Drunkard's Path Quilt - Work in Progress

Other than my recent adventures with free hand cutting and curves sewing, I haven't dabbled in curved piecing for quite some time. My last quilt that involved lots of curved piecing was the Gobstopper Quilt made in January 2010 and although that quilt worked out really well, I don't have the fondest memories of piecing it. All those pins!

Let's face it. Right or wrong, I am just not a pinner. So this time around I went for a complete no pin plan, and it was a revelation!

I have used Drunkard's Path templates to make the blocks (5 inch finished block). And because I don't like tracing templates, nor cutting fabric with scissors, I have used a small rotary cutter to cut directly around the templates.The small diameter blade (28mm) is great for cutting around tight curves and templates. No tracing, no scissors.

Sewing Drunkard's Path Blocks - No Pins
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NOTES:
I use a quarter inch presser foot and short stitch length.
Image 1: Place the two pieces in front of you as pictured in first image.
Image 2: Flip the concave piece (on the right hand side) onto the center piece, right sides together. Align edges along the top. Drop presser foot and take one or two stitches and back stitch.
Image 3: Gather up the concave piece into your left hand, hold lightly so that it can unfurl as you stitch without stretching. Align the edges of the two pieces and stitch slowly.
Continue to stitch slowly, stopping as is required to adjust the fabric pieces and align edges of the pieces together. Stitch all the way to the end.
Press seam allowance (see second last image).

No pinning, no matching points along the way, no glue basting, no clipping curves. This worked well for me and was way faster than pinning, but much more importantly I actually loved sewing these units! As always, you should do what works best for you. Sew and be happy.

The fabrics that I have used are many of my favorites, some that I have been hoarding and collecting for a number of years and are now hard to find. Many of the fabrics are Japanese imports but if you look closely you'll also see many modern designer quilting cottons as well as a few retro prints.

144 Drunkard's Path Blocks
Quilt Top measures 60 inches x 60 inches

The design/layout for Drunkard's Path blocks are endless. Half of my blocks have been made with a dark center fabric, and the other half with a light center fabric. I have then laid out my blocks so that the light/dark fabrics alternate as well as so that four blocks form a circle; a fairly traditional layout.

If you have any questions regarding the no-pins process please don't hesitate to ask and I will reply in the comments section.

More soon.
Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Drunkard's Path Quilt - A Finished Quilt

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