Sunday, March 13, 2011

Easy pinwheels plus a finished project


This pinwheel technique is not my creation, but it bears repeating. It's fun and quick and works for any size pinwheel.

Put two squares right sides together. Any size. Stitch 1/4" on all sides.
(I used 5" squares for the mug rugs.)


Slice with a rotary cutter corner to corner. Don't move the square, move your ruler, and slice from other corner to other corner.


Like this.


Press seams to the dark side.

Sew squares together by twos. See layout above.


When you stitch your seam that joins the doubled up squares, use this awesome matching technique: poke a pin through the intersection of the seams as shown above. Continue on poking the pin through the intersection of the seams on the other side. Line up the pin vertically and those points should be perfectly lined up.

Stitch your seam right through that intersection and they should be perfectly matched. Or at the worst a teeny bit off, which is close enough for me.

I sewed a rectangle of focus fabric to the pinwheel. Size doesn't matter.


Sandwich your top, batting, and backing. Baste with pins. Quilt as desired. I quilted a wavy line pattern. Cut the backing about 1/2" larger on all sides and double-fold it to the front. Top-stitch close to the edge.


I stitched up a table mat to match. 


This collection was shipped off to my sweet kids in Atlanta. They match their aprons. The package was opened and produced much excitement. Success! 

3 comments:

Paulette said...

I didn't know about that pinwheel making technique. Thanks for sharing. They turned out really cute!

Pokey said...

These are cute, and I remember the aprons, too. I never get the greatest pinwheel match, I'll try your pin method. Great finish, Sue!
:-}pokey

Carolyn said...

These are just beautiful little mats! Your kids are so lucky to have a creative mother like you!
Thank you for your comment on my dress, and in answer to your question, yes that is a jelly fish, but don't worry, completely harmless. Most of us born in Perth learnt to swim in that river, and we just used to waft them out of our way.

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