Tuesday, June 5, 2012

A Paper Piecing Saga :)

I am thrilled to say that my large (about 20" x 34") paper pieced semi is now complete!!  Yippee Skippee!!!  And, I am happy to say that I am quite pleased with the way it turned out. (And that is always a bonus :)  So I thought this morning I would share the little saga of how this block came to be.  


This is my Dad's semi.  The last time he stopped by (My mom and I use him as our personal delivery guy :) I snapped a quick picture of his truck through our front window.  So I took this picture and brought it into my EQ 7 program.  

From there I drew the lines in with the picture as reference.  Once I had the basic outline of the truck I imported the image into excel and went to print it off and decided it needed color.  So I went back, added some color and then printed it of to use as a paper pieced pattern.  (I made it rather large so there was a lot of cutting and taping going on to make 1 large pattern.)  



Then I sat and stared at this and tried to figure out how in the world I was going to turn that drawing into a paper pieced pattern.  I started by breaking it into 4 sections and then adding some connecting lines :)  And I figured from there just go at it and make the best of it.  So I pieced the first section which went all right and then upon starting the second section I dedided that I could probally put it together just as fast doing normal piecing as it was mostly squares and such.  So I did that.  And this is what came from it.  


Ya, silly me didn't think about the fact that when you paper piece the image is reversed.  So when I regular pieced it wasn't reversed.  Needless to say, piece 1 was not matching up with piece 2 as the front of the truck was facing the rear :)  So I got frustrated, scribbled on the piece I had done wrong and wen't back to all paper piecing.

It was slow going at first but the more I practiced (this is only my second time paper piecing and my first time attempting to make a pattern:) the more the technique started to make sense and the easier it got to adjust my little "pattern" to reflect more of a standard paper pieced pattern.  (not that I am saying it is anything to write home about :)  So all in all, it was a learning process.  I can't tell you how many times I changed things but in the end, after tons of new drawn lines and lots of scribble lines, I came up with this as is the final paper pieced verision :) And I figured since I had spent so much time to put it together I might as well share it, right :)  So if you ever need a large paper pieced semi truck you can find this image in Google Documents here :)


You can download the image and then put it in any program you wish.  You can change the size to the size you need and then get paper piecing (I stretched this image quite a bit to make it longer :)  Oh, and like I said, this isn't a fabulous paper piecing pattern as you will have to add the 1/4" seam allowance around each of the sections on your own since I didn't make the sections separate.  (Also, I found out that you have to piece the frame of the door regular as I couldn't figure out how to paper piece it once you had cut out the center, but it is symmetrical so you don't have to worry about piecing it regular because it won't mess it up :) Basically, if you ever use this and have questions just email me, I would be happy to explain my crazy way of doing it :)

And so after all was said and done, I had one pretty awesome Semi, if I do say my self ;)  It was a rather large challenge, but I learned so much along the way and that makes me so happy!!

 I actually sewed all of the blocks together yesterday and basted the quilt.  So now I just have to get it quilted and then I will share the full reveal :)  I am just so excited, it is going to be such an awesome Father's Day gift :)


And since it is Tuesday and I actually posted a finish (well part of the finish) I might as well link on up :)





Fresh Poppy Design
Pin It!

26 comments:

  1. That is AMAZING and i can't wait to see this guy come together!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What an awesome job! It looks just like your photo!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Totally awesome! Designing paper piecing patterns is still confusing me, though I do have one I will have to make eventually. Hopefully it will start to come clear sooner rather than later. Yours is so cool looking!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my goodness! When I saw your block in my dashboard, I thought it was your picture of the real thing! That is amazing. I might actually want to try making one for myself someday. You are so kind to make your template available. I'm sure it was a TON of work.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm so impressed! That's a complex block and you totally tackled it - beautiful work!

    ReplyDelete
  6. WOW! That is so impressive! Your Dad is going to LOVE it and that's an understatement!

    ReplyDelete
  7. That IS going to be an awesome Father's Day gift! I am new to paper piecing too, and I have all these ideas in my head but I'm not quite sure how to get them into the lines of a pattern. Looks like you did a great job! Can't wait to see the finished product.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is INsane! I can't get over it. Your dad is going to be so excited!

    ReplyDelete
  9. WOW! WOW! WOW! Do I need to say more?

    Judi

    ReplyDelete
  10. So clever! You did a fantastic job doing this pattern!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love this....it's so fun to see your process, and how you worked through. It's turned out fabulous! Have fun swimming!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Cannot wait to see the quilt finished. It looks wonderful, so far.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I have not tried to paper piece yet but have something I want to make. One reason I got EQ7 last week is just for that I want to import the picture and make it into a pattern. Any way great job.

    http://richardquilts.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. WOW! That is ama-za-zing!!!!! Incredible! That's so cool that I bet your dad will want to carry it around like a little kid does their own blankie. You are so talented! Thanks for all the inspiration :))

    ReplyDelete
  15. That looks so awesome! Love how you transfer it from picture to paper piecing =D

    I'm having a giveaway on my blog. Feel free to stop by and enter (if you haven't already) =D
    http://ibescheraldine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/official-150th-post-giveaway.html

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow! That looks fantastic! Your dad is going to be thrilled I bet! You did such a fabulous job translating an idea into a beautiful paper pieced block.

    ReplyDelete
  17. It looks amazing! It's really cool.

    ReplyDelete
  18. That looks great! Seriously, so impressive.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oh my gosh!!! That is inCREDible!!! Way to go girl!! He will love it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. That's the spitting image of that photo! NICE!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. WOW - you did an amazing job!!!

    ReplyDelete
  22. You did an AMAZING job! Can't wait for the reveal!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I love your truck pattern! It is just like mine, I will have to try this one day! Thank you for the pattern!!!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks so much for doing such an awesome job, I lost my son Dee last year he drove trucks so I wanted to try an honor his dream of driving trucks

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for your sweet comments. I just love hearing from you!!
Have a Happy Quilting Day :)

Melissa