Let's GO! BIG
Today is my stop on the GO! BIG Blog Hop! I initially saw the GO! BIG at Bernina University and I've been wanting one ever since. (Full Discloser: AccuQuilt sent me the cutter, die & mat.) If you thought the GO! was easy, wait until you see this! It's electric so you don't even have to crank the handle. You turn it on and push your die in and it sucks it in and shoots it out the other side. (It's really more of a gentle slide out the other side.) Genius. Simply genius. Here's the cutter information so you can check it out! There's a video of it in action too!
I am using the double wedding ring die for my project! I've always wanted to make a circular pillow with the double wedding ring block and since this was perfectly cut, I knew there was little chance of it coming out wonky.
Andover Fabrics sent these pretties! I loved the soft blues so I added a grey solid to the mix for a vintage vibe. They're from their Downton Abby Downstairs Collection.
I cut strips and folded them accordion style to cut six at a time. It took me about fifteen minutes to cut the whole pillow. Crazy fast. I've made a double wedding ring with templates; fifteen minutes would've yielded about six pieces.
Just like with the other cutters, you can put a mat over just the area that you're cutting. The bed of this cutter is wider so you can fit two of the narrow dies on at the same time!
I wanted the fabrics to be random, but I arranged them a bit just to insure that I had all the right pieces.
Sewing curves is a dream with AccuQuilt because they have notches that you align and everything just fits perfectly the first time.
Piecing all the curved strips took about two hours with half of that being pressing time.
I used a starch alternative to keep the bias edges crisp.
Initially I was planning to free motion the whole thing, but when I finished the piecing, I thought it needed something more old fashioned looking. I just did straight line 1/4" from the seam with Aurifil 50 wt.
xo LC