Granny Tutorial: Block 41 in the Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sewalong

• Part One: Preparation 
• Part Two: Cutting and Sewing.

What you’ll need;

• A copy of the book The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter/F+W; RRP $28.99 – Click here to purchase. 

• Usual sewing requirements
• Freezer paper; available in supermarkets in America, in other parts of the world, look for it in your local quilt store, if you’re in Australia or New Zealand your local Spotlight should stock it, it’s also available on Amazon.

• A stapler or washi tape.

So let’s get started..

Step 1: Print the paper piecing pattern pieces for block 41

Step 2: Make freezer paper foundation templates

• Cut two squares of freezer paper large enough to cover the template pieces with room to spare.
• Layer the two pieces of freezer paper, (one shiny side down, one shiny side up) behind the pattern print out. 
• Staple through the three layers (pattern on top) to hold the layers in place.
• Sew along the template lines with the needle on your sewing machine (remove the thread). This gives you perforations along all the seam lines.  See Step One here for more detail and photos of this step.
• Trim back excess freezer paper from your templates. I add the 1/4″ seam allowance at this point using my ruler and rotary cutter.
• Rethread your machine.

Step 3: Cut fabric

• For the two larger shapes cut two from each colour.
• For the smaller inner triangles I cut rectangles 1 3/4″ by 1 1/2″ (four of each colour).

Step 4:  Prepare to sew the first seam

Because I had two freezer paper foundation templates, I worked on two sections at once. The photographs below show both sections.

• Iron the largest piece of fabric, wrong side down, to the shiny (sticky) side of your freezer paper templates. Position fabric so that it covers the template.
• Fold the template back along the seam line and trim excess fabric from that edge so that there is a 1/4″ seam allowance beyond the seam line. I use my rotary cutter and ruler for this step but you could also use scissors. 
• Line up your centre fabric piece with this cut edge.

Step 5: Sew seam

• Keep the freezer paper folded back along the seam line.
• Sew the seam as close as you can get to the paper without sewing over the paper. Use your normal stitch length.
• If you do sew through the paper, don’t worry, just gently pull the freezer paper away from the stitches before the next step.

Step 6: Finish pieces

• Iron centre fabric to the freezer paper.
• Trim excess fabric from all edges.
• Gently remove freezer paper by peeling away from fabric.

Step 7: Repeat for remaining pieces

Repeat above process starting from Step 4, re-using the templates, until you have made all eight triangle sections.

Step 8: Sew block together

• Lay sections out as per block layout.
• At this point I changed the direction of some of my pressed seams so that the direction alternated around the block. This makes it easy to nest the seams as you sew them together.
• Sew pieces together, following the directions on the paper piecing pattern (note the order is different from that in the book, I recommend the order in the paper piecing pattern). 
• Pin carefully
• Press these seams open.

Step 9: Finished block!

Hooray, we’re done! Stand back and admire your handy work! Don’t forget to share on Instagram (using #FQS1930farmerswife and #fw41granny), in the Flickr group and/or Facebook!

 Bonus block!

My blocks so far.