Today I’m welcoming fabulous fellow Brit-Bee-er Hadley, AKA Flying Blind On A Rocket Cycle, who is going to show you all about how to make some lovely butterflies.  Now if you can all distract her, I’m popping down to clear all that clutter in the photo below off her sofa…

It’s all yours Hadley!

So here’s a little tute that will help satisfy the urge for a quick make, and then get you back to that list of WIPs, guilt-free.

If you follow my blog, you may remember my spools cushion…

Paper-piecing gives a great finish, it goes without saying, but sometimes all that template copying, cutting, thinking in reverse and fabric waste can make it all just a bit too much of a palaver, especially if you are making more than a couple of these simple blocks.

So here’s a method that will not only reduce your wastage to zero, but enable nice accurate fussy-cut placement and be re-usable, should you want to make a whole cushion or more, no paper in sight.

Welcome to my No waste fussy-cut template plastic butterfly spools block tutorial!

You will need, (no prizes here), fabric, template plastic, a ruler, marker pen and an erasable pen such as a frixion pen, scissors and the usual sewing gubbins.

I used Kerry & Lynne’s template from 500 Quilt Blocks, but the same principle will apply if you google another or draft your own.

Place your template plastic over the top, lining up the markings, trace the outline with your marker, including the seam allowance of section 1.  Remember to add a 1/4″ to all four sides, then cut out…

Now you can place your template on your fabric, getting your fussy cuts perfectly placed and symmetrical, and no risk of going all wonky like my paper-piecing ones tend to go…

Draw round with a fine line with your erasable pen…

Then cut out…

You then need to tackle the small triangles.  Align your ruler over the template then use the side of your plastic template to measure the size required, again remembering to add the seam allowances…

The 1/4″ line of my template plastic is on the diagonal (stitching) line, and here, the size required for each piece will be 2″ high x 1/2″ at the top edge, and 1 1/4″ along the bottom; you will therefore need to cut two 2″ x 1 3/4″rectangles.

To get the triangles including seam allowance, for two pairs, you must cut the pieces in alternate directions, as shown here…

Stitch the sides, aligning your edges carefully so that your needle will start and end at the 1/4″ mark; after the first one you will probably be able to do this by eye…

Press your seams open.  You’ve got wings…

You will need to add a central strip to finish your butterfly spool, but with no paper to rip out, you are done!

And because you are being good and you don’t want another random block lying around, you can make one up into an ever-useful needle book, like I did…

… or be more adventurous and make lots more blocks, as long as you make them into something quickly!

Thank you for having me Katy, and good luck to everyone in the FAL. xxx