Quilting and My Accucut Machine
|
| Quilting has become my new
pastime over the last couple of years, especially during the colder months
of our Canadian climate. I grew up in rural Ontario, in a little
hamlet called Kinlough. I remember my Mother spending countless
hours piecing, appliquéing, and hand quilting. Some of her favorites
were Dresden Plate, Parasol Lady and a very pretty appliqué leaf and
flower pattern (kind of like a medallion quilt).
I thought I would give it a try, and started out with a
small nine patch design. It didn't turn out too bad. What with being
new to quilting, I was also new to using a rotary cutter. My pieces
weren't all cut precisely and my quarter inch seam allowance wasn't
always accurate. I tried several small projects but wasn't really
happy with the results.
I stumbled on paper piecing and bought some excellent
books by
Carol Doak. I had great success with this method and did some
small wall hangings and a couple of lap size quilts.
I wanted to be able to piece a quilt without having to
use paper piecing alone. I had seen some die cut fabric hearts on a
website. I wanted to be able to use my own fabric and began
investigating to see if there were any die cut fabric machines available for
the amateur quilter like me.
I found the Accucut website, and I was intrigued with all of the
possibilities. To think I could have accuracy in my cutting -
eliminating wasted fabric and frustration! |
 |
|
 |
The small wall hanging pictured is one of
my first successful attempts at learning paper piecing and coordinating
fabrics. I was happy with this project. |
|
| This is a quilt I finished last winter using
paper-piecing. |
|
|
|
|
This is a small wall hanging I did using
paper piecing. |
|
| These are some of the dies I purchased with my
machine. I ordered the mix and match quilt dies to get me started.
I also ordered a couple of different dies such as the chisel shape die,
hexagon, and a parallelogram for some variety in my piecing. |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
This die allows you to cut multiple triangles at the same
time. It has four triangles which can be stitched into
finished 3" squares or used as triangles. |
|
| This is my
Accucut machine.
I received it only a week ago and I am so happy with it. It cuts
accurate squares, triangles, rectangles and just about any shape you can
imagine. You just purchase the individual dies for your desired
shapes. |
|
|
|
 |
On the Accucut website, you can view patch
Block Ideas using the quilt dies, and this is the Jewel Box block.
You can arrange the individual blocks to create different patterns.
The pieces go together so quickly because the cutting has been accurately
cut, I just have to be careful with my quarter inch seam allowance.
Sewing the cut fabric pieces is so relaxing and rewarding due to the
preciseness of the machine's die cuts. This is my first project that
I am doing using the Accucut - it is going to be a wall hanging. |
|
|
I cut the triangles and squares using the
dies from the 8-Die Block set. It takes only a matter of seconds to
cut out pieces. I find there is minimal fabric waste when I precut the
fabric pieces to fit over the die's cutting blades. These are some of my
first die cut triangles and squares. |
 |
|
|
|
This is a project I did using paper
piecing. I downloaded the project from the
Electric Quilt
Wizard website. I bought the software from my local quilt shop
last year. I enjoy doing sample layouts to help pick out my fabrics
and for experimenting with different layouts before I cut any fabric. |
|
