Friendship Circle Block
Hi Sunny Friends! I want to share with you a quick tutorial on the Friendship Circle Block. This is a finished 14" block, and I pieced this together using my sewing machine, but you could very easily hand piece or convert the templates to EPP. Of course, if you are hand piecing, the bold line is your stitching line and the perforated line is with the 1/4-inch seam allowance.
Here are the templates: FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE
I used Quilters Template Plastic to make my templates, but you can also use cardboard.
Trace the template to the wrong side of your fabric. You will need only ONE piece for the center. For all other pieces, trace and cut FOUR.
Press a crease in the middle of the center piece, the curvy side pieces and the outer quarter circles. The creases are helpful in matching centers.
With right sides together, sew the triangle pieces to (B) to two of the curvy side pieces (G). When working with curves, make sure the concave piece is on top facing you as you sew. Take note of the placement of your pieces. I placed two like fabrics on opposite sides of the center.
Now add the curvy sides without the triangle pieces to the opposite sides of the center. Match the center crease.
The next step is a bit trickier. We need to add the curvy sides plus triangle unit to the center. At first, I tried sewing the triangle and curvy unit to the center as a Y-seam. After a bit of experimenting, I found simply sewing it from end to end was the easiest method and gave better results. If you play around with this, let me know what you think.
With the concave center piece facing you, pin the triangle to the end of the curvy piece (G) plus center unit. Match the center creases and seams. As you sew curves, ease in the fullness.
Repeat for the opposite side. Open up this unit and press.
The last step is to add the quarter circle to the corners to make the block square. Again, match the crease in the center of the quarter circle to the curvy side. Add the quarter circle pieces on opposite sides. Ease in the fullness and be sure the concave piece is on top, facing you as you sew.
Give your block a good press! Click on the link to print out a color sheet for your Friendship Circle Quilt.
