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"Soft-edge Piecing", a technique developed by Jinny Beyer, is a very simple idea. In looking at traditional style patchwork designs, Jinny felt that we are always cutting up fabric to fit within the various geometric shapes. As a result we often cut into a beautiful portion of the fabric so that it will fit within that shape, thus possibly spoiling the design of the fabric. She began to wonder what would happen if we let the design of the fabric dictate the boundaries of the shape rather than the shape itself.

The design above, Atlantic Jewel, illustrates the technique. The traditional way Jinny might make the block is shown at left. But with Soft-edge Piecing, Jinny changes the points of the design done in the "sand" fabric to a soft-edge. For each point, instead of a sand point and two background pieces, she makes one larger background template and cuts the background from that. Using the same template, she places it on a fabric that has smooth designs that would be suitable for applique (see the border print fabric below.) The portion of the fabric that will be pieced into the design will be cut to the template, and the portion that will be appliqued will be cut to the fabric. The piece is appliqued to the background fabric, then the excess is cut from behind the applique before it is pieced into the block. The design on the right shows how the block is changed. For more information on this technique check out Jinny's Soft-Edge Piecing book.