Playing with pieced arcs

At our guild retreat last week I had time to PLAY and I chose to play with piecing arcs and circles.

It was SOOO much fun!!

I have always been disappointed when I tried making arcs because the block never ended up being the correct size and I had to cut it down.

All it took was reading a few instructions to understand what I was doing wrong!!

I was surprised to find out that the two arcs (inside and outside) needed to be cut in two DIFFERENT sizes. I should have realized it but didn’t!!

The ruler that I am using is the “Circle Savvy Ruler” from Creative Grids…..

I started the process by cutting two 6.5-inch squares…..

I lined up the ruler with the “1/4-inch seam allowance” lines on the ruler……

I inserted the rotary cutter (28mmm) into the slot……

….and cut all the way across to the other slot…..

Ta-DA…….

Now it was time to move to the outside fabric!! Again, I lined the edges of the fabric with the “seam allowance” lines…..

….and cut from one side to the other.

BUT…..here is the kicker!!!!

This curve was cut 1/2-inch SMALLER than the first curve!!! That is what makes the block work!!

So both pieces were cut and ready to sew…..

The ruler instructions suggested using the cutting mat to find the middle of the curve. This was done by lining the perpendicular lines along the cutting board lines and marking along the 45-degree line…..

I did the same for the other piece…..

To prepare for sewing, I used a glue stick to baste the edges together, starting with the center point….

I then moved to the edge and glued it in place as well…..

I did add a pin for extra hold on the edges…..

Note that it is important to line up the side edges!!

I added dots of glue along the arc….

….and eased the two arc fabrics together….

At this stage, it was ready to sew……

I moved to the machine and carefully sewed around the arc, using my 1/4-inch seam allowance…..

And LOOK……

When I ironed the piece out, it was EXACTLY 6.5-inches….

I was a VERY excited curve piecer!!

The next block that I tried was a half-circle. Come back tomorrow for that!!