How I Sew A Drunkard's Path

Seeing as how I seem to be on a bit of a Drunkard's Path roll of late, I have had a couple of people ask me how I piece them. I use the method, as I understood it, that came in the instructions with the die from Accuquilt. Whether I have interpreted it correctly is up to discussion, but this is what works for me.

Place the quarter circle upon the larger piece,
lining up the right hand corners and the little notch at the top evenly.

Carefully flip both pieces over, maintaining the alignment,
and pin them together at the notch.

Twist the two pieces until you have the two top corners of the curve matched up.
Secure with a pin.

With your sewing machine set for the needle down position,
stitch about three stitches and then raise the presser foot and remove the first pin.

Using your fingers to keep the two fabric edges in line, sew until the next pin.
You may feel your are pulling the fabric quite a bit but if the fabric edges stay aligned you should be okay.

Sew until you reach the pin you placed by the central notch.
Stop and remove that pin.

Place a pin at the bottom corner, twisting the fabric to make it meet evenly.

Continue sewing to bottom edge,
again using your fingers to keep those fabric edges together.

This is how mine looks once pieced.

Press seams to one side so that the inner quarter circle is flat, as above.
Ignore the world's ugliest ironing board cover!

I find that the pulling of the fabric while you are sewing can cause the block to distort slightly on the inner circle corner.
Trim back into a square now.

If you wish to sew four blocks so that the quarter circles form a whole circle,
pin your pieces, matching up the seams.

After piecing.

It is best to press these seams open.

Finished circle.
Not perfect but it lies flat and I am happy with it.

Many apologies to my Brit Bee buddies who I made sew these curves without ever having reached a level of competence on my own first. I jumped in the deep end of curved piecing along with the rest of you. If the above helps anyone then it was well worth it. It works for me because I have just sewed twenty blocks without having to pick out the stitches and resew any of them.

Is anyone else in the UK suffering from incredibly slow broadband?! It has just taken me an absolute age to write this post. Many of the photos took several attempts to upload. But now it is done, it's Saturday evening and it is time to relax. I do hope you are enjoying your weekend and you have a box of Cadbury's chocolate fingers to nibble on too!

Susan