Thread: I could just kick myself!

I always buy extra fabric -- and when I don't I know I will miscut and wish I had the extra (I even miscut when I have extra). Murphy is alive and well in my sewing room.

We're getting ready to start cutting out a Jinny Beyer kit for grandsons graduation. The sewing doesn't look so hard but we are scared to start cutting for fear of making a mistake. We also have read and retread the directions. I am going to try rewriting them in a format that is easy for me to follow. Hopefully that will help. Hope the quilt goes together easily when you get the cutting problem solved.

I was making a log cabin quilt for my sister, and using some stash fabrics. Some of the fabrics are from my MIL, who used to own a quilt shop, and there is literally none of it left except for what I have (not in the whole world, but as far as I'm concerned :P). I was careful to cut the strips correctly because I knew I didn't have any wiggle room. I was doing a skewed pattern, so two different blocks, switching which side got skinny vs fat strips to get a curvy look.

Anyway, along I go cutting the strips, thinking and repeating the dimensions in my head the whole time, and I finish cutting the strips and I have fabric left...uh oh! I had cut the strips sans seam allowance! So I had to go back and sew the too-skinny strips together (I'd already cut the skinny set, this was supposed to be the fat set) and then trim them to the right width. Then I had to sew the strip remnants together to get to the end of the blocks. The last couple of blocks had these terrible strips on them that had at least 8 seams! The pattern was a little too big for it to be unnoticeable, too.

I felt a little sheepish giving the quilt to her, having made such a mistake, but she didn't notice until I pointed it out to half-apologize. She said it was fine, more than fine, because now she can prove her sister made it! :P

Been there, done that...several times!