Girlfriends - a tutorial

The next two months will be my months for my quilt bees, 

and I am asking each lady to make a girl block.  

I thought I would share a little tutorial for her. 

This is my block.

 Isn't she cute? Let's get started. 

I didn't use exact measurements, 

but I will try to include the general measurements I used

for those of you that prefer to have them.

These are her bits and pieces. 

Cutting measurements

Head - 2 X 2     Hands  1.5 X 1.5     Arms 1.5 X 6.5      Legs 1.25 X 4.5

Dress 5 X 5 including dress trim which is about 1.5 X 5

Background about 15 X 15

2.5 X 15 Sky  

2 X 15 head section

1.5 X 15 arm section  

5 X 15 dress section

4 X 15 leg section

Lets start with her clothing, since its the
largest piece. Cut dress fabric the length you would like it to be. Cut a background
5 X 15 or the length you cut her dress by the width of your background, 15 inches.

Cut the background in half.  Spread it apart a bit, maybe 1.5 - 2 inches, lay dress on top and slice through both layers at pleasing angles of her dress. 

Sew together.

 Next, lay out arm and hands. How do they look? Arms too long? Hands to large? Cut a piece of background the width of arm/hand section then in half.  Adjust and sew together with background to form arm strip.

Somehow I added my background later, but that's OK, it all worked out. ; )

 A 2 X 2 square for the head seemed really large, but turned out to be just right.

 

        
I decided to add a hair style, using small scraps and framed her face nicely.













Trimmed it all nice and neat . 

Then added a small background piece to help the hair and background fit better.
       
Add a strip of background cut in half to complete the head section.

Now let's get her some legs. Lay out the background piece and position legs. Slice background at a pleasing angle and sew all five pieces together.

Each layer is a bit uneven, so trim some straight, but wonky lines.

Sew her all together and attach sky piece above head.

She's ready to be trimmed up. Mine ended up 12.5 X 13. I wanted a good 2 inches at least above her head.

Here she is......ta da!  You can easily add stylish friends by changing her clothing. 

Try pants, skirt or sleeveless dress, different hair styles or maybe some shoes. 

Make her thin or wide or wonky. 

Please let me know if I missed or need to clarify anything.  

Hope you enjoy making a beautiful group of girlfriends. 

My plan for the bee girlfriends is to make a quilt that will be special and cherrished by my grandchildren as they dream about all the friends.