Tutorial - Hand Piecing Curved Seams

Equipment (a) Sewing needles (fine) (b) Pins (fine) (c) Thread to match fabric (100% cotton, good quality) (d) Small scissors (e) Mechanical pencil (0.7 or 0.9mm) (f) Sandpaper board or one sheet of sandpaper (fine grade)
	And of course you will need your pre-cut patchwork shapes and the template that came with them.
Marking Place the fabric patch right side down on the sandpaper. Centre the template on the fabric and draw around it, ensuring that the corners are clearly marked.

Repeat for each shape.
Pinning With right sides together, align the centre notches as shown. Pin the centre of the marked lines ensuring the pin passes through the marked lines on both sides. TIP: Taking only a small "bite" with the pin makes manipulating the pieces easier later on.
	Pin the end of the seam, ensuring the pin passes through the corner of the marked lines on both sides and that the corners of the fabric are aligned. At this point the pieces will no longer sit flat on the table - that's okay, don't panic.
Stitching Align the corners of the marked lines at the beginning of the seam. Begin with The Hand Piecer's Fastening Knot. Sew along the marked line, loading one or two stitches on the needle.
	Flip the work over to ensure the stitches on the back are also on the marked line. Pull the needle through and flatten the work with your fingers ensuring the tension of the thread doesn't pucker the fabric.
Continue stitching along the seam, gently easing the fabric to align the edges.
	Loading only one or two stitches onto the needle helps to get around the curves. Take a small backstitch every five stitches or so. This ensures your stitching won't come undone.
Continue stitching, alternating a few stitches with a backstitch and periodically checking the back of the work to make sure the stitching is on the marked lines. Remove the centre pin as you stitch past it. Stop stitching one stitch length from the end.
	Release the bottom of the pin so it stands perpendicular to the work.
Make the final stitch, ensuring the needle passes through the intersections of the marked lines on both sides of the work (you can take the pin out if it helps). Make a backstitch and repeat The Hand Piecer's Fastening Knot..
	Trim the thread, leaving a short tail.
Joining rows Until now we have been joining the pieces with the "smiley face" on top. Obviously when we join the rows together each alternate patch will be "frowny face" on top and this can be a little more difficult so here's how we do it.
	Clip the bottom piece's smiley face 3/4 of the way to the marked line about every 3/8". This makes it easier to pull up the lower piece and align the edges.
Pin the centre of the first seam, aligning the notches as before. Pin the end of the first seam, folding the seam allowances away from the first seam. Ensure the pin passes through the corners of the marked lines on both sides.
	Sew the first seam as before, stopping one stitch short of the end. Make a stitch and a backstitch through the pin hole.
Around the World This technique of sewing around all the points of the joins makes for sharp corners and accurate joins. Keeping close to the marked corners pass the needle through the first seam allowance, through the next two piece's corner marks, through the seam allowance on the other side, through the corner marks of the pieces you just stitched and through the seam allowance again. Pull the thread to snug up the corners.



Pin the centre and the end of the next seam. Make a backstitch at the beginning of the seam and carry on stitching as above, backstitching every few stitches and taking a "trip around the world" at every multi-piece intersection.
Pressing Hand piecing work sits flatter if we press all the seam allowances in one intersection in the same direction. For example: here we have pressed the seam allowances clockwise.

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Equipment

Marking

Pinning

Stitching

Joining rows

Around the World

Pressing