Doing Patchwork is an art that will help you to stitch small pieces of fabric to make blocks to make a quilt, but this sewing technique can be different from one country to another country.
DIY Korean Patchwork is a tutorial to share the easy steps to follow to make a quilt block with folded seams to make a piece of cloth from stitching different small pieces of fabric together.
The art of stitching together small pieces of fabric to make a piece of clothing in Korea, has been done for many centuries. With this stitching technique, different pieces of cloths can be made, to make many different pieces of cloth like blouses, dresses, scarves and others, and also to make bedding cloths, house decorations and cleaning cloths, like curtains, pillows, cleaning cloths and pieces of cloths to wrap any item with them.
As I keep working on different patchwork projects, this year I want to keep learning how to do different methods to do patchwork, Korean patchwork was on my to do list, and today I would love to share the easy steps to follow to make a piece of cloth with this patchwork technique.
I’m sure when I say, as a quilter you might want to learn more about how to use all those scraps of fabric that are leftovers after you finish a quilt, you might also have a basket full with them, some are smaller and some might be bigger size, so today we will using some of those scraps of fabric to make a piece of cloth with them.
After you finish making the piece of clothing, you might want to make a second piece, to make a tote bag with them, just like I did.
DIY Korean Patchwork
The first thing to do is to look for those scraps of fabric you will use to make this piece of cloth, this time we won’t use any small piece of fabric as you do when you make a Crumb Quilt Block, this time the small pieces of fabric should be big enough to make a double seam with them.
Pick a few pieces of scraps of fabrics from the basket, they can be different sizes, any color or make a selection on your favorite color, you can press the scraps of fabric, and trim each piece to have straight sides on each piece. On this tutorial you’ll be working with squares, rectangle and strips of fabric, no circles or curved pieces.
How To Do Korean Patchwork
1. Pick two pieces of fabric, they can be the same shape (squares or rectangles) and same size or different shape (square and rectangle) or different size.
Take the two pieces in your hands, pretty side together, and take the piece on the top 1/4 inch from the edge of the bottom piece.
When working on Korean Patchwork, the seam is done in two steps, the first seam should be done with the two pieces of fabric placing the piece on top 1/4 inch down from the edge of the piece on the bottom.
Stitch on the seam 1/4 inch from the edge on the piece of the piece on the top. When the stitching is done all along the side, lay the piece on your work table, and fold the 1/4 inch from the piece on the bottom (bigger seam) to cover the seam on the piece of the bottom, press.
Open the two pieces and press the seam to one side, stitch on the folded seam on the back.
This two stitching steps to make the seam should be done on every seam you do to make a piece of cloth with the Korean Patchwork method.
2. Pick another piece of fabric, it should be as big as the first piece you made, or it can be bigger.
Lay any of these two pieces on your work table, and lay over it the piece you will be stitching on this piece, arrange the seams the same way, the bottom piece should have the bigger seam and the piece on the top should have the smaller seam.
When you finish doing the double seam, you can trim the bigger piece as big as you want to, there are no patterns and each block can be done with a different pattern.
Keep working this way, add more pieces of fabric with the double seam technique, until you reach the size of block you want to make.
How To Make A Quilt Block With The Korean Patchwork Method
A quilt block can be done with one single block using the Korean patchwork, or you can make small blocks to be stitched on to make one quilt block.
You can use small pieces of fabric to make a strip to be stitched on one quilt block, it will add more value to your work and you will be using more small pieces of fabric from the scraps of fabric you already have.
How To Press A Quilt Block Made With The Korean Patchwork
As this way to make a quilt block won’t be quilted, you can press it if you need to.
Pros Of Making Korean Patchwork
- Korean patchwork can be done with light fabrics like silk, cotton, linen, and any other type of light fabrics.
- The double seam done on Korean patchwork will give strength to the piece of cloth, no matter how light are the fabrics you used to make it.
- Any piece of cloth made using the Korean patchwork can be used to make a piece of cloth or an item for home decoration.
Cons Of Making Korean Patchwork
- Korean patchwork can be done with any type of thick fabric such as denim, corduroy or wool, seams would be so thick that you can hurt your fingers or it can damage your sewing machine.
How To Make A Tote Bag With Korean Patchwork
When I was making the first piece of block with the Korean Patchwork, it was clear to me that I had to make something useful with it, so I decided to make a tote bag with two blocks made with this stitching method.
You will need to make two pieces the same size or one lightly bigger that the other, you can follow the steps to make a tote bag on the tutorials you can find on my blog, any tutorial will work great.
Korean Patchwork Can Be Done By Hand Stitching Or With Your Sewing Machine
The best of making a piece of cloth with the Korean Patchwork is it can be done by hand stitching or you can use your sewing machine to make it.
You will need to make a sample of each to see which one you like more when it’s finished.
Hand stitching the Korean Patchwork is a slow stitching, but it has the hand made look, making a piece of cloth with your sewing machine will be faster, and it also looks great, it will be up to you to choose how to make it.
When I was making the tote bag, I did one piece hand stitched and one piece all made on my sewing machine, as a sample for this tutorial, and both look great to me.
Hope you like this tutorial and hope it will work for you to help you to use all those pretty scraps of cotton fabric you might have been saving to make something with them.
Thanks so much for reading my blog today!
Video tutorial:
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