Assembling Cadence Court Wedges
Hello quilters! Welcome back to the second blog post on creating the beautiful Cadence Court foundation paper pieced quilt. In the first post, I talked about fabric selection, thread, and a color swatch chart.
In today’s post, I’m going to show you some foundation paper piecing techniques that I use to assemble the colorful wedges.
Paper Piecing Tips
I use an Add-A-Quarter ruler and a postcard to trim my pieces perfectly. This technique is similar to the instructions in the Cadence Court pattern. Your first fabric piece in a section is always facing right side up and all remaining pieces are placed right side down. I am using black thread in this first example because I’m sewing the colorful pieces to the dark pieces.
When you get to a white background piece, change your thread color to white. If you use the black thread, it will show on the white background.
Trimming
After completing a section, I use a non-slip ruler to trim it. I line up the ¼-inch mark on the ruler with the sewing line on the paper pieced section and cut. Do not rely on a printed cutting line as printers are not always accurate. Trust your ruler!
Stitching Wedge Sections Together
I like to sew all the wedge foundations A-E before joining any pieces together. I lay them out on my cutting table to make sure that I haven’t mixed up any colors. Once I’m happy with each piece, I join them together using a pin technique to ensure accuracy.
I use fine patchwork pins along the stitching line to hold two pieces together. Next, I flip the pieces open to check that everything is matching properly. I stitch the pieces together after making any adjustments.
Pressing Wedge Sections
Before pressing, I remove the paper from the seam allowance only. This process allows me to get a crisper edge when I press, and it is much easier to remove the remaining paper later.
Use a dry iron for foundation paper piecing. Steam can warp or shrink your foundations. When pressing, be sure to follow the pressing orientation in the book for each individual wedge. The pressing order is very important to achieve seam nesting when you assemble the quilt later. By nesting the seams, you can get a smoother and flatter quilt top.
Continue assembling all 24 wedges. I did make each wedge individually rather than doing chain piecing because I didn’t want to get confused with my colorful fabric placement.
In my next post, I’ll show you how I stitched the wedges together and give some tips for assembling the quilt top.
Happy quilting!
Jen
@nwquiltedcat
