Help sewing circles

I don't think this is quite what you are asking for Jerry, but it/they might give you some ideas:

To sew a beautifully neat circle, you can place a thumb tack (drawing pin) onto the bed of your sewing machine at the point where the distance of the spike to the needle is equal to the radius of the circle desired. Then you can sew without any hand adjusting at all; it all just continues in a circle - make sure it all stays flat. I think you could adapt this to machine appliqué the top circle to the background. You can't really adapt it to piecing your circle (unless you allow that the stitching will be seen).

However, you should be able to piece your 'circle to the hole' thus: clip the circle of the background fabric almost up to the stitching line (but not nearer than a couple of threads). Pin the filling circle to the background 'in the air'. You will need to pin quite closely, and pin only *within* the seam allowance. It will be very fiddly to sew, as you'll have to shift and re-position very often. Even someone who loves piecing as I do, and is quite happy sewing curves, would probably appliqué the top circle in this situation. I would use invisible machine appliqué. . In message , MaleQuilter writes

Takes practice, but only a little. My pieced-in circles are usually things like mariner's compass blocks, i.e. relatively large. But I have pieced in circles as small as about 3" in diameter. I mark the circumference of the circle and the background hole into 8ths. Clip the edge of the hole all the way around, about an inch apart for larger circles. Clip to about 4 threads from the seam line. Match the marked points and pin, with the background piece on top. Start sewing a little bit before a pin. When you get just beyond the mark, find the next mark, lay that section out smooth in front of the needle, making sure the circle underneath has no tucks about to happen. Gently nudge and stretch the background into place so the raw edges line up. Go ahead and clip a bit more if you need to. Sew slowly until you get some practice, watching those edges, nudging and stretching as you go. You don't need more pins than the 8 marked points. When it's done, steam press from the front, pressing the seam toward the background.

If you are piecing a plain circle into a plain square, it will probably work better to match the grain lines. Roberta in D

"MaleQuilter" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@d55g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...

I've seen it done, Jerry, on Simply Quilts by a nice lady who could stitch a circle into a frame so fast it would make your head spin. I can set a sleeve in a shirt for a size 3-pound preemie so we would expect that setting in a circle would be easy for me. I didn't have quick success with her method. Decided it wasn't a battle I wanted to fight so I just appliqué circles and forget about setting them in. You will want to check your math and be certain that it is possible to set your circle in. The Simply Quilts stitcher took her 'frame' and put lots of tiny clips in it, pressed the seam allowance in, and used the pressing line for a guide. I know. Not much help from me. Polly

Thanks. "Fiddly" was the word I was looking for.

I never thought about clipping the seam in the frame, but will now give that a try. That should help get rid of the puckers.

Polly, when the Simply Quilts stitcher clipped the frame, did she clip "all the way" to the seam line prior to pressing?

Jerry in North Alabama

I doubt that she clipped all the way to the seam line, Jerry. You don't want your seam to be so weak that it ravels to pieces. Roberta's mentioning matching your grain line made me wonder about another consideration - Some fabrics are soft such as the Fossil Ferns and most batiks are a very firm weave. I suspect that what you are combining will have some effect on your success. Polly

there are some instructions for a method on the hgtv website, you use two sheets of freezer paper as a kind of frame, then glue the seam allowances, the bulk is all one side, so you use a zipper foot.

Anne

Jerry, sew with the background piece on top, sew slowly and don't pin too much. Pinning the quarter points should be enough for most sizes. Make sure the edges are even and that you are sewing a quarter inch seam. To make sure you are sewing a quarter inch seam, do the "3 strip" test. Cut 3 strips of fabric exactly 1 1/2" wide by about 6" long. Sew 2 together along one long edge. This also allows you to check the pressure foot pressure. IF the top strip ends up longer than the bottom, but they were cut exactly the same length, then you need to loosen the pressure on your pressure foot. Sew the 3rd strip to the pair. Press. The center strip should be exactly one inch wide. If not, you need to adjust your seam width. Being a bit "anal" about the seam allowance is important if you are sewing in a complete circle. It takes practice to do well. It also depends on how big your circle is.

About pinning, many people over pin curves. Remember that you are working with bias edges, and the more you handle bias the more it is likely to stretch out of shape/size. The more you pin, the more you handle. If you mark/pin the quarter points and go slowly then you should be okay. And keep the background part on top. That is the part that needs to be manipulated and where you are most likely to get pleats if you aren't careful, so keep it where you can see it.

