapes and contrast between light and dark fabrics that makes it all happen. I used a William Morris layer cake for my darks and then light neutrals for contrast. It's the consistency of the lights that make the pattern sing. So when planning your quilt use lots of darks but keep the lights in the same color family, making sure there's good contrast with the darks. What a great project for all those scraps you've been saving!
Look forward to quilting with you!!