Tutorial - Hand Piecing Straight 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) (g) 1" x 6" ruler with 1/4" markings (h) Pre-cut patchwork shapes
	Marking Place the fabric patch right side down on the sandpaper. Align the 1/4" mark of the ruler with the edge of the fabric and draw a line that almost touches the edges.
Mark the other edges of the fabric shape ensuring the lines cross at the corners.
	Repeat for each shape.
Stitching Arrange the marked patches in the right order so you can see which pieces go together.
With right sides together pin the end of the seam to be sewn ensuring the pin passes through the intersections of the marked lines on both sides.

Stitching the seam Begin with The Hand Piecer's Fastening Knot. Sew along the marked line, loading three to five 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.
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.
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.
Seam intersections So far we have addressed sewing two pieces together. What happens when more than two pieces come together in one intersection? The basics are the same - pin the end of the seam, make a fastening knot, stitch to the end adding in a few backstitches as you go and make a backstitch at the pin.
	There is no need to make a fastening knot because we won't be cutting the thread at the end of each seam. Rather, we will join the next fabric piece with the same thread.
Sew the first two pieces together as above, then pivot the top fabric to align the next seam. Pin the finishing end of the seam.
	Make the first stitch, ensuring the needle passes through the intersections of the marked lines on both sides. Make a backstitch at the beginning and continue the seam as normal. Depending on the block we may be able to continue stitching many seams without having to cut the thread - just remember to backstitch at the beginning and end. When it's time to cut the thread, make a fastening knot as above. One of the great things about hand piecing is that it doens't matter what order we stitch the seams because the seam allowance is never stitched down like we do in machine piecing. If we miss a seam we can come back to it later.
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 anticlockwise.
	Neighbouring intersections get pressed alternating ways.
The finished blocks look like this:

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Equipment

Marking

Stitching

Stitching the seam

Seam intersections

Pressing