Girl Next Door - Month 4 - Girl Block September 01 2020 3 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.

Charlotte (@Kirkenoll) here.  Are you ready to step back into your childhood?  There is a good chance you played with paper dolls when you were young.  

To play paper dolls, a little girl only needed some paper and a pair of scissors.  So instead, get out your fabric and a rotary cutter.  This month we are working on the Girl Block.  Now, let's play!

We've also added some additional tips and ideas that came from participants of the first QAL that you may enjoy.....read all the way to the end!

Each month, I will share the fabric we used 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. Just use the hashtag #GirlNextDoorQAL.

Choose Your Fabric

For the background fabric, we chose various light to medium-light fabrics to alternate so the blocks don’t blend from one block to another.  Also, be careful if using directional fabric for the background. We made sure that the dress, legs, skin and hair fabrics would contrast with the background fabric so each girl can be seen clearly.  I also choose fabric for the dresses that I could fussy cut.

Cutting Checklist - make 24 6 ½” x 9” girl blocks - 6 girls in each border side

Cut for each 6 ½” x 9”girl block:

Dress Fabric

• 1 x T39 - use template - 3 ¾  x @4 ½ - dress - may want to fussy cut
• 1 x T40 - 1 ¼  x 5 ½ - sleeves - may want to fussy cut

Face/Hand Skin Fabric

• 1 x T47 - 2  x 2 - face
• 2 x T48 - 1 ¼  x 1 - hands

Leg Fabric

• 2 x T49 - 1 ¼  x 2 ½ - legs - striped fabric looks cute

Hair Fabric

• 2 x T46 - 2  x 2 - cut on the diagonal to make two triangles
• 2 x T48 - 1 ¼  x 1

Background Fabric - white main background fabric

• 1 x T41 and 1 x T41 in reverse - use template - 3 ¾  x @3
• 2 x T42 - 2 ½  x 2 ½
• 2 x T43 - 1  x 2 ½
• 2 x T44 - 1 ¾   x 3
• 4 x T45 - 1 ¼  x 1 ½
• 2 x T46 - 2  x 2 - cut on the diagonal to make two triangles

Girl 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 girl blocks

• Fabric choices: for background pick various light to medium-light fabrics that you can alternate the blocks so they don’t blend from block to block.  Take care if selecting a directional or geometric fabric as you will need to be mindful of how they are pieced together.  Dress, legs, skin and hair fabrics should contrast with background so girl can be seen clearly.
• After you piece the hair and background triangles around the face you may need to trim that unit before you add the ponytails.
• Try to keep the face points pointy if you wish - no stress if not perfect!
• Match bottom of hair ponytail to face.
• Try to piece carefully because there is no easy way to make block bigger to cut down.  Try to make one block first to see how close you are.  Each block should measure 6 ½’  x 9”.  Trim or block to size as necessary.
• Be aware that girls are holding hands so you want to match them.  To make sure that happens make a 6 ½’  x 9” clear template with a line across it at 2 ¾” where the top of the arm/hand should be, then trimmed the block to be exactly that size with the hands in the exact same place.

• There are 24 girl blocks to make which can be a daunting task if you do them one at a time.  I made these two to understand the process and make sure they ended up the correct size.  Then to make the rest I cut all the fabric pieces and positioned them for sewing.  That way I could pin and assembly line chain piece each section at one time following the pattern instructions and get them done much faster.  Make sure you take pictures when you have the blocks organized so once you start chain piecing you can refer back if needed.
• When blocks are completely pieced give it a final press on a fluffy towel using just a little Magic Sizing to flatten all the seams nicely.

Twenty two girls dressed and ready to sew!

Twenty four girls in four rows - sew cute!

ADDITIONAL TIPS AND IDEAS

Foundation Paper Piecing

Lou Ann B. chose to foundation paper piece her girls (along with the picket fence, trees, flowers, houses and stores!).  She used graph paper that with a quarter inch grid. Using the pattern pieces, she drew them on the graph paper. Lou Ann would add as many pieces as she could until she had to start another section because of a seam.

Lou Ann's tips:

• Sew right on the paper and then add the sections together to make your block or unit.
• Use a small stitch (1.5) so the paper will tear off when done.
• When you make your drawing copy it on copy paper and sew. NOTE: You always need to make your copies from the original. If you make copies from a copy, the size gets distorted and will not work out.

Boys Not Girls - No Problem!

Kathy W. started her Girl Next Door quilt before she knew the gender of her grand baby so she made a few adjustments and alternated Boy blocks with the Girl blocks for her version of the quilt.

Not Just for Little Girls!

Dorothy F's version of Girl Next Door depicts her and her friends.  You'll notice many of her girlfriends have gray hair.

Ways to Customize Your Girlies

Sewaftersix customized her girls with sweet embroidered faces.  Imagine the fun you can have embroidering the dresses and beyond!

Have a Play Date!

Julie G. enlisted the help of her 5 year old grand daughter to play with combinations for the dress and leggings on her design wall.  What wonderful memories!