CIRCLING THE BRAIN – MONTH FOUR
By Patti Auten
Round and round and round we go. . . we’re CIRCLING THE BRAIN.
Back for more fun? By now, you should have completed all your rings and attached your center to your first ring and your outside to your second ring. Make sure that after each sewn step, you are PRESSING your pieces – not overly IRONING them. Some parts of the rings may be on the bias and if you overly iron them (especially using steam), they will stretch and not fit together correctly (ask me how I know this). Don’t forget to square up your pieces after you iron. Squaring up keeps the correct angles so that the pieces will make a wonderful flowing circle.
If you have all your rings sewn together, it’s time to CIRCLE THE BRAIN, i.e. complete your circle.
You should have four square pieces. Make sure each piece that will touch is at a 90 degree angle. This is important to make your circle lie flat.
You will lay out your four pieces and sew the upper two pieces together and then the lower two pieces together. When you put the upper two pieces together to sew, line up the seams on each part of the ring and pin carefully.
**COOL TIP ** If you want precision seams, mark the edge ¼ inch away and then put a pin in the BACK side THROUGH the actual seam. Line it up to the companion piece and guide that pin RIGHT THROUGH THE SEAM. This helps keep your seams lined up perfectly so that your piece will circle correctly. And a duh reminder – don’t sew over pins. It will jack up your sewing machine timing, most likely break your needle and generally piss you off (again, ask me how I know this). Sew right up to the pinned segment, remove the pin and then continue on.
After sewing, make sure you PRESS and then trim the edge that will touch the other piece straight across. Continue on and pin your halves together, carefully matching the seams and putting those pins right in the seams.
And VOILA! You’re done with your circle! Hold it up and admire how smart you are! Stick it to your design wall and walk by and think “I’m awesome!”
And make sure to post your questions or attagirls on our FB page. Next month we will be finishing our circles by adding some pizazz and design choices!
Patti