Sara: Ruler of the Month.
We counted up the other day how many rulers we had in the store and if you saw the email,
I said like a hundred and twenty plus, and I remember asking Cleo.
"No, donÕt count every ruler, three of this one, four of that one."
She goes, "I didnÕt."
And then I'm like, "Oh, my goodness."
So that's why we decided--because there are rulers out there that you look at and you
kind of wonder why we're pinned.
Why were they made in the first place?
So we just started to make a list of rulers that we wanted to learn and see and do some
samples with, and that's how our list started.
And so the first one is one that I've admired and some of you have actually used the shape
cut, which is a very easy way to cut strips, and this one is the curved slotted ruler and
with it, it's very similar idea where we can cut gentle curves from the fabric.
ItÕs a very forgiving way to sew curves together, which I'll also show you.
And let me start off, but first off, it's a great way to use that scraps.
So any of you who have taken the scrap therapy classes from before and you cut strips up
or you have some chunks that you set aside as you finished quilts and there are leftovers,
there are some neat ways to actually kind of use them up along with using this ruler.
This is kind of what you're after here.
That is a sampling of what we're going to do.
And arenÕt these fun, this little extra color?
That's what happens when your pieces arenÕt big enough for the original size because what
the ruler set up for is to start off with a 9 by 13 inch rectangle.
So from a quarter yard, you can get three of them, okay, or if you have pieces that
are not all the right size, you can add a little and cap to them, okay?
Since we're going to be working with curves Best Press if you havenÕt been using this,
it's wonderful.
Spray all your fabrics and press them.
It kind of gives them a nice start and so as the curves and bias to take place and you're
stretching them a little bit when you're sewing them it kind of holds them all together.
And now with the Best Press after buy the spray bottle, we not only have the gallon
refills but now the quart refills, so with all the different flavors.
So if you have your favorite scent, you can refill them more economically.
Okay, so the slotted ruler is--we can go ahead and lay these on.
What you want to do is all your pieces do need to be right side up for this to work,
okay.
If you line up, there's going to be a total of seven pieces as you cut so if you have
seven rectangles all layered up, your block will have seven different pieces all together.
If you do two colors, one color and a second color over here, you'll end up with every
other color being mixed in there.
You might find to how much pressure you have on your rotary cutter with your wrist and
if you find yourself not being able to cut through seven layers, then you might do those
in segments, maybe do, three, and then do four.
Okay, so you lay your ruler down and there are little teardrops at the beginning and
at the end to place the rotary cutter.
New sharp blade, highly recommended, and also, you donÕt have to use a small blade to get
into these little curves.
Some templates that are curved, they want the small blades, 45mm blade will work just
fine because we will have layers and you kind of want the little bit bigger rotary cutter
there.
So as you lay that down, you've got lines from here to here from 0 to 13 and then from
0 to 9, so that kind of shows you about the size to work with.
What if you want to make bigger blocks?
You could definitely still use this ruler.
As you set up and cut, you'll cut as far as you can and then you could almost just take
the ruler off and cut with scissors and go just a little bit further, kind of making
the shape gentle to continue the lines.
All right, so as we lay this down here, put this in and just go ahead and cut all the
way through.
I'll just go ahead and cut.
All right, now the last part is the fun part, I feel, okay.
So here are our different segments.
We can see them.
Bring it up.
And now we shuffle.
So we'll take this top piece and shuffle it down to the bottom.
Take the top two pieces and shuffle them down to the bottom, and so forth, all the way through.
Now, to keep all your pieces really going stay together while we go to the sewing machine,
we're going to work with chain piecing them all together.
So when you're sewing, you're going to end up with this with however many blocks that
you're going to do.
You'll end up doing with all your segments all at once, so if you have multiple blocks
you're cutting, cut one set, sew it, cut the next set and sew it because then if you stop,
you'll know where you are.
Okay.
There's going to be variety of fun patterns that are available.
I'll pass a couple of these around and then we'll get ready to sew.
When you're ready to sit down to sew, you can use the ruler to kind of scoop up all
your pieces and bring them from your cutting table over to your sewing machine.
So we're going to start off with the first row.
We'll take our two pieces and they will match as you look at them, but of course, when you
put your two edges together then get ready to sew your 1/4-inch seam.
Well, they donÕt really match.
I donÕt usually use pins.
You can if you want, but if you just hold your two pieces together and as you sew set
your machine to stop with the needle in the down position.
Now, I am using the Husqvarna Viking Sapphire Sewing Machine and it has the exclusive sensor
system.
So right now when I stop, the needle stops in the down position in the fabric, but then
it lifts the foot up, and I will have to say this is the greatest machine to use when sewing
curves because every time I need to kind of stop and lift up the foot, it kind of relaxes
those curves.
It makes them easy to kind of pull together as I work down to the next little section
here.
You can use the stiletto too.
That's going to help so, say, when we get down to the end and we donÕt have the pieces
to hold on to anymore.
These blocks have a great fudge factor.
They are going to square up to about 8-1/2 inches, so if you're not perfectly even when
you get to the end, it is okay.
Once you've done one set, do the next set.
Work all the way down your entire group, chaining them together and then that way if you get
interrupted, it's okay.
It's easy to find where you were.
These are just gentle curves so they're a great seam to work with if you havenÕt done
any curve piecing before.
Okay, and use the stiletto if you need.
It kind of helps you get that last little piece to finish where it needs to go.
Another nice thing about this block is we will sew all seven strips together before
we have to press.
So you can just stay seated and enjoy the sewing process.
With all your pieces sewn together, it's time to press and really what you want to do is
just press from the top side, just hold it up, run your iron across the seams, and whichever
way they go, they go.
Of course, you can always do a little coaxing with some best press and really get them to
hold those creases down.
Spray it down and you're ready for putting them into the quilt that you have selected.