Preparing For A Block Of The Month Program

Welcome back. I skipped a week as I was only open for two days last week as a result of the coronation, my husband’s birthday and bank holidays. Anyway enough of my excuses lets get on. These are student works which I think are looking lovely. The first is from last week and the second from this week, as you can see I cracked the whip this week! The third is also from last week and not quite finished. Ill do a little group picture of these next week .

I have at last finished Matilda the chicken and will hopefully kitting her up in the next week or two.

I went out and did a talk this week something I have not done in a long time. This weeks talk was “My life in stitches” and was with the Parkhouse Patchwork Group. I was a little nervous as it’s been a while but they were lovely and the nerves soon went. On a side note they have an exhibition coming up on Thursday 15th till Saturday 17th June 10am till 4pm at the Parkhouse Centre Ergue-Gaberic Way, Bude EX23 8LD and I am sure they would love to see you.

If you have a show or exhibition coming up do let me know and I am happy to pop onto my social media and here on my blog.

This week saw the final fabrics and patterns land for the block of the month. I have cut out the first months block and thought I would offer some top tips on organising yourself for a Block Of The Month (BOM)

Check your fabrics before cutting, making sure you know which fabric is which and that you have the correct amount.

Press the fabrics and lay out in the order of cutting. If you are a starcher then now is the time.

The old adage of measure twice cut once needs to be kept in mind, plan the cutting so you know you can get all the pieces out.

Label each piece you cut, yes it takes time but boy does it make life easier when you come to sewing.

Read the instructions through before you start.

Check your seam allowance before you start sewing, I know you have used it a hundred times before but sometimes it can go a bit off.

Read the instructions through before you start.

When you have completed a section tick it off. It helps keep you on track and there is something very satisfying about ticking things off!

Enjoy the sewing and admire your finished pieces.

I thought I would show a little insight of the work behind a BOM from a retailers point of view.

We don’t get any more information than you the person doing the BOM. The first thing I do is number the bolts of fabric so I know I am not mixing things up. I tend to photo-copy the cutting out sheets and work out what I need to cut for each person and try to work out the most economical way to cut. I use this sheet as a tick list so I don’t forget anything. I like a tick list as you now know!

These are all the fabrics cut for month 1. Once the cutting is complete I put the pattern instructions and fabrics into a grip seal bag.

Here they are all ready to be parcelled up. As you can see a lot of work and money goes into a BOM program.

Just for fun I thought I would show you all the fabrics used in the first month.

These are the fabrics that will arrive in later months. This quilt is going to be a stunner.

As always if you have time it’s lovely to get comments.

Happy Sewing, I am off to cut more for the BOM’s

Mary