I thought I’d follow up last week’s Y-seamed block with another, turning it into a two-block arty series. These two blocks have a lot in common, featuring diamonds, inset (“Y”) seams, and asymmetrical designs … although this one leans to the right instead of the left. I guess they kind of balance each other out; perhaps the “Y” is for Yin and Yang.

When deciding how to assemble this block, I consulted all my usual sources, and found a lot of variety in potential construction techniques.

More than one site suggested sewing two red triangles together, and then appliquéing the center green diamond on top, to hide the seam between the two red pieces. This approach has some merit, but unfortunately, I’m much too lazy to redraft the pattern.

Another site suggested appliquéing the two red pieces (the ones that look like Star Trek emblems) onto a solid background piece, but those points where each red piece meets up with the center diamond are pretty narrow, and would be tough to appliqué. I toyed with the idea of doing reverse appliqué, but again, that would require redrafting the pattern.

In the end, I opted to cut out the pieces as-is from the original pattern, and just deal with all the inset seams. Thankfully, Y-seams are so much simpler to do when sewing by hand. I am continually amazed at just how simple the process is.

When you see the pieces laid out flat, it really seems impossible that they will fit together. You sew down one side of the Y, and then the two pieces for the other side of the Y point in different directions.

You can see in the photo below that the next part of the seam for the green fabric is pointing almost straight down, whereas the next part of the seam for the red fabric is pointing up at an angle. It feels like bringing these two together goes against the laws of physics.

Luckily, fabric is flexible, so you just pull one fabric piece over to meet the other, using sharp scissors to snip a tiny bit into the seam allowance on the red fabric (to help it bend the way you want). Then you pin, sew along the lines, and presto-change-o, everything fits together.

Every time I do one of these seams, it feels like magic.

My finished block does not lie quite as flat as I would like (clearly, my prestidigitation skills need some work), but that is the beauty of quilting. Non-experts think quilting is just decorative stitching on the top of the quilt, but quilters know that it’s also a great way to corral stubborn fabric and get it to stay where you want it to.

When I finally get to the quilting on this project, be sure to watch for my next magic trick, when I use common, ordinary, everyday thread to – abracadabra – make this block lie flat!