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I hosted a butterfly block swap a few years ago and everyone enjoyed it so much! I want to host another block swap but have it completely different. In the first one, everyone chose their own pattern and stitched their butterflies with the needleturn method. This time around we are going for the old fashioned butterfly block and the blanket stitch method!

Rules:

1. Everyone uses the same pattern from www.quilterscache.com

http://www.quilterscache.com/O...dButterflyBlock.html

We will NOT be piecing the pattern but using fusible and blanket stitching these. See the tutorial below.

2. Everyone will use a light tan print for their background square. Cut this background at 12 1/2 inches square ..

3. As the photo shows there are 3 fabrics used in creating the butterfly on the background square. Please use 3 coordinating fabrics of your choice. They must be good quality fabric. (thin and cheap fabric will get your blocks returned to you unswapped)

4. Create your pattern pieces from the tutorial shown below. If you have trouble with this let me know and I will help you.

5. Using a lightweight fusible (nothing heavy!) you will apply the fusible to the backside of your fabrics.

6. Once your pieces are cut from this arrange them in the middle of the 12 1/2 inch background square and iron them to the square.

7. Using either hand or machine blanket stitch, stitch your butterflies around each pattern piece that makes up the butterfly (as shown in the photo) We will ALL be using BLACK thread to do our blanket stitching to stay true to the old timey looking blocks.

8. NO zigzagging allowed. (sorry)

9. Do NOT trim your block down from the 12 1/2 inches. We will all have the choice of how large we want our blocks once they are swapped and sent back to each swapper. This way we can all size them down ourselves and they are all the same exact size when we go to create our quilt tops with the blocks.

10. You will send the same amount of postage with your blocks that it takes to mail them to me PLUS an additonal $2.00 to cover delivery confirmation and difference in postage if there were to be any. You can send this postage money in the form of cash or money order. Or you can send it to me via Paypal and include an extra 50 cents to cover the Paypal fee. ANY change WILL be sent back to you with your new blocks, if there is any left over.


I will run sign ups for 3 weeks, ending on February 11 to give everyone time to decide whether they want to play or not.

Number of blocks you will do will be determined by the number of players but not to exceed 12 blocks per person.

You may send in more than one set of blocks if you wish but each set must be made from different fabrics if you have made all of your blocks from the same fabrics.

Your blocks do not have to all be the same fabrics. You can make each block different than the next if you wish.

These blocks will be due TO ME by May 15th so you would need to mail your blocks to me by May 10th.


So... Who wants to play?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Quiltaholic,

Suddenly there are just way too many blocks I want to do. At least I can do all of them with my stash. I have some oriental fabric this butterfly would look beautiful in. Ok, sign me up.

Oooooh, Q! I remember THAT butterfly swap. lollll I think this one is much better.

Have a good time.

I don't know Paus.. They will both be fabulous in their own way... The blocks from the first one were gorgeous!

Participants:

quiltaholic
headielamar

Q: I just read the instructions and I can't see where we have to use fusible...it looks like everythink is sewn together. If we make this as an applique, we need to turn under the edges, right? Or is this raw edge applique...con(fused). nancy

This is raw edge applique with fusible behind your fabrics.

When you click on the photo of the butterfly on the pattern page you will get a gray copy. print this out. Trace around the shapes to create your pattern pieces. Do not add the 1/4 inch extra.

#2 and # 13 will make 1 pattern piece

#8 and #4 will make one pattern piece

#11 and # 6 will make 1 pattern piece

#7 is a pattern piece

#10 is a pattern piece

Your light tan background square will take care of the pattern piece #'s 1, 3, 5, 9, 12, and 14

Once you print the gray photo off, lay a piece of tracing paper over it and draw your pattern pieces.

Would ya'll like for me to do one block to show?

Sorry Q, I have to agree with Nancy~ the pattern is totally pieced and the button hole stitch is just done for accent not to hold anything in place....

Ahhh... not I see where you are going with it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: crazy'boutquilts,

Q, I completely agree, the blocks from the other butterfly swap were simply beautiful. I guess I like this one because everyone will be using the same pattern and instructions. As a follower of the other one, it seemed so confusing at the start. Ended beautifully, though.

Have fun!

Q, I would love to join but the board wont let me pm you with my pertinent information. If you can pm me it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Tami

Ohhhh, my goodness...so not fair...lol

I love butterflies!!! but I am starting to get too many irons in the fire so to speak...

