scrap bag sampler week 10 - tete a tete block

March was my mum’s birthday month and she would plant lots of the miniature Tête-à-tête narcissus in pots to brighten up her doorstep so this was the inspiration for my block design. 

Tête-à-tête Blocks by @surfseasew

I have designed Two 6 ½” x 6 ½“ square Tête-à-tête blocks: A beginners’ version and one a bit more advanced so take your pick or do both – I hope you enjoy sewing the block and it’ll be fab to see all your sweet flowers.

First things first

As the pattern involves sewing together small pieces of fabric I shorten the stich length on my sewing machine to around 2. I also use a scant ¼” seam allowance. To check the accuracy of your seam width sew a test piece of spare fabric using either a ¼” foot, if your machine comes with one, or a normal foot, and once sewn measure your seam allowance with a ruler.  You may need to adjust your needle position to get an accurate ¼” seam 

On my Janome the ¼” needle position is set at 8.3 but I tend to move it to about 8.9 – If you don’t have a ¼” foot don’t worry as you can adjust your needle position and use the edge of your standard foot as a guide or use some tape to mark on your needle plate or use a magnetic guide

Beginners’ Block

Cut out your required pieces – I have used scraps of Green and Yellow fabrics but any colours with a good contrast will work well - just have fun with your scraps – Try and use similar shades to differentiate between the stalks and the flower petals with a mix of light, medium and dark fabric.

Marking and Sewing

You can mark your sewing line on the squares by either folding and creasing with a roller or using a Hera marker or pencil

On the reverse of the (6) 2”x2” flower petal squares
mark, crease or draw a diagonal line from corner to corner across the square

With RIGHT sides together and following the diagram place (4) of the marked squares lining up with the top edge of:

(2) 5”x 2” rectangles

(2) 3 ½ ” x 2” rectangles

The marked diagonal line should run from bottom LEFT corner to the top RIGHT corner

Also, place the remaining (2) flower petal
squares with (2) of the 2”x2” Green Stem squares

Either pin or clip the fabric pieces RIGHT sides together to stop them slipping whilst you sew on these lines – I usually chain sew pieces and start sewing using a small scrap of offcut fabric so that the thread doesn’t catch or bunch-up under the needle.

 

Join the pieces by sewing directly on the marked diagonal line.

Trimming

Using an ‘Add a Quarter’ ruler or other measuring ruler place it so the ¼ “ line is directly on top of the sewn line of stitching and the edge of the ruler is ¼ “ away then trim the excess with a rotary cutter as in the diagrams 

Press open the seams on all 6 pieces of fabric and lay out all your sewn pieces together with the (1) remaining unsewn 3 ½ “ x 2” rectangle and the (2) unsewn 2” x 2” squares.

Following the diagram sew the pieces RIGHT sides together using a scant ¼ “ seam as shown to get (4) 6½ “ x 2” strips

Finally, sew the (4) strips Right sides together using a scant ¼ “ seam

 And Voila – hopefully you will have your completed block

Intermediate Block

This block is very similar in design to that of the Beginner block but uses narrower pieces of fabric and although it looks complicated the piecing follows the same steps with an additional initial step of joining fabric strips to make the ‘stem’ pieces.

Cutting Out

*Read through before cutting out* as you may want to chain piece long 1” strips together from your stash beforehand and then cut to the smaller sizes

From your stash you will need the following pieces for your stalks

(4) 5 ½ “ x 1”

(4) 4 ½ “ x 1” (6) 3 ½ “ x 1”

(4) 2 ½ “ x 1”

(4) 1 ½ “ x 1”

(3) 1 ½ “ x 1 ½ “

And the following contrasting coloured pieces for your petals

(9) 1 ½ “ x 1 ½ “

Marking and Sewing

With a scant ¼ “ seam sew together the matching lengths of 1” wide strips in pairs so you get:

(2)  5 ½ “ x 1 ½ ”

(2)  4 ½ “ x 1 ½ ”

(3)  3 ½ “ x 1 ½ ”

(2)  2 ½ “ x 1 ½ ”

(2)  1 ½ “ x 1 ½ ”

Press seams to one side

Follow the beginners’ pattern by marking a diagonal line across the reverse of all the (9) 1 ½ “ x 1 ½ “ petal
squares.

In the same way as with the beginners’ pattern place (6) of the petal squares Right sides together across the
top width edge of:

(2) of the 5 ½ “ x 1 ½ ” rectangles

(2) of the 4 ½ “ x 1 ½ ” rectangles

(2) of the 3 ½ “ x 1 ½ ” rectangles

And the remaining (3) petal squares Right sides together with the (3)  1 ½ “ x 1 ½ “ stalk squares

The marked diagonal line should run from bottom LEFT corner to the top RIGHT corner

Sew directly on the marked line of all (9) pieces

As described in the beginners’ pattern measure

the ¼ “ seam and trim off of the excess  

Press seams open

Following the design and with Right sides together continue to join the strips together in rows and then the
rows together using the same scant ¼ “ seam allowance pressing your seams open as you go to reduce bulk with such small fabric pieces

Give your block a good press and sit back and admire your pretty flowers

 

**************************************************

I think this is a great tribute to Gill's Mum and tear up every time I think about it. I used the simple block for the sewalong bag.

And can you believe that's the end of the blocks for our 10 week sewalong. Come back next week for the instructions for the sewalong bucket bag or use any bag pattern to showcase your lovely blocks.

Visit our designers on Instagram to see their versions of this block : @cotefleurie @getahashtagkim @JustSewSue @lisasew @metroquilter @picosailors @pippaspatch @quirkyhannah  @surfseasew @therunninghare

#scrapbagsampler