Have fun, Pati, in Phx

MaleQuilter wrote:

Hi Jerry, I go with Patti on this one. Far easier to appliqu=E9 a circle on the top of the fabric. You can still machine it using invisible machine appliqu=E9 technique. But a little hand sewing may be needed for preparation. Place the template you want the finished circle to be on the reverse of your fabric and using a pencil or other marker draw around the template onto the fabric. Cut out leaving 1/4 inch seam allowance. Make a running stitch all the way round in the seam allowance leaving the thread to tale loose at the end. Using the same template make a cardboard circle. Place cardboard template on the wrong side of the fabric circle then draw up the thread tails (think I used the wrong tale the first time;) Then with a tiny brush like an eyeshadow brush dipped in starch paint lightly on the seam allowance that you've just pulled over the card. Press with iron to dry the seam allowance. Remove the cardboard and you should have a neat circle ready for appliqu=E9ing. Dab a bit of fabric glue to the back of the circle then press on the front of your background. Pin well in place then machine using invisible thread on top and a bobbin thread in the bottom and a blind hem stitch. You'll need to do a sample of the stitch to get it right first. It's very easy once you know how. I use it for curved piecing and have made drunkards path block with this method. Good luck any how... Elly

I agree with you, Pati! Put the concave part on top and the convex part on the bottom. :)

Elly, I think I followed you until --- "Cut out leaving 1/4 inch seam allowance. Make a running stitch all the way round in the seam allowance leaving the thread to tale loose at the end"

I really appreciate the help. But please forgive my ignorance.

Sorry, but what is a running stitch? Where in the seam allowance? What is the "thread to tale"? Why leave it loose?

Jerry in North Alabama

Awww now, Jerry. Let's don't make this hard. Try this. Take a cereal bowl. Turn it upside down and draw around it on the wrong side of a piece of fabric. Put the soup bowl back in the kitchen. Put your drawn circle on another piece of fabric the same size or a little bigger. Right sides together. Stitch around the circle on the line you just drew. Trim around the outside; just eyeball it, 1/4" to 1/8" will be fine. It's okay to wobble, just don't cut your stitching. Pinch up the middle of your backing fabric and put a slash in it. Turn your lovely circle through the slash so it is right side out and press. Voila or viola - whichever. Polly

"MaleQuilter"

Or, in this heat, take bowl back to kitchen, place copious amounts of vanilla ice cream in it, top with whatever suits your fancy at the moment, dream and plan your quilt while you treat yourself to a deserved cool-down, wash bowl, then continue on with Polly's instructions.

G> Awww now, Jerry. Let's don't make this hard. Try this. Take a cereal

Think hand quilting stitch, in this case it's only going through one layer of fabric. It looks like this: - - - - - (Your sewing machine straight stitch looks like: ______or -------.)

Where in the seam allowance?

About the middle, 1/8th inch in from the cut edge.

"thread to tale" = thread tail. Leave the thread tails loose. When you are finished sewing you want enough thread tail left to pull to gather the seam allowance to form a neat edge.

Try this. Take a quarter, lay it on scrap fabric, draw around the edge of the quarter, remove quarter, draw another circle 1/4 bigger around the first one. Cut fabric on outer most line. Hand sew a running stitch all the way around the circle, 1/8th inch in from the cut edge. Lay fabric down, put the quarter in the center. Hold quarter down while pulling both ends of the hand sewing thread. The seam allowance should curl around to the top side of the quarter. Hold the tails taut, spray starch on fabric seam allowance, press. Release thread, allow fabric and coin to cool and then remove quarter carefully so the gathers don't get opened too much. Turn over and inspect your lovely new circle that is ready to be appliqued onto a background.

After that you can apply the knowledge to your current project. Debra in VA See my quilts at

And if you haven't got a quarter, a ha'penny will do If you haven't got a ha'penny, a farthing will do If you haven't got a farthing, God Bless You.

Sorry Debra, just couldn't resist that old rhyme.:) Thanks for clearing my muddy instructions you put it much simpler. Elly

I have done a number of circles. I used a cutting circle tool. It proved really easy if you follow the following instructions.

My circle cut tool involved folding the fabric into four very neatly and then cut whichever size circle you want.

I usually starch my fabric lightly so it keeps the folds.

You then cut a hole in the fabric into which you want to set the circle into.

The hole must be at least HALF AN INCH smaller than you want your finished circle to be.

You will need eight pins. You mark the fabric you want to join the circle to and also the circle you want to set in. The folds should still be evident if you used starch and pressed the folds a little. Place the four pins at quadrants of both the circle fabric and the circle cutout. Keeping the edges together.

Proceed to sew a QUARTER INCH seam and there you have a circle and it should be sewn together very easily if you follow these instructions. The circle will lie flat too.

Let me know if you succeed doing it this way.

Maureen in Jersey

At this site look undser FAQ ...there is a PDF to print out that has very good directions.