Q. yes I'd love to see a sample block you do for us.

I'll think on this...

Q: You'll need the 1/4" to sew the pieces together. Then trim off the edges 1/4"? That looks like what the photo did.

Would love a trial run photo.

Nancy...if I am understanding Q correctly...these butterflies will not be sewn together...they will be fused down with lightweight fusible...then blanket stitched around. Simple applique, which I like much better, although needleturn applique is stunning, but loads more work

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kentucky_Sunshine,

I apologize profusely.. I didnt look past the photo when I was looking at it.. I thought it was a pattern for applique.

But no, we will not be sewing these together.

The instructions I gave above is how we will do the block. Much simpler and with laying them down on a 12 inch background and fusing them down before we do the blanket stitch, all blocks will be able to be squared down to one size once they get back to the maker.... and look old fashioned like our grannys made them.

I will do one some time tomorrow and post photos, step by step to show a tutorial.

Stay tuned.

Your directions make sense to me.

Im will to give this a try count me in.



Edna

I never made it upstairs yesterday because hubby drug me off to town to do errands. Hoping to do that today. Stay tuned.

I gotta tell you that if this were paper piecing=I'd be right with you. But it looks too time consuming for me to fit it in now. Enjoy. The results are beautiful.

I want to do this and will send you a PM shortly, but I have a question. The pattern that you link to is an 8 inch square, while we're going to do a 12 inch square. Are we enlarging the pieces to make them fit into the 12 inch square the way the photo shows, or are we simply appliqueing the 8" butterfly onto the center of the 12 inch square? Just wanted to know.

LindaJ52

Doh! I just re-read your instuctions in the first post, and there at the bottom is the answer to my question. No need to reply. I'll just send you my PM.

LindaJ52

TTT

Is this what you have in mind?
The patterns for the wings are exactly on the lines of the finished picture. The pattern for the body is a little wider on the sides (but exact on the top and bottom) than the line of the finished picture so that the wings would overlap the body edge and there wouldn't be a gap between the body and the wings.

I'm not signing up right now because I'm not sure about the deadline, but it sure is tempting.

Thank you Kay-lin... I have been unable to get upstairs to do a block tute..

This would be the pattern pieces you would cut... add fusible and then lay them down, press them to the background and do the blanket stitch.

I will do my dangdest to get that tute done today..

ok.. You will have to forgive the quality of the photos.. My battery was lower than I realized so at the end you will see I wasnt able to photograph the last 2 steps but these first steps show how to use the pattern well...

I will make another block this week and start a brand new thread just to clean this one up a bit..

here goes...

Print off the pattern photo... As you can see in this photo it should print out at 6 inches square on your printer paper.

Take some tracing paper and trace each individual pattern piece..

Do not add any seam allowance to these... trace them right by the pattern...

except the center body piece... add 1/4" to it so it will lay snug under the wings and no raw edges will show. If you look close you will see my dots are on the inside of the drawn pattern piece by 1/4" from the dots I drew.

Put the numbers you see on the traced pattern pieces... Some pieces will actually be made up of 2 numbers... Be sure and put the correct number at the top of the pieces that have 2 numbers... so you will know which end of the pattern piece goes at the top.

The way I did mine was to make dots at the corners of each pattern piece and then I used my ruler to connect the dots... This makes it easier to draw the pattern pieces that "lay under" the top pieces.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Quiltaholic,

Then I took my fusible and laid it on top of those drawings and traced them on to the fusible... again, make sure the correct numbers are put on the fusible drawings...

I found it easier to make sure that the pattern pieces that were going to use the same fabric laid next to each other... leaving a space in between them and the next pattern pieces.

Leaving that space between each makes it possible to cut them apart without cutting in to the other drawings.

Cut them apart so as to leave the top 2 wings together on the same cut, the middle body is by itself and the lower wings are on one piece of fusible.

Choose your fabric for the background square...

and basically I forgot that all of our rulers are 12 1/2" so go ahead and cut your background at 12 1/2 inches...

To find the center of the background square fold it in half ..

and then continue to fold this in half again..

Take your finger and finger press that corner where the folds come together so it will make a good crease to show where center is when you open it back up.

Open it up to find center and place a pin in that spot.

