Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Two Circles Squared

The tutorial for this intriguing little bit of fabric magic didn't catch my eye until after the holidays, but decided to give it a try because 
  1. It (end product) looked difficult. 
  2. Sounded easy (per instructions)
  3. Took next to nothing by way of fabric committed
  4. Gave me a chance to TRY to justify having purchased a circle cutting ruler, not to mention all the Christmas-themed yardage I never brought myself to cut into. (Sigh. I have to get over that!)
Mine turned out a little wonky, but I think it was due to my lack of care in doing those final folds. 

This one was made using two 8 inch circles, which resulted in a 4 inch square.
  1. joined face to face using 1/4 inch seam, leaving an inch and a half open for turning right side out
  2. once circle is turned right side out, flattened and pressed, the 1.5 inch opening is closed off as a 1/8 inch top stitch is sewn around the perimeter.
  3. the circle is then folded in half. The ends of the resulting "taco" are pinched to make a middle line just at those ends, which are then joined with two or three stitches (hand sewn)
  4. rotate a halfway and bring the two other opposing side together to join as well. result should be something that looks kind of like a crab rangoon wrapper
  5. flatten the "wrapper" centering the stitched end joins forming a square.
  6. flip the petal-like extensions inside out and over the outer corners and even out for the finish.
  7. the back side will be a square with contrasting corner tabs.
The video walk-through which served as my instruction may be found here: 


I hope to give this a whirl with a smaller circle than my first run-through. Yes, I tend toward miniaturization. 

Related ideas for/with this:
  • Use serger for the initial seam.
  • Use finished square as a pocket for an apron or doll's dress
  • Join several for a tree skirt.

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