Victorian Fan

You will need a knowledge of paper piecing to make this fan. Click here to download a file with the instructions and a pattern. Cut a piece of muslin larger than the total fan. Trace the fan onto the muslin in reverse as you would for paper piecing. Your fabric will go on the clean side of the muslin and you will stitch on the traced solid lines. Use a dark fabric on the narrow panels of the fan (I used black) and lighter fabric or fabrics on the wide panels. This fan will not be easily made using heavy or tricky fabrics such as velvet. Mine is made entirely of silk dupioni but other lightweight fabrics are fine. The outside dashes mark the seam allowance and the dashes down the wide panels in the fan mark the center for you to embellish. I personally think this fan looks more dimensional if you do not embellish the dark narrow panels.
After all embellishing is done, and with right sides together, use a lightweight fabric (I used silk organza) and stitch the top jagged edge of the fan along the dashes shown in the pattern. This stitch line has a 1/4" allowance. Carefully clip down into the V shapes along this edge, turn to the right side and using the point of your iron, press this seamed edge.
Cut the pattern for the bottom of the fan out of freezer paper. Iron it to the wrong side of your fabric and cut around the freezer paper leaving 1/4" of the fabric above the curved part of the freezer paper pattern. Clip along this part not quite to the freezer paper, press this edge over, remove the freezer paper and press again. Now appliqué stitch this along this same curve to the bottom of the fan and embellish.
This fan can go right into the corner of one of your squares or the 1/2" side seams can be pressed to the back and the entire fan can be appliquéd in any position desired.