We will continue with Wendy’s construction plans later this week. The Quiltsmart Coat Pack preprinted interfacing packages are in the store and online. This weekend, we played with the Hunter’s Star Coat Pack. Wendy wanted to create a real scrappy look with the Hunter’s Star and thought that this product would finally be a tool that would create the block easily with perfect points.
| Traditionally the Hunter’s Star block has a light side and a dark side. The modern scrappy block that Wendy was looking for has a low volume all light background with coloured starts in the center. The Hunter’s Star block is actually completed in 4 separate sections. The ‘star’ is formed when these four sections all come together. |   |
 | There were many techniques and examples for using different combinations of light and dark fabrics, but no tool or technique to create the scrappy modern look that we were going for. Until now… When she saw Sharon’s Tamarack Jacket for the #FreeSpiritCoatStory Wendy instantly recognized that this product might be able to create the look. The Mod Cloth fabric line from Sew Kind of Wonderful has some lovely low volume lights for the background as well as coordinating prints for the stars. We decided to play with this line and see what we could come up with. |
The preprinted interfacing from Quiltsmart has each section separate on a panel, and one panel will yield two twelve inch finished blocks. This will work well for a jacket as it will allow you to put on as many sections as needed to fill out your pattern piece.
| We cut the different pieces for the sections as per the instructions included with the preprinted interfacing panel. The fabric pieces are placed within the dashed lines so that you are able to stitch them on the solid lines. The interfacing is fusible on one side. The fabric is to fused in place so they will not shift when completing the next step. Pretty cool right?! |  |
 | The instructions included with the Coat Pack are pretty clear and fairly easy to follow. The star points fabrics are placed on the section next with right sides together. Then the piece is turned over and you stitch the star point, on the wrong side, on the appropriate line. We did put a pin in to hold it in place so that the fabric didn’t flip on the way to the machine. |
 | Once the star points are stitched, then they are flipped open and fused into place inside the dashed lines. The image above and on the left shows a star point in place after being stitched. When the interfacing is covered with all the fabrics it is time to stitch each component together. Following the instructions we folded the pieces on the dashed line between the different components of the section and stitched on the solid line.  |
 | A press and a trim and voila, a background scrappy Hunter’s Star. We are very impressed with this product. We were able to create perfect points and surprisingly the interfacing didn’t change the hand of the fabric. This method will definitely produce very modern Hunter’s Star blocks with lots of negative space for some creative quilting. What fun! Later this week we will have another blog post with Wendy’s construction process ideas. Let us know what you think. Post your pics and progress on Instagram and Facebook. Tag us, @makersavvy and include your hashtags #freespiritcoatstory #savvystitchers Until next time, Happy Stitching ! |