Summer Sampler 2018 - Under the Eiffel Tower block
Happy Monday all! Ready for another Summer Sampler 2018 block? This one is called "Under the Eiffel Tower" by Rebecca Bryan of Bryan House Quilts.
Of all the iconic photos you see of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, I think it's funny that you don't see more pictures that are taken directly underneath the tower. I've been to the Eiffel Tower twice, and both times I was wowed by the effect when you stand beneath it, smack in the middle, looking straight up. I was there a few months ago with my family and my kids loved it as well!
And it is a truly inspired starting point for a quilt block design! I'm so glad Becca thought of it. Want to make your own Under the Eiffel Tower block? Click here to get the Summer Sampler 2018 pattern. So let's add this week's star to our Map - another gold star for Paris, on our second stop in the City of Lights. 😊
This week's tip: I think now is a good time to remind everyone that foundation paper-piecing isn't foolproof! There are a lot of ways to screw up your blocks—and one of them nearly happened to me while piecing my Eiffel Tower block. As you can see from the photo above, my first piece of fabric (the white piece in the middle) wasn't pressed flat when I added the green and blue pieces along the sides. This resulted in the giant wrinkle you can see in the photo.
I had to tear out the blue piece, flatten out the white piece, and resew the blue piece to fix it. Not fixing it would have been a huge problem, because imagine what would have happened if I had trimmed the unit and then taken the paper off. Without the paper, my trimmed unit suddenly would have been the wrong size—it would have been much larger than needed, and pieces would not have lined up. The same thing can happen if you don't press all the pieces thoroughly between each seam. So watch carefully as you're sewing, and press 'em nice and flat for the most accurate results!
That's it for this week! See you next Monday for another block. And remember, it's not too late to join us—click here for all the details! And visit #summersampler2018 to see the blocks everyone else has been making for the quilt-along!