Fussy Cutting Tutorial

I've received several emails and comments asking how I make my fussy cut diamonds and how I choose fabrics.  This is a tutorial to show you the fabrics I've used in my six pointed stars so far, how I fussy cut them, and a little bit about what fabrics I use.  

The fabrics below are:

left:  Amelia by Jo Morton for Andover

right:  Elementary by Martha Walker for Studio E Designs

Below is Hope Chest by Edyta Sitar (Laundry Basket Quilts) for Moda.  I really like this fabric.  I've used it in my Soupcon block, a Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses, a Road 66 Hexagon from the book Primarily Quilts by Di Ford, and the 6 pointed diamond from the sew along at Temecula Quilt Company.  The brown star (bottom left) is cut from this same fabric but a different color way and a different place on the fabric.

 

The fabric in the next two photos is from the line Romantic Olde Charleston by Judie Rothermel for Marcus fabric.

The one below is Judie Rothermel's 25th Anniversary line.

My fussy cut snowman Soupcon block  is from Share The Joy by Deb Strain for Moda.

The piece on the left is Paint Box by Laundry Basket Quilts for Moda.  That piece is good for hexagons and Lucy Boston, but I don't think there is enough going on in the fabric for a diamond.
The piece on the right is Old Glory by Nancy Gere for Windham fabrics.  I would make a diamond out of that one because of all the movement in the fabric.

This is what I use to make my 6 pointed diamonds.  I have tried using the mirror and the plastic templates that are available and the 28 mm rotary cutter, but I honestly do better at matching diamonds and hexagons with my homemade window template, a marker and a pair of scissors.  The window template is just made using an index card.  I trace the shape of one of the paper pieces and then add between 1/4" and 3/8" and cut out the center.  When I'm happy with what I see in the window of the template, I trace around the edge with the marker and cut it out with scissors.  It makes great TV work when I'm too tired to stitch.

When I choose where to cut my fabric, I am most concerned with the two points where I've drawn the arrows (below) and the area in between.  If I'm using a stripe, I try to make it cross the diamond at and/or just below that top arrow where it will join with the next piece.  At the bottom arrow I try to find "something" in the fabric that will make an interesting design where the points meet.  I try to have a different color in the center to draw your eye there.  And, to be honest it hides the stitches that are there because it's not always easy to get those 6 points to meet.
Also I try to make sure that there is something dark at the very top point because the chances are pretty high that I will use a light colored background fabric to set the diamonds.  If my outside points are really light or white, the points will get lost in the background.  

Below is one of the diamonds I showed in my last post along with the fabric and the window template on the fabric where it was cut.  The fabric is Ruby by Timeless Treasures.  I ended up getting half of each of the petals in the design so it made the diamond look like it had a big flower in the center.  In the bottom I centered (or tried to center) that little brown diamond right in the bottom so it would look like the flower had a center.

Most of what I've used so far is from my stash.  Below are some fabrics that I bought at Back Door Quilts in a bundle.  They have used these same fabrics for fussy cutting in a Sue Daley quilt that they are working on.  I really love this bundle, and after I started looking at it I figured out why.  I had about a third of the fabrics already in my stash.  You can see the full bundle in my post here.

The fabrics below are just a few I pulled from my stash that I would use for fussy cutting.  I chose these because they have:
 a big enough random print with several different motifs in each piece
different colors in the fabric AND/OR
a stripe or border print

The fabrics below are great, but you can see that the print/design in them is too repetitive,  and they would not be good for fussy cutting.

Here is the window template placed on 6 different motifs in the fabric shown in the photo below.  

The fabric is another from the Timeless Treasures Ruby line.  (It looks the same as the one I used before, but this print is a bit closer together.)

By placing the template at this point on the fabric I ended up with this star.  

And, by choosing a different place in the fabric, I ended up with a totally different star.  With both of these stars I have a dark point at the top and a little something in the very bottom point to create a center.  I have parts of the orange flower petals on both sides of the diamond even though they don't quite meet in the star.

Here is how I cut the star from a striped fabric.  I made sure the very top wasn't on the light stripe, I put the black part of the stripe at the middle of the diamond and that little white motif with the red dot in the bottom.  

Here is the same fabric used in one of my Road 66 hexagons.  When I do the inside 6 round of a hexagon, the fussy cutting is the same as for a diamond.  If you fussy cut that round, you line your design on the edge that connects to the next hexagon.

But, the second and subsequent rounds have to be cut differently.  If you look at the hexagon where I've measured, there is one way that it is longer than the other.  On the second round every other hexagon is turned differently.  I've shown that by making two templates and marking the long sides (points) with dots.  I've drawn arrows where the design for fussy cutting has to be placed.  You would cut 6 of both hexagons.



The hexagon is a tessellation, but as you can see in the diagram you have to turn every other piece a different direction to create a fussy cut design on the second round. The third round would be (starting at the top) one from the pink template and 2 from the green template.  A hexagon quilt is like the tumbler or apple core quilt.  They all make a charm quilt, but the pieces have to be turned different directions to fit together.


Even when I fussy cut a circular, oval or floral design, I still cut half of my hexagons one way and half the other.  This fabric is Civil War Melodies by Judie Rothermel.  

Here are more of my Road 66 hexagons with different rounds that are fussy cut.

This is probably a lot more than you ever wanted to know about fussy cutting diamonds and hexagons.   I am really enjoying English Paper Piecing and fussy cutting fabric.  If you haven't given it a try yet, I hope you will.  If you have any questions, be sure to email me.  [email protected]

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.  
Thanks for stopping by for a visit!