Girl Next Door - Month 2 - Picket Fence Block July 01 2020 8 Comments

IT IS A PREREQUISITE OF MAKING THIS BLOCK THAT YOU HAVE A COPY OF THE PATTERN GIRL NEXT DOOR BY LOUISE PAPAS FOR THE JEN KINGWELL DESIGN COLLECTIVE.

Wow!  I can’t believe it’s July already.  Charlotte (@Kirkenoll) here. This month, we are going to complete the four picket fence blocks.  After all, what is a sweet schoolhouse without a darling picket fence?

I love chain piecing so hopefully my tips will help keep you organized and help you to piece these borders together successfully.

Each month, I will share the fabric we used on the original sample at Red Thread Studio and then layout the cutting checklist.  I have also provided cutting tabs that you can download and print out.  These are useful to keep track of the various pieces used in this scrappy quilt.  At the end, I will also give some useful tips that I encountered when piecing the sample.

Feel free to comment here, on Instagram or in the Girl Next Door Quilt-Along Facebook group with any questions.  Don't forget to share your photos of your work in progress either on Instagram or Facebook each week.  Just use the hashtag #GirlNextDoorQAL.

Choose Your Fabric

We chose to keep the flower stems scrappy by using different green fabrics.

Our floral fabric is simple with a neutral/white backdrop and the picket fence fabric has subtle tone on tone dots in order to differentiate it from the white background fabric.

Cutting Checklist

Make four 22 ½” x 6 ½” picket fence borders

Picket Fence Fabric

• 52 x T22 - 1 ½ x 4 - cut 2 x 4” WOF strips - then sub-cut 1 ½
• 48 x T23 - 1 ¼ x 1 - cut 1 x 1 ¼” WOF strip plus leftover from T22 cut - then sub-cut 1
• 52 x T24 - use template - cut 2 x 1 ½” WOF strips then sub-cut using triangle template

Green Garden Fabric

• 48 x T25 - 1 ¼ x 2 ¾ - scrappy cuts

Floral Garden Fabric

• 48 x T26 - 1 ¼ x 1 ¼ - cut 2 x 1 ¼” WOF strips then sub-cut 1 ¼ squares
• 48 x T27 - use template - cut 3 x 1 ½” WOF strips then sub-cut using template
• 4 x T28 and 4 x T28 in reverse - use template - 1 ½ x 1 ½

Wait To Cut

• 4 strips - 22 ½ x 2” - may need to adjust the 2” to make sure the border measures 6 ½”. Cut bigger and then trim down to exact size.

Picket Fence Cutting Tabs

If you wish you can cut up tabs and place with your cut fabric pieces.  See attached Cutting Tabs. 

Follow Pattern Assembly instructions to piece four picket fence borders

• These picket fence borders are perfect for chain piecing.
• If you are working from the Red Thread Studio fabric pack, the fence fabric is printed lightly on one side. Be careful to sew right sides together. There was a little un-sewing going at my house tonight :-).
• Match lower and upper picket fence seams. I did lots of pinning here.
• When sewing floral garden long strip to the picket fence top try to keep those points pointy if you wish - no stress! If you sew with the point seams facing up you can see where to sew so you don’t cut off the points. I also first pin the seams to see if they all meet in the right place before sewing when I start to piece a new to me block that seems a bit complicated (anything with templates or points).  Another option to ensure precise points, is to foundation paper piece the fence blocks. We will share previous participants photos of their foundation paper pieced blocks in the Facebook Group.  But who says that the picket fence must be pointy? There are fences with flat tops instead of pointy so if you consistently sew off those points, it will look fine too! The most important thing is no stress! If it’s not perfect or exactly like the original that’s what makes it unique and created with your own hands. 

• Press floral garden long strip seam towards the long strip to reduce bulk.
• Each picket fence border should measure 22 ½” x 6 ½”. If you check your measurements periodically as you piece you can be more precise.
• When borders are completely pieced give it a final press on a fluffy towel using just a little Magic Sizing to flatten all the seams nicely.
• If it’s a little smaller or bigger you can block it to size. The way I do this is to spray lightly with Magic Sizing and either stretch a bit or shrink it up till it measures correctly, let it dry then press it again to set.