Choose 3 coordinating fabrics for your butterfly..

Please have one that reads dark for the butterfly body as most butterflies have a dark center body...

Mine is the dark blue

iron your fusible pieces to the backs of those 3 fabrics making sure of which fabrics are going to be used for what...

Since the top wings are identical you will not have to worry about them being in reverse once you cut them as they can be used on opposite sides anyway... same goes for the bottom wings..

Make sure you keep notice of the top of the body as it is a little smaller than the bottom...

Here is where my battery went completely dead but cut out your pattern pieces and layer them on to the background square making sure you get them as close to center of the 12 1/2" background square as possible...

Iron them to the background...

Then blanket stitch them to the block... either by hand or by machine blanket stitch...

Remember.. NO zigzagging...

I have cropped my photo but there will be about 3 inches all the way around your butterfly to the outside edge of the background square.

This leaves plenty of room for all of us to size them down to the size we want when we get them home...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Quiltaholic,

This is a close up of the blanket stitching...

Remember.. we are all using BLACK thread

I will do another tutorial photo shoot when I make a few of my blocks this week and start a new thread with them...

Hoping to get several interested in this as I think we would have some awesome quilts.

With all of the neutral backgrounds and the colorful butterflies.. it will be a delightful quilt!

Q. I have a question?

When you use the machine blanket stitch on your machine for these blocks, do you use a stablizer on the back of the block?

I had to take my machine in for repairs on Friday, and when I did I took my project I was working on to show the lady what it had done with the rats nest of thread...well...the shop was packed, and it so happened the guy was there doing a drop off and pick up for machine repairs (lucky me)

But..there was this other lady there a customer...and she came over and butted in and called me an amateur and said if I knew what I was doing and used stablizer on the back I wouldn't have wrecked my machine...

I was furious, and told her she might try a nicer tone when addressing strangers because "I don't take kindly to strangers insulting me, and that I'd like to see her badge so I could write down her number to report her to her superiors of the quilt police"

She stomped out of the store in a huff mumbling something under her breath...

I asked both the lady working at the shop and the repairman and they said stablizer was used for embroidery machines...but it got me to thinking...do people actually use some sort of stablizer with applique?

We all had a good laugh at the rude lady, because apparently she frequents the shop , never buys anything, but insults the staff on the shop samples...etc

I told them if she shows up being rude again, to give me a ring

No, I dont use a stabilizer... actually the fusible acts as a stabilizer of sorts and since the stitches are being sewn up and over the fusible.. there is no need for stabilizer on the background block itself. That would just add weight to the block.

This is what the backside of my block looks like.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Quiltaholic,

Thanks Q. and that was my thought that the stablizer would make it stiff and add weight.

and I meant to say...I'll do a test block and see how I go, see how I like the blanket stitch on it...

This is beautiful Q! I wish the blanket stitch on my machine would cooperate grrrrrrrr. I don't think I can handle doing all that blanket stitch by hand on them, even though I love doing it. I nearly croaked doing all those pumpkins by hand last year! maybe I'll try 1 block to see. Yours is so beautiful and I love the dark stitching!

I tried to download the pattern to print and it would not let me... What am I doing wrong?

Hugs,
Linda

If it wont download right click on the photo and save it to your pc and print it off that way.

Okay, maybe I'm the oddball here, but I prefer doing the blanket stitch by hand. I can do it faster that way than by having to go through all of the set-up for my machine's blanket stitch, which I don't like the look of anyway. Besides, if I do it by hand, I can actually sit in my recliner and do it, instead of at my sewing machine.

LindaJ52

I like doing it by hand too but I also like the machine blanket stitch...

you can do either one...

I think I would like to join this swap. Let me try out the instructions this weekend.

awesome angelinamor ...Just let me know..

I am going to up the due date to May 15th to give us 3 months to do our blocks so hopefully that will entice more to play.

Participants:

quiltaholic
headielamar
lindaj52
emb115724
iquiltalot

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Quiltaholic,

Love the block! Please sign me up.

Q do you want all of our individual 12 blocks to be the same fabric? Or can we mix them up?

Until sign ups close we won't know how many blocks we are doing but 12 will be the max.

If we only have 8 to sign up, we would do 8 blocks... so let's wait and see how many we get to play..

But yes, you can mix your fabrics up on your blocks...