8 Point LeMoyne Star Tutorial - No Y Seams!

Tuesday I attended my first meeting with a local quilt group called Boulder City Cut-Ups. This was actually the first time I have ever packed up my machine (purchased in about 92) to sew outside my home. I felt very welcomed, and although it was well attended, plenty of space was made for me. We were instructed to bring some red, white, and blue fabrics for this month's project. Mary Lou demonstrated for us a technique for the LeMoyne Star with no inset seams. Gotta Love it!

Food for thought before we begin: For this block, I used dark thread for stitch visibility, however I probably would have anyway. For dark stars, I usually do use dark thread. If any seams were to show their threads on this type of block, it is most likely to happen in the center of the dark star where a white thread would really pop out. This to me is a bigger risk than the thread showing through the seam of the white...

Here is how it was done:



For an 8in star, cut the following:

8 pieces of white background 2 7/8" x 4 1/2"

8 pieces of white background 2 1/8" square

4 pieces red for star 2 1/8" x 4 1/2"

4 pieces blue for star 2 1/8" x 4 1/2"

Draw a pencil line on the backside of each white square

Right sides together, sew four of them one direction, and four of them the other. To accommodate for the fold, stitch just to the outside of the drawn line, toward the side that will be cut off. Press the seams of the red Nevada shapes toward the white side, and the seam of the blue Reverse-Nevada shapes toward the blue side.

Right sides together, sew the large white rectangles to the red Nevada shapes and press toward NV.

Sew Reverse-Nevada as shown and press seam toward rectangles.

Draw a pencil line diagonally across the backside of the reverse NV shapes.

Right sides together, stack the blue sets on top of the red sets, matching seams so that they nestle together where they intersect. Sew just to the right of the pencil line, like the one in upper left corner. Cut off the excess and press seam the same direction the others are on that block.

Stitch the four units into two, matching seams. Press seams in the same direction on each side.

I use a pin through center of stars points to use as pivot point.

Line up the two pieces and sew your last seam!

 Clip 3/4 of the way in toward center point

Press seams flat and trim block to 8.5"

Repeat as many times as desired!