needles3thread

I am having problems piecing Boston Commons quilt. (see pictures)
It's mostly cut out - now the problems start. I want to finish it instead of giving up. I have more
fabrics if needed.
Any suggestions for me - Thank you.

needles3thread

What am I doing wrong?

Vanuatu Jill

I don't see what the problem is. It's a lot of cutting( already done) and piecing, are you having problems with that or just getting anxious to finish??

needles3thread

The problem is the piecing isn't accurate. see 4 pieces sewn together on the mat. I laid them on the mat to
see if they came out right when sewn together. The triangle sewn to the right side of the
square doesn't line up
I don't know if my problem is in the piecing, cutting, sewing or pressing. I'm afraid if I keep going I will reallly have
problems keeping pieces lined up. The yellow squares are to be cut into half squares & quarter squares
from corner to corner of which I have cut just a few to see how they would turn out.
And, because I have spent so much time cutting, I want to finish it.

Fraew

Hi. This will be beautiful when you finish it!

The only thing that I can see (can't see the directions from here) is that all of your segments should be "odd" numbers. Like the first picture shows a print with 3 light triangles around it. This should be attached to a 3 print section with 2 light ends...attached to a 5 print section with 2 light ends...attached to a 7 print section with 2 light ends... 7 print, 7 print...on down the row.

So no "even" numbered print sections that I can see.

I can certainly be wrong but if I could see more of the direction part, I may have a better idea.

Good luck.

kristakz

I see that your triangles are off square (if that can be said about something triangular). This is likely due to stretching the bias when sewing it together. I'd lay a ruler on the triangles, and trim to fix the shape. You may find that if you center the triangle you want to have over your block that you trim a smidge off each angled edge and it actually is the size you want. When trimming them, assume the square in the middle is correctly aligned, and trim edges off the 3 triangles as necessary to align them to the right shape. For example, the middle one on the right - if you twist it so the square is straight to the mat, you will probably have just a bit to trim from each wing triangle to straighten it out.

If you look at the red one (lowest) - you can see that the dogears are slightly asymmetrical. It looks like you were just a smidge off in alignment when you sewed - the upper portion of the right-hand triangle has a wider seam, thus causing the triangle to skew a bit in the finished piece. And by "slightly wider" I mean maybe a thread or two.

To prevent this - I'm not sure. Starch is what I always hear - I've never used it myself. I usually cut blocks like this slightly oversize and plan to trim them down.

PenniF

Maybe i am way off the mark here -- but if i were making the quilt in the photo - just from looking at the finished product picture -- i'd make my fabric rows with a yellow square at each end - then once i had sewn all the off-set rows together, i'd lay them out and trim them up so that i'd wind up with the yellow triangle on the edges...you'll end up with a pile of triangle scraps - but you won't have to cut and piece triangles to start with. Good Luck !!!

needles3thread

Thank you for all the advice. I will try it.

Quiltngolfer

I think PenniF is smart. That's how I would do it too. I like to make mine larger then trim to right size.