Coffee Filter Technique!

Whoever thought up this technique is a genius!.. There I've said it.  This was one of the patterns that was donated to all the guild members at the Gathering of the Guilds in Woodstock this past month and I just had to share it.  I've always had a difficult time sewing curves and this technique virtually eliminates the difficulty.  Take an ordinary coffee filter...dollar stores sell them cheaply.

With a dry iron, press the filter flat.

 Fold the filter in half and clip the outside corners. Fold a second time in the opposite direction and clip the corners again.  You can see here the clips made at the bottom of the half circle and  at the top where the arc has been aligned.

 Take an 8 and 1/4 inch square and centre the filter on the RIGHT side of your fabric.. Here I am using  a colour fabric. The same can be done for the background fabric. Sew 1/16 th inch seam all the way around the coffee filter outer edge.

 Trim the excess fabric 3/16th of an inch, thereby creating your 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Using the notches as your reference guide, align your ruler and cut the circle in half. I have separated the pieces to better show the alignment for cutting.  Do not separate , turn your ruler and align across , again using the notches as your guide. Make the second cut, creating four quarter circles.

 Here are your four pieces cut and ready to use.

 Turn each one right side out. Finger press the seam making sure you align the corner of the fabric with the corner of the cut filter.

With a 5 inch background square (or coloured square when  cutting the light curves) align the corners carefully...I pinned the sides to hold it in place and pressed the curve down before sewing , either by hand, straight seam along the edge of the curve or as in this case, I used a blanket stitch since this is part of a scrappy table cloth I plan on making. Remove the paper at this point  and voila!

Here are my curved pieces ready to sewn together. This was a totally new technique to me and I am really excited about it.  When I think about how slow and annoyed I would be when doing the Drunkard's Path or the Devil's Puzzle I could just spit nickels. I wish someone had shown me this technique ages ago..  Give it a try  and let me know if you agree this is just the slickest way to sew curves....one of the ladies at guild last week also mentioned it is a great way to sew full circles in place as well......who knew????