Earlier this morning, I posted a tutorial for the Flower Garden Path as part of the Summer Sampler Series (on the left). I had tried alternate piecing methods (32 half square triangle pairs in a 12.5 inch block is a little bit intimidating) and I didn’t come up with any that I was satisfied with. This morning in the flickr group, Rachel and Jessica asked the same question–isn’t there a better way? When I read their plan of how they were going to piece their blocks, I had the aha! moment I had been looking for this weekend. Thanks, ladies. I was lucky (?) that I had lost a few hst pairs when making the previous block and had a few others left over from a different block, so the second time around, this block was pretty fast for me. I have posted an abbreviated tutorial below. [Note: I sat and sewed and took pictures in the same place, in an attempt to finish this before nap time ended. I almost made it!]
If I was going to make a third block in this pattern, I’m not sure if I would use this alternate method or the hst method–there are tricky parts to both. So, go with your gut on this one. They both work. They both ended up being a bit imperfect (you know, user error on my part). Have fun, and let me know if you liked the method you chose 
ALTERNATE PIECING METHOD FOR FLOWER GARDEN PATH
Cut pieces according to the table below.
|
Block Pieces
|
Size
|
Cut
|
|
Inside Square (kona snow)
Background (kona snow) |
6 1/8 inch square
2 7/8 square
|
1
10 |
|
Outer Diamond (brown flowers)
|
rectangles: 1 7/8x 6 1/8 inches
1 7/8 x 10 inches
|
2
2
|
|
Corner pieces (multi color)
|
2.5 inch square
|
4
|
|
Triangles (multi color)
|
2 7/8 inch square
|
4 [or 8, if you want a scrappier look
|
4. Cut the square in half along the pencil-drawn line, which results in two hst pairs. Iron seams open and trim pairs to 2.5 inches. (To trim, line up the seam with the 45 degree angle marking on your ruler and trim blocks to 2.5 inches, as shown below). You should have 8 hst pairs.
6. Sew A to B and B to C. Match seams (pin on both sides of seam). Press seams open, press the front as well.
7. Lay out according to the picture below.
8. Find the center of your pieced large corner triangle, match it to the center of one of the sides of the diamond. Pin well and sew with the pieced side facing up; it is easier to make sure you sew accurately near the triangle points this way. Sew a different pieced triangle to the opposite edge. Press seams open, press front of block.
15 Comments
Im going to do the alternate method as it means my fabric for the outer diamond will look better – being in one continuous piece. Im glad I held off on the block while you came up with this! well done
I think I’m going to sleep on this and decide which approach to use but I’ll probably go with the alternate method. I like HSTs, but not that much! Plus, I just finished the first three blocks today. Will blog them tomorrow!
I do prefer this alternate method because, like Merran says, it keeps the inner square one solid piece. Thanks for doing the work for us, Kate. You totally didn’t have to do that!
Brilliant.
Thanks! This is a great approach.
much better method….grrrrrrrrrrr..lol
really the first one isn’t that bad..more tedious…I will probably try this one later on too…thanks
Kate are you sure the rectangle should be 10″? Maybe I have made a mistake somewhere?
Could you also use the first method but replace 16 of the HST with 8 flying geese? So C/D, I/J, M/R, N/S, P/T, Q/U, X/Y, and dd/ee become flying geese instead of 2 HST sewn together. This looks beautiful but adding the triangles around the square looks very intimadating to me.
So, if the centre square is 6 1/8 cut (5 5/8 sewn) and the side rectangles are 1 7/8 wide that makes 8 7/8 not 10. I have done one corner of triangles and they are a bit big for the 8 7/8 but not big enough for 10. At this stage if I kept going the finished square would measure roughly 12.5. Anyone else doing this at the moment?
I am in awe.
This is great! This totally is an a-ha moment – it’s so simple, yet I wouldn’t have thought of it! I’m glad I didn’t have time to make my block earlier today. : ) It’s on the list for tomorrow.
Thanks. I LOVE this way much better.
I just finished this block using the alternate method and it worked beautifully. I am so impressed with how it turned out that I think it’s now my favourite of the first four!
Thanks!
i just did this lovely block the alternate way and it turned out very nice! maybe a bit small (i still have no idea where i lost that 1/4″
but i can disguise that with a border/frame when i sew the blocks together.
thanks so much for the second way of sewing this one, i am not too fond of hst and was very happy that i could reduce the amount..
take care,
claudia
Wow, that wasn’t exactly difficult, just a beast to keep track of all of those little triangles. I’ll upload mine in the morning, I’ve got to go turn my brain off for the night.