Assemble the Card Trick Quilt Block – Step by Step

The pattern and piecing instructions for the Card Trick , the third of the blocks in my BOM quilt Round the Year were posted by me a few days ago.

Incidentally, there are 26 templates and 14o pieces in this block…just so that you can boast about it!

Assembly

1. First, lay out all the pieced templates using the master template as a guide.

Lay out the pieced templates using the master template as guide — Pieced templates arranged using the master template as a guide

2. Assembling the Inner Circle

– Pin together each triangular ‘card’ to the corresponding wedge . If one makes a mistake and joins wrong pieces together at this stage, the ‘trick’ will not work, so follow the master template strictly!

For accurate piecing, I find the alignment markers and crosses on the printed templates very helpful.

'Vertical' pin pushed through marker before securing the templates — ‘Vertical’ pin pushed through marker before securing the templates

All inner templates ready for pinning together in pairs

Secured with pins... — Secured with pins…

3. Sew to join together, removing pins as you are a stitch or two away.

...pulling out the pins as you approach them — …pulling out the pins as you approach them

Remove extraneous paper – from the seams and pieces without alignment markers. When the seams are pressed flat, some paper at the corners will go under the upcoming seam, and will be near impossible to remove later. Take care of that. Tweezers help, as well as the ripper.

Remove paper from seam ... — Remove paper from seam …

Paper torn off from seam corners, leaving alignment markers intact

4. Referring to the master template, join the segments in pairs, aligning on the markers with vertical pins pushed through. When securing with pins, I ensure that the head of the pin is either on my right ( since I am right handed) or towards me as the fabric goes under the needle. This makes it easy for me to pull out the pin slowly , without any fear of getting poked!

Refer to the master template ... — Refer to the master template …

5. Join segment AI to CK to form a quarter circle.

6. Join segment EM to GO to form a quarter circle.

This is as good a time as any to flip over to the fabric side to check if you have got everything in order! The little coloured piece on the wedge should be the same colour as the adjoining segment on its left.

7. Join the 2 quarters at edges C and E to make the top half circle.

8. Join segment BJ to DL to form a quarter circle, and finally

9. Join FN to HP to form the last of the quarter circles.

10. Join these two quarter circles along edges D and F and the other half of the circle is done!

11. Now to assemble the arcs. There are only 6 arcs, so they will be joined in threes for the top and bottom halves.

QRS makes one half of the ring, and TUV makes the other, moving anti clockwise as you look at the printed side.

12. Finally, the final step for assembling the circle! Joining the ring half to the circle half. Do not spare the pins at this stage! I put pins on every seam joint and on some alignment markers too!

13. I find it cumbersome to stitch a curved seam with the paper attached !

It is cumbersome to stitch a curved seam with the paper attached

Knowing my arc is securely pinned and correctly aligned to the circle, I can afford to tear away bits of paper on the seam. I also have a 1/4″ stitch on my Hasina, my HQV machine so I am assured of an accurate seam!

You will notice I do not remove all the paper, as I will need the alignment markers on the outer edge of the arc when I join this to the background.

Paper removed from under the seam area eases sewing

Here is one half of my circle assembled, the other half awaits its turn!

14. Once both the half circles are ready, we can move to the background. Using the template W ( made of 2 paper pieces glued together) we had cut 4 fabric pieces a bit larger on the long straight edges . We join these in pairs, W to X and Y to Z.

15. Join one half of the circle to WX and the other to YZ.

16. Join the two block halves together to form the full square block, and trim it down to 1

An alternative method for joining the circle to the background is to join the two halves of the circle and appliqué the circle on to a background square, using your favourite method. If using this method, cut your square about an inch larger and trim to size after appliqueing.

There is also a freezer paper method for joining a circle to a background square, for which several free tutorials are available online.

I hope you will enjoy making this block which comes up so magically! Do share a picture of your completed block on my facebook page, the like button is on the side bar to the right!

You can BUY THE PATTERN HERE! Dusk Version Card Trick Block

Happy quilting, till I post the rainbow version of this block some time next week.