The wait is over.
Now you can piece the Inklingo Star design too—by hand or by machine!
When I designed this star I wanted a 9 inch block to use with Inklingo Castle Wall 9 inch and with Inklingo LeMoyne Star 9 inch.
I also wanted to use the diamonds in the free Inklingo Diamond/Triangle/Square shape collection.
Pretty, isn’t it?
I loved the look but it resulted in a tiny little seam at the point of the small diamonds.
Uh oh. Will that be okay?
Yes! Not a problem! In fact, it is an advantage! It makes it easier to machine piece and press the block—and get beautiful results.
This one little detail happened almost by accident, but it makes the little star “float” and it makes it easier to machine piece than an old star design from the 1920s by Elizabeth Sanderson.
This is a great block, don’t you think?
HOW TO SEW AN EIGHT-POINTED STAR
Recently, instructions for sewing 8-pointed stars with an old method have re-surfaced.
I have explained before why I was not satisfied with other instructions for sewing an eight-pointed star.
If I have trouble, wouldn’t my students have problems too?
- Some of the sewing sequences are very confusing. Which end do I start at for this seam? For that seam?
- A traditional method of folding and re-folding resulted in mistakes like sewing a triangle where there should be a square.
- Manually marking where to start and stop for the inset seams is slow and not accurate enough.
- Pinning through several layers makes the intersections shift, especially at the center of the star. (Please do not pin the center!)
- The seam allowances bunch up at the beginning of the seams when sewing outward from an inset point.
- Blocks are not pressed so the seams will nest when they are sewn to another LeMoyne Star.
- Most annoying of all, when instructions say “press to the left,” do they mean this “left” or that “left?” I have to keep finding the pictures.
- Teachers should not make this stuff look so tricky!
Please don’t be discouraged by tricky instructions, no matter where you find them or how much authority they seem to have.
The good news is that I have received wonderful feedback on the revised instructions and the One-Page Guide which we shared on the blog last April.
I used the LeMoyne Star instructions to sew the first Inklingo Stars and they all turned out beautifully.
As usual, the seam allowances all press perfectly to the side with no bulk in the intersections.
However . . . there was one little thing that bothered me. I am a perfectionist in the methods I teach and I was not quite satisfied.
A few more days of work. . . and one important little modification to the instructions . . . and I am happy. Illustrations re-re-re-drawn.
It worked. I still love the existing sewing and pressing instructions for LeMoyne Star and other Eight-Pointed Stars—no change there—but the special instructions for Inklingo Star ensure that the seam allowances in my Inklingo Stars nest perfectly when sewn into rows with LeMoyne Stars and Castle Wall blocks.
How cool is that?
Monkey says little advantages like that make beginners look like experts.
I hope that when you see the instructions in the shape collection, you will think it was worth the wait—and the extra days of work for me.
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INTRO SALE PRICE
Now you can sew these wonderful blocks too—by hand or by machine, with or without fussy cutting.
As usual, the new Inklingo Star shape collection is at a special low price for a few days only.
Monkey says this star at $25 is great value, but $20 is even better.
If you do visit us on Facebook, you already knew this new shape collection was coming. Stay tuned for more about it, okay?
See you on Facebook?
Linda & Monkey
New to Inklingo? Order and download free shapes and start sewing in the next few minutes. Quick Start (Always FREE.) There are triangles, diamonds, and squares in the free collection—great for dozens of different blocks.
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Linda,
What else is needed besides the Star 9 inch to make the Morse Star? I can’t seen to figure that out.
Thanks,
Sharon
Hello Linda,
This new collection is beautiful. Thank you so much for taking time to create new designs for all of us to try.
Have a great day.
Louise
As I look at the pieces that get downloaded with the new collection, I don’t see any pieces there that create the smaller star in the middle. I only see pieces that make up the portion of the block surrounding the smaller star.
Where do I get the pieces to make the smaller star that is in the middle of the block?
Your new block is a pretty one !!!
Yippee it’s ready! Thank you Linda for putting in all that work. It is really a beautiful star. Heidi
Wow how beautiful. I’m a big fan of Morse too so I love the name. Well done Linda. 🙂
This is beautiful!
I wish I had courage to try one!
My collection is downloading as I type! YEAH! (And I really was trying desperately to beat Cathi to the punch. But she’s probably already printed 10 sheets of new kites. LOL!) Thanks, Linda! Been loving the pics of these on Facebook while you were working on this beautiful new star. Can’t wait to try it out! And add it to my 7,823 other unfinished Inklingo projects. I think I need smaller, more manageable-sized projects, eh?
Inklingo Stars, Morse Stars — oh, what fun we’re going to have with these! They are absolutely awesome and I can’t wait to get started!
I am so glad you came up with this design – those kites are going to be such a treat to fussy cut/print and stitch!
I love that Inklingo finally has it’s own star name, and a beautiful one at that! I love looking at the back of it too!
Congratulations to you for this wonderful discovery!
Inklingo Star! I like the sound of that!