Pointy or Plump

Pointy or Plump?

****

Were you thinking I was going to share
about a recent trip to a lingerie department?

No.
Sorry.

I use to teach quilting classes before and 

while I worked at the Fig Leaf quilt shop.

One of my favorite classes to teach was
 beginning applique classes.

My goal was to help quilters learn to like 

the "A" word.

The challenge for most appliquers

is keeping the curves curved

and the points pointy.

This month I've been working on

 this quilt and appliquéing stars and leaves.

The pattern was drawn with plump star points.

I'm so use to making pointy points

that doing plump points has been a challenge.

It's like doing a very tiny curve on

the star tips.

Here's some plump one.

Here's some pointy ones.

I would tell my students not to worry about 

turning corners or making points 

until the stitching reached that part.

By anchoring the point with a stitch,

 and then turning the corner, it's pretty easy to 

make perky pointy points.

Older appliqué instruction included pressing

under seam allowances with an iron, which meant 

burnt fingers and big plump corners.

Finger pressing is a safer and easier
way to create a smooth curve.
(no spanks required!)

Instructions also recommended clipping

seams allowances to create smooth curves.  

All that did for me was to create pointy curves.

Pointy,

Plump,

Curvy

I guess I could be talking about lingerie .

Until Next Time-