Spiders web block

Scrappy, wonky, foundation paper pieced, 12" finished size block.

1.  Draw a 13 1/4" square.  I used freezer paper for this.  It was a bit of a bugger to peel the paper off afterwards, but it was also a breeze to put together as the strips were fused to the paper right to the edge!  You could use regular paper, tracing paper, pattern paper, or even kitchen greaseproof paper.  

Draw on lines for the diagonals too.  

This is your block OUTSIDE SIZES, and by that I mean the pattern pieces INCLUDING a quarter inch seam allowance.  

2.  Draw on your block size now, by simply drawing a line 1/4 of an inch in from each line.  

You should have something that looks pretty much like this.

3.  On each of the four sides of the square, on the INSIDE line, mark the halfway point.  This should be at 6 and 5/8ths of an inch.

4.  On each of the four sides of the square, on the OUTSIDE line, make a mark one inch either side of your half way point. 

5.  Using your ruler to line up the top and bottom marks each side of the half way point, make a mark where the ruler crosses the inside line of the top triangle and the bottom triangle.  See where the pen is pointing for the first place to mark. 

6.   You should now have all the points marked that you need to draw the kite shapes that make up the centre cross.  Just join the dots on the inside lines!

7.  Cut along the main crossed diagonals to get your 4 quarters of the square, these are your 4 pattern pieces, WITH seam allowance.

I am not going to go into great detail about how to do foundation paper piecing.  Many a blogger better than I have done tutorials, guides, even whole series on how to do it.  I will say, keep your stitches short so that when the paper is torn away it will be easier and wont loosen your stitches too much.  

My lovely mate Katy tells you all about foundation paper piecing and how to do it HERE

8.  Gather whatever fabrics you have chosen for your blocks.  I chose Kona Ash for the centre solid, and a good handful of bright prints, some dots, some texty prints, and some nice selvages.  

9.  Fuse or pin your centre piece of fabric to the reverse of the side you've marked, right side up, and line up your first strip right sides together so that you can sew along the drawn line to add your first strip.

9.  If you are doing wonky irregular strips like mine, you can flip the triangle over and sew with the fabric on top so you can see what you're doing when you add the rest of the strips.  Be sure to trim your seam allowance on each piece you add!

10.  Keep adding strips, making sure you're covering all of the paper pattern.  How much or how little waste you end up with is up to you.  Its quicker and easier to accept there will be waste!!

11.  When you have done all four pieces, trim them back to the edge of the paper on the two short sides.  (This is easier to do if you press it first.  If you have used freezer paper, this is the bit where you will be pleased that you did - the fabric stays put!)

12.  Join the four segments, into two halves, then the two halves into one.  

It should be safe, if you have trimmed carefully, to line up the pieces by the trimmed edges, but I like to stick pins through as well, just to be sure.   Sew along your marked lines.  Press seams open.  

13.  You should now have a 12.5" block (12" including 1/4" seam allowance)  Trim then tear away the base paper.  (If you have used freezer paper, this is the bit where that will become a little annoying...)