Pieced Vehicles – Improv Style

Excavator Tutorial:

1. You will need background material, a solid for the body of the digger, a small piece for the
window, black fabric fo the tracks (I used a black and white polkadot but avoided the white
dots), and a small piece of fusible web.

2. Rough cut some of the pieces you will need: a small square for the window, strips of red to
surround the window, three red rectangles for the body of the digger, a long strip of red for the
digging arm, and a red triangle for the bucket. Have plenty of strips of background material (tan
in this case) also ready to use.
3. To make the digging arm, sew a strip of red to a long rectangle of tan. Then trim the red to ½
inch from the seam to create an arm that is about ¼ inch wide. Increase this if desired,
depending on the size of your digger.

4. Sew a tan rectangle to the other side of your red strip.

5. To make the angled part of the arm, you’ll follow a similar process. Sew a strip of red to a
rectangle of tan and trim the red to ½ inch from the seam.

6. This time you’ll add the tan rectangle to the top of the strip set, rather than to the other side of
the red. Trim the left edge straight.
7. Lay the angled part of the arm on top of the first strip set to audition how you would like them
to go.

8. Following the angle of the piece on the right of the picture, cut along the edge.

9. Sew the two pieces together. It may take a couple of tries to get the two parts of the digging
arm to line up correctly.
10. Now we’ll make the bucket to attach to the arm. Sew a piece of tan fabric to the right side of
your rough cut triangle.

11. Trim the bottom edge straight, then add a tan strip to the bottom edge of the triangle.

12. Trim the triangle along the edge which has no tan on it, then audition it on top of the digging
arm.
13. Sew the bucket onto the digging arm. Again, it may take several tries before it lines up correctly
with the arm.

14. Next we’ll make the window for the body of the digger. Sew red strips on the left and right
sides of your blue window square/rectangle.

15. Trim the top straight across and add a red strip to the top.
16. Trim up your little window. I trimmed the top and right to ½ inch and the left to ¾ inch from the
seams.

16. Sew a tan piece to the right and left sides of the window. Trim even across the top.

17. Sew a tan rectangle to the top of the window.

18. Sew a red rectangle below the window.

19. Next we’ll make the front section of the body of the digger. We’ll be joining the digging arm to
that section. You can skip this step and just sew the arm onto the body of the digger we made
in the previous step. The reason I’m not is because, depending on the angle you choose, you
may cut off a corner of your window when you sew on the digging arm. To make this front
section, sew tan pieces onto the top, bottom, and right side of a red rectangle.

20. Audition the digging arm on top of the red rectangle. I folded the unwanted section of arm
under. When I got it the way I wanted, I fingerpressed this fold.
21. Using the fingerpressed crease as your guide, cut off the excess.

22. Sew the digging arm to the front of the digger. Trim away the excess underneath to a ¼ inch
seam allowance.

23. Next we’ll make a small piece that will connect the catepillar tracks to the bottom of the digger.
Sew tan strips on either side of a small red rectangle. I made my red piece finish to about ¼ inch
wide and ¾ inch tall. Trim straight across the top and bottom.
24. Sew this piece onto the bottom of your digger body. Then sew a tan strip to the bottom of that
unit. Trim the right side even.

25. Now we’ll join the front section of the digger, which now includes the arm, to the body of the
digger. Trim as necessary.

26. Trim the left side of the digger straight and add a final strip of tan.
27. You’re ready to make the treads. Draw the desired shape onto fusible web and fuse onto the
back of your black fabric.

28. Cut out your tread and iron onto the bottom of the digger. Square up and trim your block!
When I have several blocks completed, I’ll use black thread to machine blanket stitch around all
the treads and wheels.