QAL Block 12 – Tassel Flower Tutorial

Hello!

This week we are making the Tassel Flower block, it is going to be paper pieced and will be 20” square finished. You only need one of these blocks to make the twin size quilt.

Foundations

The foundations can be found here. It is best to open the files and then print, that way you can ensure there is no page scaling.

You will need 4 copies of the Stem and 3 copies of the Flower.

Cutting

Stems

A1 – Green fabric – 10 1/2” x 3 1/4” rectangles x 4
A2 & 3 – Background fabric – 6 1/2” squares x 4 and cut diagonally to yield 8 triangles.

Flowers

B1 – Background fabric – 4” squares x 3
B2 & B3 – Flower fabric – 3 1/2” squares x 3 and cut diagonally to yield 6 triangles
B4 & B5 – Background fabric - 3 1/2” squares x 3 and cut diagonally to yield 6 triangles
B6 – Flower fabric – 8” squares x 2 cut diagonally to yield 4 triangles (you only need 3 of these)

Other

Background fabric – you need 2 squares the same size as the finished stem and flower units. This is slightly more than 7 1/8”. Cut your squares to halfway between the 7 1/8” and the 7 1/4” measurements…really this is 7 3/16”.

Crazy I know! I should have thought out a couple of the blocks a bit more but I really think this one is worth the extra effort!

Piecing the units

We have both shown you how we paper piece – me here and Jess here….So, I will just do a quick run through this time.

it is really a personal preference thing so do it how you are comfortable doing it!

Remember to shorten your stitch length when doing the paper piecing!

Stems

1. Start with A1, put the fabric and paper wrong sides together.

2. Align your background triangle with the edge of the green stem fabric. It is a good idea to pin at either end because you are sewing along a bias edge and the fabric stretches easily.

Flip unit over and sew along the printed line on the foundation paper.

Trim seam allowance and press.

3. Repeat step 2 for the second triangle.

4. Trim your unit to the finished lines on the foundation paper. Gently tear the paper off.

You need four stem units.

Flowers

1. Starting with B1, align the square over the top of the foundation.

2. Line the long side of the B2 triangle up with the edge of the background square.

Flip unit over and sew along the printed line on the foundation paper.

Trim seam allowance and press.

3. Repeat step 2 for the B3 triangle.

DO NOT DO THIS! LOL After I did this I found it useful to pin the corner down so that it couldn’t flap around…

4. In my haste I have skipped taking a pic of sewing triangle B4 but these are both done the same way.

Repeat the process of step 2 for the B4 and B5 triangle. Except you are lining up the short edges this time.

5. Align flower fabric B6 up with the edge of the other fabrics. This is a fairly big bias edge so I would pin it so that it doesn’t stretch too much.

Sew, trim and press.

6. Trim your unit to the finished lines on the foundation paper. Gently tear the paper off.

You need 3 of these flower units.

Piecing the block

Lay all your units out. This is a pretty basic nine patch block now!

Sew together in rows. And then sew the rows together to complete the block.

Press.

You now have a finished Tassel Flower block. It should measure 20 1/2” square.

I love this block and I am thinking about making it a lot smaller and seeing what I can do….

If you have any problems or questions feel free to contact me. I hope you are having fun and for moral support you can check out the Flickr group!