Thread: Help..Im Ready to Cry

I am sorry for your tears Kathy. I am not sure I can help though not sure just what the problem is? are the strips of fabric nice and straight before you sew?

I agree, spray and press the whole piece of fabric, not just the strips, when they're wet or damp from the spray they are too easily warped.

Originally Posted by mac

Are you pressing your strips or ironing? There is a big difference. With pressing you put the iron on the fabric and lift straight up, you continue this until you are finished. With ironing, you are moving the iron around as you would ironing your clothes. The big difference is with ironing you are moving your fabric around which will make wavy lines. With pressing you are not moving anything because you are picking your iron up, therefore no fabric movement.

I know you say you don't like to iron, but if you are going to use fabric spray, I suggest you use it before you cut the material.

On the internet there are lot of explanations on how to 'press your blocks and fabric'.
Good luck, hope this helps.

I was wondering the same thing about pressing vs ironing. Have you heard of and tried a steady betty?

Also, this video might help you get an idea of what's happening with your cutting. It could be you are not squaring up before cutting your strips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI8kkFnpwpM

First, I'd suggest you take a deep breath and quit beating yourself up! Now matter how advanced of a quilter you are, you'll have things that frustrate you from time to time, and this is one of those times.

I starch and iron before I cut my strips, not after. There's a lot of room for distortion when you're ironing, especially if you're starching heavily enough that the fabric feels wet. Even more so when you're ironing something only 2 1/2" wide.

I understand hating to iron a large piece of fabric; I also hate to iron. If I've bought multiple yards of fabric and I only need 5 or 6 strips, I will cut off the approximate amount I need, iron that, and then cut my strips. It's a lot easier to handle.

I make sure that once I have the approximate piece of fabric cut I iron out the crease then refold it selvage to selvage so it's perfectly straight. You don't want to put the crease back in fully before cutting your strips.

A couple of points about ironing - I use Best Press and prefer it to sizing. It really helps get wrinkles out with a fairly light spray. I've never had my fabric feel wet before pressing.

If you hate ironing because of the standing involved, lower your ironing board to chair height and sit while ironing. I find it much easier.

When you're cutting the strips be very sure that your mat is on a nice even surface and you are holding your ruler firmly in place. I've found there were times when I was pressing down so hard on my rotary cutter that I'm moving the ruler. Firm steady pressure on the rotary cutter is what you need. Keeping your pinky finger off of the ruler and resting on your mat can help you keep the ruler where you want it.

Lastly, it may help to have someone else watch you as you do your cutting. They may spot something that's causing your inconsistencies.

Hope this helps!

The even surface tip is so important! I'm glad you brought it up. This was a problem for me for quite a while - until it dawned on me that my cutting surface was not flat. I fixed that problem and my cutting has improved.

The other thing I do that improved my cutting of strips - Assuming that you cut across the width of fabric, folded once selvage to selvage, press a sharp crease into the fold. That seems to minimize the curving at the center when I cut.

Lastly, I have learned the hard way that cutting through more than 2 layers of fabric - more than one single selvage to selvage fold - creates uneven cuts and curving. Maybe others can do more than 2 layers at once, but it just doesn't work for me.

The other thing that greatly improved my cutting was to spray baste the bottom of the ruler I use for cutting. The ruler clings to the fabric, so the ruler doesn't slip out of place while I am cutting. Note that I had to rub some of the spray baste off of the back of the ruler immediately after spraying. In some places it was too thick on the ruler. If you don't like the spray basting on your ruler, it can be washed off, but it takes a bit of elbow grease, soap and water or a vinegar/water solution.