Tumbler Part I

This cute little 2.5 inch tumbler template was a FREEBIE with my Missouri Star Quilt Company's 12 days of Christmas sale.  Luckily, I had a mini charm pack on hand (still going strong on my fabric fast!).  The Boho pack was perfect for the job.  I also had a few fabrics from the line to help complete the project.  The first part is sewing these little tumblers.  The second part will remain a secret.  Shhhh!

First, I started cutting all 42 mini charms using the template.  If you don't want to purchase a template, you could make your own.  The hard cardboard that comes with the mini charm works great for templates.  Cut the bottom side of the square so it is 0.5 inches in from both edges to form a trapezoid.  

This is such a cute line of fabric, check them all out!

Sew each of the pieces together matching the small end of one piece to the larger end of another.  Keep sewing until each piece forms a pair.

I would recommend chain piecing. It saves on thread and time!  

Sew each of the pairs together until you have 7 rows of 6 tumblers.  Press the seams, I pressed them open for this project, but you could press all one way.  Make sure you carefully pin each of the rows together.  Personally, I am not a huge fan of pining anything, but for this project it was necessary.  You will have three rows pinned together and one remaining.

Keep pinning and sewing the rows until all 7 rows create one large block.  Once again, I pressed the seams open.  This helps the block lay flat.  

Once the block is pressed, it's ready to get squared.  This block measured 9 inches by 14.5 inches.  ** The final size may vary depending on seam allowance, I used a 1/4 inch.  

To get the tumblers ready for the next part I cut the large block into two smaller blocks each measuring 7 inches by 9 inches.  Then trimmed 0.25 inches off each of the raw edges.  Now edges are square. 

Oh, the potential these beauties have!

The next part of this tutorial is coming shortly.  Just wait and see what these two blocks get turned into later this week!

Sew long, 

CHELS