Homemother

I fell in love with the Log Cabin Swirl pattern by Brenda Groelz and found it was lots of fun to put together. It was easy as long as I paid attention to detail. Yes, I had to redo some of my seams anyway. I love the way it turned out, too. Here is the pattern:

http://www.mccallsquilting.com/conte...Swirl_1537.pdf

Step 5 says to removed the paper after sewing on the boarder fabrics. When I took the paper out and held it up, the inner pp section sagged a lot. And I mean a lot.

What did I do wrong, or is this normal? I played with the top so that the sagginess was spread around the top and quilted it. It looks alright but in some areas there are a few creases and puffiness. I tried to quilt across the seams so fabric wouldn't bunch up and look bad.

Do any of you experienced quilters have any suggestions for me? I really want to make another one using different fabrics.

erstan947

I'm no help but I have to say it is beautiful Nicely done and from here there are no sags.

Jan in VA

It's possible that some of your fabrics were on the bias along the outer edges when placed on the paper. It's hard to keep all the regular "rules" in mind when paper piecing because so many of those pieces are so small!

Jan in VA

Lori S

Try really starching your fabric prior to any cutting. I find starching ( very heavy starching) is very helpful with paper piecing. It helps to keep the biases in check and once the fabric is folded and pressed , and it is less likely to fold back on itself ( I really hate when that happens).
Once the block is done before removing all the papers stay stitch around the perimeter 1/8 ich from the edge, using the same small stitch length you used for the rest of the block.

nannyrick

Looks good to me. Very pretty.

urgodschild2

oooooooh so pretty.

charity-crafter

It is very pretty. Sorry you're saggy. From a distance you can tell there was a problem. You did a great job on the quilting.

Tartan

It's really pretty. Starch is the way to go for fabric not on the straight of grain. Starch well before using the fabric and it should keep the bias pieces in good shape if you carefully remove the paper and quilt it right away.

Homemother

Watching out for the bias and using starch. Thanks! The next one should be much more satisfying! Love this pattern.

DMotyl

These are some good hints. I am taking a course online with Craftsy.com and she does say that spray starch is a big help especially with bias work. I like the idea of stitching 1/8 in around each block as an added protection....

Your quilt is a beauty. I have never seen that pattern. It certainly is gorgeous.... Thanks for sharing....