Journeys Month 7 – Liberty Star | If These Threads Could Talk

Welcome to Stitch i n Heaven’s Journey BOM – Month 7 Liberty Star. This month, you will be using the 12” markings on the Rapid Fire® Lemoyne Star tool, but you will be working with them as quarters that will be trimmed to 6½” using your Tucker Trimmer 1 before you sew them into the quilt.

Note: Some of your strip sizes are in sixteenths of an inch. These are necessary in order to equally divide the diamond into three sections. To cut the sixteenth of an inch you will see that after the sixteenth measurement there is a 1¼”+ listed. This means that you should locate the 1¼” mark on your ruler then move up just a bit to get to a 1⁵/16” measurement. You want to be as close to the half way point between the ¼” mark and the ⅜” mark as possible.

Piecing Instructions

You will be using the standard Rapid Fire® Lemoyne Star strip piecing for the “B” sections and fussy cut piecing for the “A” sections.

Step 1 – Lay out the Print 1, Print 2, and Print 8 strips as shown in the diagram.

Stitch together Print 2, Print 8 & Print 1, making four strip sets.

Step 2 – Stitch the strips into 4 strip sets, two will be used to create your “A” sections and two will be used to create your “B” sections.

Step 3 – Press all the seams toward Print 2, the widest strip.

Tip: To keep strip sets straight while pressing – it helps to draw a line on your ironing board with a sharpie and ruler. If the strip set wants to curve just keep re-adjusting it along the straight line.

Tip: After stitching your strips together measure the strip set to be sure it measures 3 1/4″ wide.

“B” Section Construction

Step 4 – Sew a strip set from step 3 on page 19 to a background strip to make a “B” section strip. Stagger your pieced strip 4¾” down the background strip. Be sure to sew the Print 1 to the Print 11 background strip. Press the seam toward your colored strip set. Make two.

Step 5 – Cut the “B” sections by placing the strip set right side up on the cutting mat. Make your first diagonal cut to clean up the end and set your angle. Then sub-cut the strip set into 3¼” sections. You will need a total of 16 sub-cuts.

Note: When cutting the Section B segments, place your 45 degree line on a seam to help establish the correct angle. Section B sections are cut 3 1/4″ wide. Cut almost to the end of the ruler and move the ruler up re-aligning the ruler on the 3 1/4″ line.

Step 6 – Cut Again. Make a vertical “second cut” to each sub-cut section. Make sure to leave a small gap between the tip of the diamond and the start of your vertical cut. One quarter of an inch will suffice.

Step 7 – Lay out, stitch, and press your pieced “B” sections toward the small side triangles you just stitched.

Remember, “whatever you are pressing toward goes on top”, so lay your pieced units on the ironing board with the small triangles on top and press.

“A” Section Construction

Step 8 – Cut the 4¾” x 4¾” Print 11 squares in half diagonally. Make the diagonal cut ¼” from the true diagonal to create small and large half square triangles.

Tip: You can use your regular ruler or your Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star tool to make the diagonal cuts as shown below.

*Each square yields one large and one small triangle.*

Step 9 – Cut the remaining two colored strip sets into individual diamonds. Place a strip right side up on the cutting mat as shown, align the 3¼” window template on the back end of the Rapid Fire® Lemoyne Star tool over the strip set and cut up the side. Rotate the first diamond and again align the 3¼” lines with the edges of the diamond and trim off the excess fabric. Continue repositioning the tool and cutting using the 3¼” window template until you have 16 diamonds.

Step 10 – Lay out, stitch, and press. Lay out the fussy cut diamonds, the large and small half square triangles right sides up as shown. Be sure Print 1 (Dark Blue) is positioned by the small triangle.

Be sure Print 1 (Dark Blue) is positioned by the small triangle.

Stitch the large triangles in place first and press the seam toward the background fabric.

Press the seam toward the background fabric.

Stitch the small triangles next and press these seams toward the diamond section. Make 16 “A” star points.

Step 11 – Trim all “A” and “B” triangle sections using the 12” line on the Rapid Fire® Lemoyne Star tool. See diagram. Pay Attention here! It’s easy to forget this step.

Step 12 – Assemble quarters. Arrange the sewn and trimmed “A” and “B” sections into quarter blocks. Stitch the sections together and press the seams open to best distribute bulk. You should have 16 quarters total.

Step 13 – Trim the quarters to 6½” x 6½”. Clean up the dog ears and true up the first corner as shown. You should only be trimming off the dog ears and an additional thread or two in this trim. Then rotate the unit to trim the opposite corner. Align the common diagonal with the seam and the 6½” clean up lines with the trimmed edges to trim the remaining two sides. Repeat for all 16 quarters.